Harvard Men’s Lacrosse Falls in First Round of NCAA Tournament to No. 6 Syracuse 13-12 in OT

1918. That was the last time a team was able to upset the No. 6 Syracuse Orange twice in one season on the Upstate New York team’s home turf. Trailing 1-14 in the head-to-to head, with the first win in the series coming earlier this season for the No. 13 Harvard Crimson, it seemed that not only would Harvard be able to break that 107-year long streak, but that it might do so with a pair of wins that would mark its first ever over the storied program.

Up by six goals in the second quarter, it seemed that the No. 13 Harvard men’s lacrosse team might be able to keep its postseason hopes alive. However, a late-game surge in the fourth from Syracuse propelled the teams into an OT battle that fell in favor of the home team 13-12, and promptly ended the Crimson’s best season since 1996.

For the seniors, a valiant effort was made to continue the team’s NCAA Tournament berth, but an inability to win possession time on the face off — with Syracuse clinching 25-of-29 takes, or 86 percent — and five detrimental second half penalties that locked the Crimson into man-down situations and allowed Syracuse to go four-for-seven on the power plays, proved too fatal for the Cambridge team to bounce back from.

The name of the game for Harvard all season, a lack of offensive possessions due to an inability to generate at the X forced the Crimson’s wings in senior SSDM Ray Dearth, junior SSDM Owen Guest, sophomore LSM Joost de Koning, amongst others, to step up and force the ball into 50-50 scrum situations following the initial whistle.

With freshman FOGO Jackson Henehan — who started for much of the season at the position — going 0-2, and junior Matt Barraco only clamping a measly four-of-27 and finding himself with a two-minute locked-in penalty for direct contact to the head on the re-defend, there was only so much the Crimson defense could do to stay sharp and a step ahead of the speedy SU offense.

“I think playing so much defense and stopping so many of their offensive attacks in the first half of the game wore us out physically by the second,leading to unforced errors and penalties,” senior defender Logan Darrin said. “It is an unfortunate aspect of the game, but the refs made their decisions and we were unable to gain possession back for what felt like the majority of the fourth quarter.”

While the fourth quarter certainly skewed entirely in SU’s favor, the first half was dominated by the visiting Crimson. From the first whistle it seemed as though Harvard was out to prove something. With a chip on its shoulder following negative pushback from fans and the lacrosse community surrounding the team’s inclusion as the final at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament over No. 11 Army, Head Coach Gerry Byrne’s squad had a vendetta: show why it deserved to fight for another day.

And, from the jump, it seemed that was exactly what the squad was looking to do. In an almost reversal of the teams’ previous matchup in March in which the Crimson dug itself from a 0-5 hole in the first quarter, Byrne’s squad looked confident and capable as it clinched the first face off and struck paydirt just 50 seconds into the first quarter.

The goal from junior attackman Teddy Malone got the crowd on its feet as the Haverford alum bull dodged down the middle of the field, splitting to his right hand and waltzing down the center of the arc with his hands free to rip one past Syracuse goalie Jimmie McCool.

Goaltending was a particular strength for the Crimson throughout the contest, with freshman netminder Graham Stevens seeing the ball well and clearly from the first take. An enormous kicksave from the rookie got things going for him, building some confidence as he staved off three should-have-been goals for Syracuse in the first. Sitting in the top-30 nationally in total saves, the freshman will be a foundational piece of the Harvard defense as he continues to develop over the course of the next three seasons.

“Goaltending is always huge in games and unfortunately I came up one save short,” said the netminder. “I think with us playing them once, film is a great tool and I think both defenses adjusted quicker to the opposing team's offense.”

With 12 saves on the day, Stevens proved to be a vital backboard that kept SU’s momentum stymied until late in the evening. On the other end of the field, McCool, who sat at about a 56 percent save percentage heading into the game — which earned him the ACC Goalie of the Year title — was blinded by the lights. Only making one save in the first half and stopping zero Harvard shots in the fourth, the Crimson made light work of the phenom which allowed the squad to stack plays from the get go.

Graciously giving McCool credit for his “fortitude,” Stevens remarked that despite not “having his best day, he was able to make timely saves that gave his team the chance to stay in it.” Those timely saves certainly turned the tide toward the Orange in the third quarter, but two additional unassisted goals from the Crimson in the first five minutes of play were certainly ones that McCool wishes he could have back.

