Co-captain Max Motschwiller tallied 16 points in Harvard’s 2009 campaign, leading his team to its highest win total since 2002. The Crimson took out powerhouse Duke early, but fell just short of the NCAA Tournament. berth.

The Harvard men’s lacrosse team made significant progress this year, finishing with a winning record for the first time since 2004 and ending the season with an 8-5 record—3-3 in the Ivy slate.

The Harvard men set the bar high for next year, beating a top-10 opponent for the first time under head coach John Tillman. But a handful of one-goal losses denied the Crimson the chance to vie for the Ivy League title and kept them from postseason play.

“We made great strides for the program,” said senior co-captain Nick Smith, who led Harvard with 55 ground balls on the season. “We didn’t reach all the goals that we wanted to reach, but I think the senior class can’t be too unhappy with the legacy that they left.”

The Crimson began its season with a bang, pulling out a huge 9-6 upset over then-No. 5 Duke. Freshman Jeff Cohen also made his debut, breaking out onto the collegiate lacrosse scene with a hat trick.

“It certainly set the tone and set the bar high for our season,” co-captain Max Motschwiller said. “[After Duke] we knew that we had the potential to beat any team, but when we came up short in those one-goal games it was pretty upsetting.”

Harvard followed this victory with another confidence booster, thrashing Stony Brook, 12-4, on the Seawolves’ home turf. Recovering from an illness that kept him out of the Duke game, sophomore standout Dean Gibbons returned with a vengeance, finding the Stony Brook net four times. Senior Eric Posner also led the Crimson defensively, picking up four ground balls.

In the team’s home opener, UMass handed No. 11 Harvard its first loss of the season, ending its non-conference winning streak. The Crimson bounced back in its next two matchups, trouncing Hartford and Penn, 18-7 and 11-4, respectively.

But as March ended, so did Harvard’s lacrosse honeymoon. In a crushing defeat, Georgetown squeaked past the Crimson, 9-8, with an early overtime goal.

Suffering from a one-goal deficit would become the rule rather than the exception for Harvard. After briefly recovering with a 17-2 destruction of Presbyterian, the Crimson suffered a three-game losing streak that would effectively dash its hopes for an NCAA playoff berth.

Although senior goaltender Joe Pike made 14 saves on the day, then-No. 3 Cornell was able to overwhelm Harvard, 13-12. The following week, then-No. 2 Princeton handed the Crimson another one-goal defeat. The Tigers sealed Harvard’s fate with an unassisted goal with two minutes to play, giving the Crimson a 10-9 loss. Brown followed suit the next week, defeating Harvard, 8-6.

These three loses proved to be too much for the Crimson to overcome, keeping them from this year’s NCAA tournament and the Ivy title.

But Harvard bounced back, finishing up its season with three straight victories. The Crimson sped past Holy Cross, Yale and Dartmouth, with 11-4, 13-8, and 8-5 wins, respectively.

“In our last couple of games, we just went out and played,” Motschwiller said. “The biggest overall improvement is we just played more as a team as the season went on.”

Although Harvard wasn’t able to accomplish all of its goals for the season, the Crimson men made great strides in improving a program with a less-than-stellar record. The senior class leaves behind a team that can draw on support from each other and from its alumni.

“I’m really excited, now that I am an [alumnus], that the alumni are invigorated about the program,” Smith said. “I hope that continues.”

Harvard will look to continue on its path back to the top of the Ivy League in the upcoming seasons, with its graduated seniors keeping a close eye on their team’s improvement.

—Staff writer Alexandra J. Mihalek can be reached at amihalek@fas.harvard.edu.