Senior attackman Greg Cohen paced the Harvard offense in its 12-9 Saturday afternoon win over Holy Cross at Harvard Stadium. Cohen was the only player to score during a defensive-minded opening quarter, giving the Crimson the lead for good. He finished wi

Despite a one-sided history that has seen the Harvard men’s lacrosse team beat Holy Cross in 23 consecutive contests dating back to 1958, the Crimson had to stave off a furious Crusader rally in the final minutes to hold on for a 12-9 victory on Saturday afternoon at Harvard Stadium.

What was supposed to be a tuneup for next weekend’s rivalry game against Yale quickly turned into a dogfight.

“The thing about these games that makes them so challenging and dangerous is that the other team really has nothing to lose,” Harvard coach Scott Anderson said. “All of the sudden they’re hanging around and they’re in the game...and some things are happening for them. You give people enough opportunities and they’re going to score goals.”

The game began quietly, with both teams exhibiting a stout defense throughout the first half. Tough defense and lengthy possessions on offense held the Crusaders (5-7, 1-5 Patriot) scoreless in the frame. It was only the fifth quarter this year that Harvard (4-6, 2-2 Ivy) has held its opponent without a goal.

Senior attackman Greg Cohen netted the only goal of the first quarter with 10:58 remaining on a tough shot that snuck into the left corner of the net.

The Crimson would go two goals up on a bullet from 15 yards out by senior attackman Evan Calvert with 10:11 remaining in the second quarter.

Holy Cross got on the board with 5:20 left in the second quarter with a goal by Paul LeBlanc and added another a minute later to knot the score at 2.

Freshman attackman Jesse Fehr scored his first goal of the season off a loose rebound with 2:23 left, only to see the Crusaders respond immediately with a goal of their own to send the teams to the locker room deadlocked at 3.

The three goals allowed by Harvard marked the second-best first-half defensive performance of the season, after the team allowed just one two weeks ago at home against Brown.

“They’ve been playing great, rock solid,” said Cohen, the team’s leading scorer, of the defense. “I have a lot of confidence in the guys back there.”

But both teams abandoned all pretenses of a defensive struggle in the second half, setting up a flurry of goals in the game’s final minutes. The half was dominated by streaks—one team would go on a run, and then the other would respond.

Senior midfielder Carle Stenmark netted his first goal of the game 1:12 into the second half on a creative spin move from the edge of the crease. LeBlanc responded with his second goal of the day scarcely a minute later to tie the score at 4.

The Crimson then proceeded to score four straight goals over the next eight minutes to build a seemingly comfortable 8-4 advantage with 3:32 to play in the third quarter. Harvard’s first seven goals were scored by seven different players before Stenmark picked up his second of the game.

“It’s good to get good individual performances and get some new guys scoring goals,” Cohen said.

The teams alternated pairs of goals to being the fourth quarter. Junior attackman Brooks Scholl netted his second of the day to regain a four-goal lead with 11:28 remaining in the game, but it was the last Crimson goal for more than 10 minutes.

“We would play well for a little run and then get up, and then we would play sloppy,” Anderson said. “We did it at both ends of the field, offensively and defensively.”

LeBlanc rallied Holy Cross, scoring his third and fourth goals of the game to reduce the Crimson lead to 10-8 with seven minutes remaining. The Crusaders tallied one more with 1:25 remaining on a quick inside pass to reduce the lead to 1 and put a half-century-long streak in serious jeopardy.

However, faceoff extraordinaire John Henry Flood won the ensuing ball-drop to give the Crimson possession. The co-captain won 19 of 24 faceoffs on the day, including eight of eight in the fourth quarter.

Holy Cross had one final opportunity when senior Brian Mahler turned the ball over with a minute remaining, but was unable to convert, giving the ball back to Harvard 10 seconds later. Senior midfielder Adam Mahfouda and sophomore defensemen Eric Posner each added goals in the final 30 seconds against a dejected Crusaders defense to round out the scoring.

Despite the final score, the victory felt more like a step backwards for Anderson.

“We let a lot...get away from us today—that’s regressing, and that’s not good,” he said. “We asserted ourselves for about five minutes and then all of the sudden we’re throwing the ball to the guys in the wrong-colored jerseys.”

Up next for the Crimson is traditional rival Yale, which nearly knocked off No. 2 Albany two weeks ago.

“We have a whole week to practice,” Anderson said, “and I think we’ll be resilient.”