After a slow start doomed the Harvard men’s lacrosse team in its Ivy opener against Penn last Saturday, the Crimson got the spark it needed in its home date against Quinnipiac on Tuesday, as sophomore attackman Sean Kane netted three goals in his first start of the season—including the first two goals of the 9-3 Harvard rout.

A starting spot was available at attack due to the absence of junior attackman Mike McBride, who missed the Quinnipiac game with a shoulder injury and played only sparingly in Saturday’s matchup with Denver.

“Coach [Anderson] asked me to step up and take over [Mike’s] role, settling down the offense,” Kane said. “He’s a leader. Coach asked me to kind of do that and get everybody to work together.”

Kane added a second hat trick against No. 16 Denver (5-2), but the Pioneers capitalized on a 4-0 run to end the third quarter and pulled away for a 10-7 win. In total, Kane scored seven goals over the break, but the Crimson (4-3, 1-1 Ivy) could not capitalize on his strong performance, posting a 1-2 record for the week.

NO. 16 DENVER 10, HARVARD 7

Midway through the third period on Saturday, it appeared that Harvard might be on its way to handing a second top-20 opponent a home loss.

After senior midfielder Jeff Gottschall hit sophomore attackman Steve Cohen who beat Denver goaltender Brian Sanders with 4:19 remaining in the third, the Crimson regained the lead 6-5 and appeared to have the momentum.

Over the next three minutes, the Pioneers not only grabbed the momentum back, they took control of the contest. Denver scored four goals in that span—three of which were unassisted—as the Pioneers turned a 6-5 deficit into a 9-6 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.

The four-goal run came during the only period in which the Crimson lost the faceoff battle. Harvard could only control 2-8 faceoffs in the third, while grabbing 10-13 during the other three quarters. The Crimson also fell in the ground ball department, scooping up only 5-16 in the third, despite holding a 34-32 advantage for the match.

These two factors combined to give the Pioneers an advantage in time of possession, allowing Denver to unleash 18 shots in the period.

Sophomore midfielder Jake Samuelson created his own opportunity and finished with 8:14 remaining in the fourth to close the gap to two. But Denver midfielder Jeff Biggs shut the door on the comeback bid, as he scored to push the Pioneer advantage back to three with just under seven minutes remaining.

The Crimson grabbed the lead 2:32 into the contest as freshman attackman Brian Mahler finished a feed from classmate Greg Cohen. With just over 10 minutes remaining in the quarter, sophomore midfielder Tom Boylan scored to give Harvard a 2-1 lead. The Crimson maintained this slim margin for over nine minutes, but the Pioneers netted two goals in the final 44 seconds to seize a 3-2 advantage at the end of the first quarter.

Harvard responded in the second period as Kane tallied two goals—his second coming with just 2:05 left in the half—giving the Crimson a 4-3 lead. Once again Denver struck in the waning moments of the quarter, as midfielder Scott Davidson scored with just 18 seconds remaining to knot the game at four heading into halftime.

The Pioneers snatched the lead back just 1:05 into the third quarter as attackman Matt Brown found the net. Later in the third, Kane responded for Harvard, finishing his second consecutive hat trick off a feed from Samuelson bringing the sides even at five.

HARVARD 9, QUINNIPIAC 3