The Harvard men's lacrosse team traveled to Notre Dame on Saturday and returned having suffered a loss that eliminated any hope of qualifying for the 12-team NCAA tournament.
In a game that was by all accounts closer than the score would indicate, the Crimson fell to the 10th-ranked Irish 13-5.
Harvard came into the game with knowledge of Notre Dame's excellent defense and goaltending, but the Crimson believed that it had prepared a game plan that would result in a close game. And it did, at least for three quarters.
After trading early goals, the Crimson surrendered three unanswered scores to the Irish, and fell behind by a score of 4-1 at the end of one quarter. But Harvard battled back in the second quarter.
Down 5-2 after Max von Zuben's goal at 12:57 was answered by Notre Dame's Chris Dusseau, Harvard got two goals from junior Lou Bevilacqua to pull within one.
It looked as if the Crimson might be able to pull even with the Irish, but when Dusseau scored the second of his two goals just 17 seconds before halftime, the Crimson would not get so close again. Notre Dame would score eight of the game's final nine goals.
But the game was by no means determined at this point. A hard fought third quarter produced only two goals, with Jim Bevilacqua netting the Harvard tally, and the Crimson went to the final quarter within striking distance, down only 7-5.
However, it was here that the roof caved in on Harvard, with the Irish netting six unanswered goals, five of them in a span of under five-and-a-half minutes.
"Everybody was trying really hard, and we were worn down pretty badly by the fourth quarter," junior Jim Bevilacqua said.
After fighting the tough Notre Dame team hard for three and a half quarters, Harvard just couldn't keep up at the end.
"Notre Dame has a great defense, and we played good defense for part of the game, but our offense just had trouble getting going and nobody initiated anything," Bevilacqua said.
Another important factor was Notre Dame's goalie, Alex Cade, who stopped 18 of 23 shots on net.
"He was one of the best goalies we faced all year, and with that defense in front of him, they're a tough team," Bevilacqua said.
Captain Rob Lyng played well in net for the Crimson, stopping 16 of 29 shots. The problem was, as Bevilacqua put it, that "most of their goals came from right on the crease."
Still, the game could well have turned the other way.
"It's just a matter of scoring when you shoot and stuff like that," Bevilacqua said. "A lot of little things could have turned this game around, but we just didn't make them happen."
The 7-5 Crimson now face the rest of the year with one of its major goals out of reach.
"We probably have no chance at the tournament now," Bevilacqua said. "That's because, with the exception of the Brown game, we've have no big wins all year. For the rest of the season, we're just playing for pride." G: Notre Dame--Hayes (4), Dusseau (4), DeRiso (3), Webster, Keenan; Harvard--L. Bevilacqua (2), Leary, von Zuben, J. Bevilacqua. A: Notre Dame--DeRiso (4), Keenan (4), Yanicky (2); Harvard--J. Bevilacqua, Chupaila. S: Notre Dame--Cade (18); Harvard--Lyng (16)
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