Yale failed to maintain its 11-goal average, only managing to score four on the contest, thanks to the tight Crimson defense and freshman Evan O’Donnell in the goal, who made 13 saves throughout the game.
Wannop attributes the great success of Saturday’s game to a shift in attitude on the team. While earlier, the team struggled to get energetic about the upcoming games, the Harvard-Yale atmosphere provided both energy and intensity to increase the spirit for the game.
“The Harvard-Yale rivalry gets people excited,” Wannop said.
Kane echoed the thoughts of his teammate.
“It’s so easy to get up for Harvard-Yale,” Kane said. “It’s such an exciting atmosphere, and it’s a tradition. Realizing that you’re part of something bigger than just lacrosse was great. Everybody just stepped it up and really said that [they were] going to play great today.”
Defeating the Bulldogs was a satisfying victory, but the Crimson will face tough competitors in its upcoming three games.
Harvard will face No. 9 University of Massachusetts this Tuesday at Jordan Field followed by No. 17 Hofstra and No. 11 Dartmouth on the road in the next two weeks.
Kane is confident that although the Crimson will face challenging teams, its success from Saturday’s game will carry over and help the team to continue to win.
“These next three games are huge tests for us, but today we proved we can play like a great team,” Kane said. “We have to take that energy and put it into everything that we do. I think the confidence will carry over to the next games.”