Not Even a Question: No. 13 Harvard Men's Lacrosse Dominates No. 17 BU 16-7

The dogs certainly weren’t let out on Tuesday night on Jordan Field as the No. 13 Harvard men’s lacrosse team (6-2, 1-1 Ivy) bested the No. 17 Boston University Terriers 16-7 in a contest that was dominated entirely by the Crimson.

In a game that has been rebranded to The Charles River Rivalry, there wasn’t much of a healthy competition as the Crimson ended the first half up nine goals in a 12-3 lead that would never swing back into the Terriers’ favor. From BU Head Coach Ryan Polley’s technical foul on his attempt to call a third TO in the second quarter after using his allotted two to regroup early on, the Harvard bench knew that it was doing something right. In a game that was predicted to be much closer given BU’s OT upset win over No. 3 Army over the weekend, there was never hesitation as to who would walk off the field victorious.

“On the defensive side, when a team beats a No. 3 team in the country, it just makes the game more important,” junior defenseman Charlie Muller said. “And they’ve proven that when they play disciplined and play thoroughly that they can beat anyone in the country. For us to hold them to seven goals shows the talent that we have from the top down, and that we can hang with any team in the nation.”

Setting the tone early was co-captain and standout defenseman Martin Nelson, who got things going on a fast-break pole goal off the assist from junior attackman Teddy Malone, who hit the cutting Nelson on a slick feed for a textbook finish just 22 seconds into the contest. The next three also went in for the Crimson, with junior middie Andrew Perry sniping the underside of the crossbar about a minute later on a left-to-right split that left his defender trailing. Sophomore attackman Jack Speidell had a day, with two of his five goals dropping in next to push Harvard to a 4-0 run.

Both of the goals resulted from Speidell’s sneaking the pipe, exploiting his defender’s getting caught ball-watching, which allowed him to creep around the opposing side of the cage for a slick set of high-to-low passes first from Malone, and then from captain and attackman Sam King about three minutes later. Just a second-year, the St. Anthony’s product is making light work of some of the best defensive units in the nation.

“Jack [Speidell] won’t say it himself, but as a defender, sneaking pipes makes it really, really hard to play defense, and Jack got like three goals sneaking the pipes,” Muller said. “And that makes it almost impossible to play team defense, so from the attack, I think sneaking was a big emphasis.”

In between Speidell’s snipes the Terriers called a much-needed TO to regroup, but that decision ultimately came back to haunt them later in the contest, when the team found itself needing an additional reprieve from Harvard’s offensive onslaught. BU would crawl back into contention with two quick goals to make it a 4-2 game, but three responding snipes from Harvard would show who wanted it more.

Senior middie Owen Gaffney took it to the hoop first on a right-to-left split down the wing in a move nearly identical to his snipe against Princeton last weekend. The next goal was quarterbacked by King following a win on the faceoff that fell in favor of the Crimson on a technical, as the senior made a nasty move on the right side of the crease that allowed him to find the inside lane on his matchup. The next faceoff went in favor of the Terriers, but senior SSDM Ray Dearth wasn’t about to let the visiting team take it to the cage.

On a stellar save from a point-blank bouncer, freshman goaltender Graham Stevens — who went over 50 percent last night — found Dearth on the quick outlet, and the veteran fought through a swarm of red jerseys before taking it across the midline. Showing poise throughout the entire contest, Harvard really worked through its entire possession clock, which allowed it to maintain its lead. Rotating on its middies, the attack got the ball to junior John Aurandt IV, who held at the midline until the clock hit 20, working through for one last take before the buzzer.

Aurandt didn’t even need the full 20, all he needed was five seconds to make some magic. Barrelling by his SSDM matchup, Aurandt took it down the middle with his left hand, not even drawing a slide from the BU defense as he sprinted down towards the cage. A lethal outside shooter, the Terriers’ miscommunication on sending the help sealed the nail in the coffin as the clock hit 15 seconds.

The bench erupted. From that moment on, it was all Harvard.

The opening four goals of the second period dropped squarely in favor of the Crimson, the first one just 35 seconds into play on the man up snipe from middie Miles Botkiss. The crafty senior found a lane down the left alley and sent a little bouncer past the BU netminder on the feed from junior co-captain Logan Ip. The next faceoff was won by the Crimson, and despite a good offensive possession, the ball was turned over to the Terriers, who were subsequently shut down by Harvard’s low defense. Nelson, who held BU’s leading point scorer Timothy Shannehan to zero goals, made the smart move on a quick slide, getting on the hands of a BU middie and forcing the contested GB before sending it into space for Mueller, who took his chances on a winding pole goal.

“We slid to our shorties well,” Muller said. “Our shorties have been getting heat from Coach about not getting out, but they got out today. They made contact, we were able to slide, and we also dug deep. In the third quarter they had four possessions in a row when we had trouble clearing, and the fact that we were able to get those stops, and provide cushion on those punches, is why we won this game.”

Not wasting the unsettled chance, Harvard realized that BU still hadn’t recovered from the fast break, and in its four-on-three matchup, Speidell again crept around the side of the cage from X for a quick hit from Malone and an instantaneous righty snipe. The BU defense shook its head in disbelief; such a blatant miscommunication on the substitution is not expected from a top-20 program, and the Terriers’ clearly recognized that as they called for their second TO to work through the kinks.

BU won the next face off, but Stevens read the Terriers’ attempt at an outside shot the entire way, making the easy stick-side high save before finding the low outlet, who quickly hit junior SSDM Owen Guest. Guest — a high-IQ junior out of the Brunswick School — recognized that BU had left its net unguarded in the 10-man ride, and slung the ball almost 80 yards where it hit twine.

The Harvard bench found yet another Sports Center Top-10 worthy play to celebrate.

The next goal was also the result of an open net on the fast break, this time scored by Malone who received a long, arcing pass across midfield from Muller, who found the sophomore waiting in the low right corner. Malone got underneath his guy and bounced it squarely in the middle of the cage. There was no missing that one.

One more goal would go for each team, with Gaffney repeating the same move down the left alley to end the first 30 minutes of play.

The first half was the decider for the contest, as Harvard found glory just four more times in the subsequent two quarters — including two more for Speidell, one more for King, and one for junior LSM Sean Jordan on a fast break opportunity — and BU only clawing its way back into contention with four more goals.

The defense — which was captained by Nelson and Dearth — played stellar team D through the whole evening. Coming back into competition following an injury that has kept him sidelined through the first seven games was senior defender Tommy Martinson, who wasted no time in tallying a GB and CTO in just his first few minutes back on the field. Rotating in players through the fourth quarter, Harvard showed the depth of its bench and its ability to adapt to new lines being introduced.

While the first half was marked by clean, responsible play from the Crimson, the second half was decidedly sloppier, with the team failing to clear the ball on several occasions, and forcing offensive possessions that gave BU extra opportunities on its attack. Overall, though, the team showed up and did what it needed to do to secure the win.

“They came back after halftime pretty hot, they had the ball for the majority of that third quarter,” Botkiss said. “They battled back and we withstood the punches and came back to finish on top. It was a great team win.”

Even withstanding the punches, the squad has areas of improvement heading into its next game on Saturday. According to Speidell, the imperative is “coming out hot and winning those first five minutes” to ensure that the team can once again protect its home turf.

Heading into play this weekend, the squad will face off in another non-conference contest against Binghamton on Saturday. The game is set to take place at 1 p.m. on Jordan Field, and the action will also be streamed live on ESPN+.

—Staff writer Katharine A. Forst can be reached at katharine.forst@thecrimson.com