Playing in front of a program-record 13,285 fans at Harvard Stadium last Friday night, freshman attackman Peter Schwartz netted his first career goal in a 14-5 loss to No. 7 Duke. The No. 15 Crimson will attempt to regain its momentum with a key Ivy League win when it visits No. 10 Cornell tomorrow in search of the squad’s second Ancient Eight victory.

Bouncing back after a big loss is always tough, but the No. 15 Harvard men’s lacrosse team faces an especially tough task as it looks to rebound from its worst defeat in three years.

After a 14-5 thrashing last Friday night at the hands of No. 7 Duke, the Crimson (5-3, 1-1 Ivy) travels to Ithaca tomorrow to take on the defending national runner-up, No. 10 Cornell (7-2, 2-1 Ivy) at 1 pm.

“It’s definitely a huge game for us,” sophomore attack Jeff Cohen said. “They’re one of the teams to beat in our league, so we’d love to get them this year.”

To win, Harvard freshman goalie Harry Krieger will have to stop a high-powered Big Red offense that has scored over 18 goals twice this season. Despite giving up 14 scores, Krieger made a career-high 17 saves against Duke, earning him Ivy Rookie of the Week honors.

“Cornell plays a different system than Duke,” senior defenseman Ben Smith said. “They’re a little bit more free-flowing. It’s not as much about set plays—they kind of just feed off each other. It’s a little hectic and disorganized, so we’re going to have to communicate well, play very tough on ball, and make it difficult for their players to do what they want.”

The Cornell attack is led by senior Ryan Hurley, who has 26 goals on the year, and sophomore Rob Pannell, who has 15 goals and 26 assists.

Hurley is second in the conference with 2.89 goals per game, and Pannell is first with three assists and 4.67 points per contest.

The defense trying to stop that duo may be without its leader, co-captain Billy Geist, who is questionable after getting injured against the Blue Devils.

“We’ve got to play as a unit,” Smith said. “I think we’re going to try to simplify things a bit. We’re going to play to our strengths.”

Coming off a season-low in goals against Duke, the Crimson offense will need to recover if it is to keep up with a Big Red attack that averages a league-high 23.56 shots on goal per game.

“I think offensively we’re okay,” Cohen said. “What we really need to worry about more is getting the ball into the opposite end of the field, because that includes clearing the ball better, picking up more ground balls, [and] winning faceoffs. I think if we do those things we’ll be able to put up the big goals on offense that we’ve been putting up all year.”

Cohen (20 goals) and Dean Gibbons (19 goals) have led the attack throughout the season. Sophomore Terry White (six goals in his past three games) has helped pick up the slack, and classmate Kevin Vaughan has contributed five goals in his past four games.

Harvard’s 11.38 goals per game average is good for 13th in the country.

Trying to stop them for Cornell will be some combination of freshman AJ Fiore and junior Mat Martinez, who have split time between the pipes this season. Both have done well, with the Big Red leading the Ancient Eight in save percentage. Martinez holds the third-highest individual save percentage in the conference at .667.

One thing Harvard will especially focus on is getting ahead early.