The second for Harvard fell from the cross of senior attackman Sam King — the first Tewaaraton Award Finalist in Harvard history, a First-Team All-American selection, a First-Team All-Ivy selection, and the all-time leading point scorer for the Crismon — who made his signature curl around the left side of the cage, gaining a step on his man before eeking the ball past McCool as it bounced off of his chest protector.

Next came a goal from junior middie John Aurandt IV. The Brighton, Mich. native got the ball on the perimeter as he dashed in from the sub box, making a move down the left alley to test his SSDM matchup before gaining a step on the re-dodge along the crease with a textbook outside left-to-right roll dodge that got him ample separation to cock his hands back and let a righty side-arm shot sail past McCool’s hip.

SU middie Luke Rhoa proved to be Harvard’s kryptonite, notching four goals that resulted from the Harvard squad locking down Joey Spallina, Sam English, and Owen Hiltz, only allowing the standout attackmen one tally each. While Rhoa’s take ended scoring for the first quarter, the first four goals of the second went in favor of the Crimson, propelling the squad to a seemingly unstoppable 7-1 lead.

Malone got things going about two-and-a-half minutes into play on a filthy take from the low left corner that had him diving cross-crease for a finish on the re-dodge. Junior middie Logan Ip scored the fifth goal for Byrne’s squad, and was joined on the score sheet by sophomore attackman Jack Speidell who added his first of three goals on the afternoon.

An incredibly sloppy play from the Syracuse defense that saw multiple yellow flags thrown in the air for contact to the head and a slash against Logan Ip that constituted two one-minute locked-in penalties for unnecessary roughness, a hold — which should have been a targeting call as defenseman Riley Figueiras wrapped his pole around King’s neck, slammed him to the ground, and proceeded to hold his stick across King’s back so the senior couldn’t get up off of the turf — and a third penalty which was waved off by the referees as Syracuse only served with two men down for one minute, allowed for the Harvard offense to work its man-up unit.

Getting off lightly for such flagrant fouls — which were not escalated upon review from the referees, and did not match similar time served for lesser Harvard fouls later in the game — senior middie Miles Botkiss showed poise as he worked the ball around the perimeter before finding Speidell floating through the middle for a hockey-style quick stick finish past McCool.

Juiced from the chippiness of the penalties, Harvard found itself in a similar situation on the scrum following the next face off as Barraco was sent off of the field for a two-minute locked-in sentence following a cross-check with direct contact to the head. Now at even strength as SU was serving out the rest of its own man-down, the Crimson found itself in its defensive zone.

On the pick, Dearth — an incredibly underrated SSDM who will be sorely missed in the middle of the field and down low on defense next year — found himself guarding English on the two-man game. English cockily tried to swim-dodge over the senior, but the veteran held his ground, stepping out and getting on the middie’s hip, dislodging the ball from his stick and sending the SU player sprawling to the turf. Met by raucous cheers from the crowd, junior LSM Sean Jordan scooped up the GB before sending it out to Guest who had broken down the field and was waiting patiently along the crease.

Making the completely wrong decision, the Syracuse defense slid upfield to meet the pole, leaving both Guest and Malone wide open for the one-more pass, which allowed Guest to creep up around the crease for a point-blank angle, make a convincing fake to get McCool biting, and finally bury it home.

Rhoa would score once more in response two minutes later, but it would be Ip who would find the final goal of the half with his second and final tally on the day.

Heading back out onto the field Harvard needed to keep its momentum going and not take its lead for granted. Despite some back-and-forth play to start the third — in which both teams made crucial errors that sent the ball back into the opposing team’s strike zone — SU would notch both of the first two goals in the period just ten seconds apart at the 6:48 and 6:38 mark to start its unbelievable comeback.

King would respond to the goal by Nick Caccamo — his first of the season — and Spallina would close off play for the third with a goal at the 2:24 minute mark. While the third quarter was certainly a more even bout of lacrosse for both teams, the fourth quarter was won entirely by SU.

Speidell would notch the first goal of the period about a minute and a half into play on the assist from Malone, but from there the game would slip away from the Cambridge program.

