Laxmen Fall to Massachusetts, 13-8

With less than two minutes left in the Harvard men's lacrosse team's game against Massachusetts yesterday at Ohiri Field, Minuteman Wes Depp caught a beautiful pass in front of Harvard's goal from teammate Mark Milon.

Depp hesitated. He was so wide open that he looked lonely. He was so wide open that he had time to contemplate what he would do before scoring his fifth goal of the game. He was so wide open it was scary.

Depp took two steps in front of goalie Matt Camp, made a quick fake high, and then casually threaded the ball between Camp's spread legs. Goal. Game over. Time to shake hands.

Depp's last tally extended the Minutemen's lead to five, dissipated any faint Harvard hopes of victory that lingered in the air, and gave UMass (6-2) the win 13-8 over the Crimson (1-7 overall, 0-3 Ivy).

The Minutemen, affectionately known by UMass fans as the Gorillas, came into yesterday's game riding a five-game winning streak. The Minutemen's success can largely be attributed to its two leading scorers, Milon and Depp, and Harvard found out why yesterday.

"That guy [Depp] kept coming at me and was in my face all day," said Camp, who collected 19 saves yesterday. "We tried to shut down [Milon] but we had some lapses."

Milon and Depp combined to scorch the Crimson for 14 points--Depp had five goals and one assist while Milon had three goals and five assists.

But outside of Depp and Milon, Massachusetts was not very impressive offensively. If not for a disastrous second quarter, Harvard might well have scored its second victory of the season yesterday.

The Crimson's performance against the Minutemen was like one of those sandwiches that looks so appealing from the outside--golden brown French bread with a fancy toothpick holding everything together. But one bite and what's in the middle reveals itself to be odious, a mixture of anchovies and peanut butter.

Harvard sandwiched three solid quarters around an ugly second quarter that saw six unanswered Gorilla goals.

"They got ahead early and just hurt us," said Co-Captain defender Eric Bentley, who collected an assist in the first quarter when he fed junior Mike Porter.

Nevertheless, the Crimson mounted a gutsy second-half comeback, and with 11:54 left in the fourth quarter, Harvard freshman attacker Mike Eckert made a big league look to sophomore James Ames who slam dunked the open shot and cut the Massachusetts lead to three.

Just 17 seconds later the Minutemen bumped their advantage back up to four on Depp's third goal of the game.

The Crimson cut the lead to three goals one more time when freshman attacker Chris Wojcik converted on Ames feed and was fouled in the process, giving Harvard an extra man for one minute.

The Crimson could not convert on that man-up, and in the fourth quarter alone, Harvard squandered four other such opportunities, finishing one-for-nine on extra-man tries. MASSACHUSETTS, 13-8 at Ohiri Field UMass  2  6  2  3  --  13 Harvard  3  0  3  2  --  8

G: UMass--Debb (5), Millon (3), Bailey (2), Ward, Kline, Nentwich; Harvard--Porter (2), Sim, Ames, Nicklas, Eckert, Gaffney, Wojcik. A: UMass--Millon (5), Valente (2), Edell (2), Depp, Ward, Randazo; Harvard--Marvin (3), Sim, Ames, Eckert, Bentley. S: UMass--LoPresti 11; Harvard--Camp 19.

G: UMass--Debb (5), Millon (3), Bailey (2), Ward, Kline, Nentwich; Harvard--Porter (2), Sim, Ames, Nicklas, Eckert, Gaffney, Wojcik. A: UMass--Millon (5), Valente (2), Edell (2), Depp, Ward, Randazo; Harvard--Marvin (3), Sim, Ames, Eckert, Bentley. S: UMass--LoPresti 11; Harvard--Camp 19.