1996

Sports Statistics

Record: 8-6, 4-2 Ivy

Ivy Finish: 3rd

Coach: Scott Anderson

Key Players: Captain Rob Lyng; Juniors Mike Ferrucci, Jim Bevilacqua and Robert Hatch

1997

Following the Harvard men's lacrosse team this year was like riding the world's fastest roller coaster--just when you thought the Crimson had cleared its worst hair-raising drop, it slowly climbed up an even steeper hill and went screaming down into even more nauseating depths.

The Crimson did finish the season with a winning record of 8-6, 4-2 Ivy, but Harvard entered 1997 with higher expectations than just surpassing the .500 mark. The men's lacrosse team was looking to pick up right where it had left off the year before--a dream season that did not end until it lost to Virginia in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament.

The Crimson returned two star starting attackmen, junior Mike Ferrucci and junior Jim Bevilacqua and its gutsy goalie and captain Rob Lyng to the 1997 season. In addition, some promising midfielders, such as juniors Lou Bevilacqua and Owen Leary, as well as some tough longsticks in junior Robert Hatch and senior Jeremy Linzee were expected to step up their game this season.

The Crimson did lose a good deal of senior talent to graduation last year, especially leading- scorer Mike Eckert, but Ferrucci and Bevilacqua had more than enough talent to pick up any offensive slack.

The season did look promising for Harvard from the beginning. The Crimson opened up with a 2-0 record in March despite Mother Nature's attempts to prevent lacrosse from being played in the Northeast. An 18-9 win over Boston College (B.C.) in Harvard's second game was perhaps the most promising of its first few wins, as both the offense and defense looked like they had NCAA-caliber material.

Only three days after the B.C. game, the Crimson's hopeful beginning was rudely shattered with a 10-9 overtime loss to the Hartford Hawks. At the time the loss was shocking, since Hartford was not expected to be a lacrosse power-house this season.

Against Hartford the Crimson showed how poorly it was capable of playing. Ferrucci, who was the Crimson's leading scorer that day with four goals, seemed to be pulling his team along like a stubborn dog on a leash.

In such a short lacrosse season, every loss is a huge blow to a team's chances of making the NCAA tournament.