Men's Lacrosse Falls to Yale in Ivy Tournament Final, 14-9

For the second time in as many weeks, the Harvard men’s lacrosse team found itself locked in a tight battle with conference rivals No. 7/6 Yale. And for the second straight time, it was the Bulldogs who dominated the fourth quarter, ending the game on a big run to secure the win.

Two Saturdays ago, Yale junior midfielder Eric Scott took over the contest, scoring or assisting on four goals in the final quarter to lead his team to a 9-8, comeback win. This past Sunday, with the stakes raised as the two squads battled in the Ivy League tournament final, it was sophomore attacker Ben Reeves who stepped up.

Reeves, four days after being named a First Team All-Ivy selection, did not score in the fourth, but had two key assists to help the Bulldogs crack open a one-goal game and pull away. The Crimson had closed the gap to 10-9 with 12:54 remaining, but with his composed decision-making and field vision, Reeves guided his team to the tourney title.

“He’s a really dynamic attackman,” Harvard co-captain and defender Stephen Jahelka said. “His ability to dodge to score and also pass put a lot of pressure on our defense. Yale did an impressive job on capitalizing off of his feeds and generated a lot of offense that way.”

Yale (13-2, 5-1 Ivy) ultimately pushed the lead up to 14-9 to capture the Ivy League’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Crimson (8-8, 3-3 Ivy) never fell behind by more than two goals until late in the fourth quarter, but could not carry the momentum from its upset win over No. 2/2 Brown to another marquee victory over the Bulldogs.

“Our guys left it all on the field today,” Crimson coach Chris Wojcik ’96 said. “There’s really not much else I could have asked for out of them. We just didn’t make the plays when it counted.”

En route to their third straight conference tournament title, the Bulldogs started strong, racing out to a 3-1 lead within seven minutes of the first whistle. Harvard battled back to tie the game at 4-4, and the advantage continued to shift back and forth throughout the first half.

Reeves put his big-play ability on display right from the start, tallying the opening score. He had two goals and two assists by halftime, before having an even better second half and finishing with game highs of four goals and five assists.

Yale senior midfielder Michael Keasey, another First Team All-Ivy selection, also played a big role in the first 30 minutes with a hat trick. His goal as time expired in the second quarter sent his team into halftime with a 7-6 lead and all of the momentum on its side.

The Crimson continued to battle as the game went on, however, hitting back with goals every time the Bulldogs threatened to pull away in the third quarter. Unlike on Friday, when the team rode a career night from sophomore attacker Morgan Cheek, the struggle against Yale was a team effort.

“We aren’t one player, obviously, and quite a few different guys contributed today,” Wojcik said. “That’s what we expect though, for everyone to show up, whether on the score sheet or not.”

Seven players found the back of the net for Harvard, and six got on the score sheet for assists. Senior attacker Devin Dwyer led his side with two apiece for a total of four points, and it was his goal with 13:37 left in the third quarter that tied the game.

Yale hit back through Reeves, and never trailed again. Despite three man-up opportunities in the fourth quarter, the Crimson could not maintain enough possession to keep the game close.

“In the fourth quarter, they won some key faceoffs and took advantage of some sloppy clears and ball handling,” Jahelka said. “As in the first game, they were very deliberate in their offense, which took time off the clock and also usually ended with points on the board.”

—Staff writer George Hu can be reached at yianshenhu@college.harvard.edu.