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The Harvard men’s lacrosse team (5-0, 0-0) clawed its way out of a 4-1 deficit to narrowly topple the University of Vermont Catamounts (1-4) 15-12. The squad is 5-0 for the first time since the 2000 season.
Vermont drew first blood early, scoring on an effective off-ball pick. The squad would put up four goals in the first four minutes, with the Crimson only able to tally one of its own to shift momentum to Vermont to start the day. The second goal for UVM resulted from a late rotation on the left wing that gave a Catamounts attacker time and space to rip the ball past senior goalie Christian Barnard.
Harvard answered back, notching its first goal of the night to narrow UVM’s lead to just one. Sophomore middie Logan Ip made a hard dodge towards the cage down the left alley, gaining a step on his defender, which caused UVM to send a quick slide. Junior middie Miles Botkiss recognized that UVM was slow to send the second rotation and held his space at the top of the arc. Ip made the heads-up feed to Botkiss at the point, and the junior ripped a lefty cannon to put the Crimson on the board.
The Catamounts would respond to Botkiss’s goal with two more of its own, with the first coming off an easy side arm rip from the right wing about a minute later. Thirty seconds after that, UVM scored on a decisive one-on-one take. Sophomore middie Cullen Decker attacked his matchup with junior SSDM Andrew O’Berry, gaining a step on the McLean, Va. native with a shifty lefty face dodge at the 30. O’Berry lost his positioning as he went for the trail check from behind and Decker was able to drive hard to cage and rip it lefty past Barnard, with the Crimson defense arriving too late to help.
Despite starting off slowly, which has been a consistent theme through its games so far this season, the Crimson was able to dig itself out of its early deficit. The next five goals fell in Harvard’s favor, with sophomore Teddy Malone getting things cooking on attack with an unassisted drive around the right side of the cage. The sophomore got a step on his defender as he wrapped around the crease, throwing in a pump fake that got his matchup biting and allowed him to send the ball past senior goalie George Egan.
Quarterbacking his offense with five goals and two assists, junior attackman Sam King – who ranks second for most points in the NCAA – notched his first point of the afternoon on an assist to senior attacker Graham Blake. King drove down the left alley, finding a pocket of space on a pick from O’Berry that enabled him to make a tricky cross-fan pass to Blake, who was creeping up the right side of the crease as he back-doored his defender. Blake found success, narrowing Vermont’s lead to just one goal.
In a valiant effort to tie the score at four, Harvard demonstrated the prowess of its ride. After turning the ball over, the Crimson attack swarmed a clearing Catamounts defenseman. Blake was able to wrap-check the UVM player, sending the ball to the turf where an awaiting King scooped it up and pushed hard to the cage where he sent it flying past Egan. Freshman SSDM Finn O’Hara sent King sailing after the play, and was sidelined for one locked-in-minute for unsportsmanlike conduct. The Crimson, on its only man up opportunity of the game, found success twice.
Junior attacker Liam Griffiths, who has been playing the post for the man up unit in the last few games, got his hands free on a feed from King and let a low righty side-arm loose past Egan to secure the team’s first lead of the game. Thirty seconds later, Blake and King showed off their connection once again. King carried the ball across the top of the arc, where he hit a cutting Blake on the doorstep for an easy finish.
The Catamounts would score the next two to end the first quarter tied at six apiece, exploiting the Harvard defense’s rotations – which were a second slow – to get its hands free in space and shoot from out wide. The second quarter was gridlocked, with each squad responding to the other’s shifting momentum. The Crimson struck first, notching two early goals just seven seconds apart. King found paydirt less than a minute into the quarter, attacking space around the right side of the on a pick from Botkiss that allowed him to get his hands free to send one past Egan. Junior SSDM Ray Dearth buried the next goal on a fast break attempt, securing the ground ball on a face off win by freshman FOGO Owen Umansky – who went two-for-three on the day – before showcasing his speed as he barreled down the middle of the field for a decisive finish.
“As for the fast breaks off of the faceoff in this last game, it’s a very important component in the faceoff game if you can win the ball forward explosively and timely. Not all faceoffs are created equal,” Umansky said. “And, when you can quickly score on your opponent off of the faceoff, it impacts the game in multiple ways. It impacts the score directly and quickly, but also adds energy to the team and can swing the momentum of a game in just a few plays.”
The next two goals would fall in favor of Vermont, with freshman attackman Max Frattaroli – who tallied both – sending clean takes past Barnard. The shifty attackman showcased his off-ball movement, backdooring his defender on the doorstep for an easy lefty finish that tied the game at eight. Both squads would find the back of the net once more to end the half gridlocked at nine.
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Harvard returned to the field ready to compete for the second half, out-playing the Catamounts for the entirety of the third quarter. The Crimson notched four goals and shut out the Vermont offense for the full fifteen minutes of play. King found the back of the net twice, and Malone and sophomore LSM Sean Jordan each struck paydirt as well.
Vermont ended its 18 minute long scoring drought three minutes into the fourth quarter, notching the first two goals of the period to narrow the Crimson’s lead to just two with over 12 minutes to play. The Harvard defense had trouble locking down the Catamounts’ lethal outside shooters, which allowed Vermont to stretch the defense and shoot with time and space.
Harvard’s fast break looked more deadly than it has all season, and King continued with that momentum, finding the back of the cage off an assist from junior FOGO Andrew DeGennaro just six seconds after UVM’s senior middie Griffin Fenech sent one flying past Barnard. About three minutes later the Catamounts would once again narrow the Crimson’s lead to two with just under five minutes on the clock, but a goal from Ip two minutes later would prove the final nail in the coffin for UVM, sealing Harvard’s fifth-straight victory. Vermont made a last ditch effort to regain possession on its defensive end, with Vermont Head Coach Chris Feifs making the risky decision to send his goalie out of the cage to play the man advantage. Ip was able to break his double team and lob an easy shot into the back of the net.
“I believe our consistent performance this year at the faceoff dot has directly impacted overall team performance,” Umansky added. “Faceoffs and possessions are essential in the game of lacrosse, and for us, our play at the X has indeed helped in an advantage of time of possession, increased scoring opportunities, and in taking the pressure off of our defense.”
The Crimson will need to come out of the gate hot during its next slew of games and minimize its errors in the midfield if it hopes to compete amongst the athletic prowess of the Ancient Eight. The Ivy League, which boasts five teams in the Inside Lacrosse top-20 rankings, showcased its depth this past weekend with a series of hotly contested matchups. No. 17 UPenn (3-2), and No. 15 Princeton (3-2) each played two games this weekend against No. 1 Duke (5-1) and No. 18 UNC (3-2), with UPenn toppling Duke 14-12 on Friday before falling to UNC 13-9 Sunday, and Princeton besting UNC 15-9 on Friday before succumbing to Duke 17-8 Sunday. Brown (0-4) was handily finished off by No. 11 Georgetown (3-2) — which was fresh off its OT win against the former No. 1 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (3-1) — 11-5, and Dartmouth (2-2) clinched an OT win against Sienna (2-3).
Harvard will take on No. 13 Michigan (5-1) – which breezed past No. 19 Delaware (2-2) for a 13-8 victory Saturday – in its last weekend of non-conference play before it heads into its first league game against historic rival No. 10 Yale (2-1), who lost against Penn State (4-1) 15-14 in OT this weekend.
The Crimson will travel to Ann Arbor, Mich. where it will look to topple the Wolverines and extend its win streak to six consecutive games on Sunday at noon. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+.
—Staff writer Katharine Forst can be reached at katharine.forst@thecrimson.com
