Co-captain Peter Schwartz, seen here in prior action, scored a goal for the Crimson in Harvard's 9-8 win over Princeton

In the Harvard men’s lacrosse team’s opening contest of its 2014 campaign, the Crimson ran into a brick wall offensively against No. 14 UMass and eventually succumbed in the low-scoring contest.

Harvard (0-1) was able to keep the score close, but the Minutemen were eventually able to separate and run away with the victory, 8-4.

“UMass outplayed us,” Crimson coach Chris Wojcik '96 said. “We went toe-to-toe for awhile, but a combination of fewer possessions and us not being sharp offensively was the difference. It was a slow game, and [UMass] did a good job controlling it.”

Scoring came at a premium throughout the match as vast stretches of the game went by without either team notching a goal. After Minuteman senior Connor Mooney scored just 1:28 into the game, the match continued scoreless for nearly 10 minutes until Harvard senior midfielder and captain Peter Schwartz found an answer.

“Our defense played very well,” Wojcik said. “Our goalie, Jake Gambitsky, had a strong game in goal for us too. We just struggled offensively.”

Three minutes later, UMass defenseman James Fahey was able to score off of a successful clear, assisted by attackman Grant Whiteway, to end the quarter. His goal was followed right after the restart by freshman attackman Nick Mariano, who scored his team-leading seventh goal of the year to put UMass up, 3-1.

Another nine scoreless minutes passed before the Crimson could bounce back to tie the game. Sophomore midfielder Brendan Newman answered first, assisted by classmate Sean McDonagh. Sophomore attackman Ian Ardrey added another score to tie up the contest, assisted by Schwartz, with only five seconds left in the half.

Harvard came out in the second half looking to ride the momentum from its late goal but was forced to watch its offense stall for the remainder of the contest. UMass’s offense could not find the back of the net for the first 13 minutes of the quarter, but the team picked up a pair of scores when Mariano and classmate Grant Consoletti scored in quick succession to end the third quarter.

“Every year the offense always takes a little longer to come along,” Schwartz said. “Its more about chemistry and playing together. We have a lot of new guys in different spots, but we do have all the pieces.”

Only a minute into the fourth quarter, the Minutemen landed the finishing blows, as attackmen Andrew Sokol and Whiteway scored two goals within a span of five seconds. UMass dominated the faceoff matchup throughout the course of the match, going 9-for-11 in the first three quarters and 11-for-16 for the entire game. Whiteway’s goal was a direct result of a quick win by faceoff midfielder Joe Calvello, an advantage that was instrumental to the Minutemen’s success.

“They were able to get a couple goals and transitions, and just maintain a lot of possessions,” Wojcik said. “We tried a number of different options, but their faceoff guy is very good… and I think that put them in positions to score goals. Overall, that was a big part of the game.”

Schwartz and Mariano would each add another goal before the game finished, both eventually leading their respective teams with three points for the game. In UMass’s three contests to date, Mariano has scored four, two and three goals, respectively.

Despite the close score at the start, the Crimson was outperformed in many important aspects of the game by its opponent. In addition to being dominated in the faceoff fight, Harvard struggled in the groundball battle. The Minutemen were able to claim 27 groundballs to the Crimson’s 13.

“I thought we played really well in 6-on-6 defense and offense,” Wojcik said. “It was really the transition and faceoff goals that hurt us.”

Harvard gave up 14 turnovers, 12 of them being forced by UMass defensemen, while the Crimson defense caused only 4 such turnovers. Harvard also failed on all three of its extra-man opportunities.

“Our organization just needs to continue to improve going forward,” Schwartz said. “If our defense keeps playing the way it that they played all season, then the offense will definitely come along.”

—Staff writer Theo Levine can be reached at tlevine@college.harvard.edu.