Notching six-straight goals — five of which sailed past Stevens in less than five minutes — Syracuse showed why fans endearingly call it Cardiac Cuse as Rhoa tallied his third about 30 seconds following Speidell’s. About 15 seconds after Rhoa’s goal, Guest found himself in the penalty box on a one-minute locked-in call for a cross-check that would entirely change the momentum of the game.

While one moment does not define an entire contest, Syracuse would score three times on the man-up chance, the first two striking paydirt just 11 seconds apart. What made the penalty so debilitating for Harvard was the team’s inability to find possession at the face off to kill time on the penalty clock. With SU proving so dominant at the draw, the Orange was able to string together fast break plays that allowed the team to get its footing and build some much-needed confidence.

Just 20 seconds later, Rhoa would tally his fourth and final goal of the game, tying the contest for the first time since the initial whistle at 11-11. Showing its frustration, Harvard allowed itself to get sloppy in the final moments with junior SSDM Finn Pokorny and junior middie Andrew Perry both taking knees for 30 seconds for pushing at 3:56 and 1:06, respectively.

Capitalizing on Pokorny’s penalty, Michael Leo struck paydirt with about three-and-a-half minutes left on the game clock, securing its first lead of the day. With all of the momentum behind it, Syracuse just had to wait out the clock to earn its place in the NCAA Quarterfinal game.

However, despite all of the late-game mistakes, Harvard found its saving grace in senior middie Owen Gaffney. Stripping the Syracuse — who was trying to play keep away with 30 seconds left — on a frantic double team, junior defenseman Charlie Muller wrap-checked a speedy SU attackman, dislodging the ball which found its way into the stick of senior defenseman Martin Nelson.

With the game clock winding down below 20, Harvard pushed the transition as Guest dashed across the midline where he got the ball down low to Speidell. Recognizing that the defense was expecting him to make a move, the sophomore — in an incredibly high-IQ play — saw Gaffney open for the cross-crease pass, and thread the needle through traffic to the senior who took a last-ditch shot from behind the 25.

Skidding across the turf, the senior struck twine as he let off a righty side-arm rip that made its way past McCool. Now, just six seconds left in regulation.

Straight ice in his veins.

Turning to the crowd, Gaffney called for celebration. However, the work was not over yet.

As is the case with sudden death, the goal made by either team would end the contest and keep that team alive for at least one more day of lacrosse. In these situations, face off becomes even more critical as offensive possessions are lethal.

With such an abysmal performance at the X, Syracuse was heading into the final stretch with all of the advantage. Winning it squarely to himself was SU FOGO John Mullen — who went 24-for-28 on his takes — and the Orange began to work the ball around the perimeter.

Looking for some motion, Spallina held the ball down at X, toying with his defender as he found a cutting Hiltz as he flew down the left alley. Breaking through the double-team and absorbing the trailing momentum of Darrin, Hiltz — for a split second — found a window for his shot that allowed him to send the rock through the five-hole on a nifty little bouncer that ended the careers of the Harvard seniors.

Despite ending sooner than expected, the legacy that this senior class built under the tutelage of Byrne will serve as a foundation of excellence that the younger members of the roster will only build upon. While pivotal players like King, Dearth, Darrin, Nelson, Botkiss, Gaffney, and others will be sorely missed next season, the depth of the Crimson will certainly shine through as younger guys eagerly step up to fill those roles and continue the legacy of the class of 2025.

Only the third group in Harvard history to make the NCAA tournament twice in their careers, the momentum initiated by those men will act as fuel to avenge a game that was squarely within their grasp.

Looking forward, Stevens will continue to provide a confident and capable presence on the defensive end flanked by de Koning, Muller, Guest, Jordan, sophomore LSM Wyatt Wiggins, junior SSDM Finn Jensen, and others who will return to continue chasing glory.

On the recruiting end, Byrne has another stacked class ready to step into the limelight as he welcomes six four-star recruits, three three-star recruits and two un-rated recruits to Cambridge in the fall. With all of the FOGOs returning next year, as well as the addition of one newcomer in Harry Luong — who is coming out of Valor Christian — the team will certainly need to divert its attention to the X if it wants to maintain a serious threat in Division 1.

While there are always areas of improvement for every program, the 2024-2025 Harvard men’s lacrosse team should look back on its season with pride and a hunger to continue working for a bite at the National Championship.

– Staff Writer Katharine Forst can be reached at katharine.forst@thecrimson.co