At Home, Princeton Smokes M. Lax, 12-8...

Probably the last team a struggling Harvard men's lacrosse team wanted to face was Princeton.

Three time defending national champs. Four straight Ivy titles. Undefeated in the Ancient Eight this year.

Still, defying expectations, the Crimson (3-6, 1-3 Ivy) kept it close in the first half, trailing only 6-4. But the Tigers' (5-3, 4-0) talent took over at the start if the second half rattling off five consecutive goals to win 12-8 Saturday at Class of 1952 Stadium in New Jersey. HARVARD  8 PRINCETON  12

"We need to work hard for the whole game," junior attacker Lawson DeVries said. "We know we have the players to win, but we haven't put together a complete game."

The Tigers second half run actually began at 14:37 of the second quarter when sophomore midfielder Matt Bailer found the back of the net for his second of three goals on the day.

Just 39 seconds into the third quarter sophomore attacker Matt Streiber made the score 7-4, netting one with the man advantage.

"At the beginning of the second half we came out sluggish," said DeVries, who had two goals and an assist for the Crimson. "With our young team, we didn't know how to react."

Bailer in particular hurt the Crimson. He had a career day for Princeton scoring three goals and going a perfect 12-for-12 on faceoffs.

Harvard had difficulty maintaining any possession of the ball in the fateful third quarter. Bailer was largely responsible, winning most of his draws cleanly to himself.

"Bailer played great," sophomore midfielder Dana Sprong said. "He's scored about half of his career goals in the past few games so he's been coming on strong for [Princeton]."

Harvard also didn't receive any help from the officials suffering an eight-to-one penalty deficit. Princeton converted on half of its man-up situations.

Meanwhile, junior midfielder Geoffrey Watson netted the only extra man goal for Harvard way back at 3:31 of the second quarter tying the score then at 2-2.

"We felt we had a number of bad calls in the game," Sprong said.

By 11:17, Princeton freshman attacker B.J. Prager completed his hat trick and tallied the final power play goal of the game.

At 11-4, the game was basically out of reach.

This didn't stop Harvard from trying. Sophomore midfielder Roger Buttles made the game 11-5 with 2:14 left in the third quarter.

The Crimson started to maintain possession of the ball and dictate the play to the Tigers. Harvard began working the ball down low.

The improved territorial play paid off just 37 seconds into the final quarter. Watson fed DeVries right in front of the goal and the junior beat Corey Popham to bring Harvard to within five.

A Princeton goal widened the lead back to 12-6, but Sprong answered two minutes later on a setup by Buttles.

Sophomore midfielder Adam McGowan--Harvard's faceoff specialist who obviously struggled Saturday--redeemed himself a little on the final Crimson goal.

McGowan caught the Tigers sliding the wrong way, reversing directions on a pass to DeVries in front of the goal. He then powered the ball past Popham.

"[McGowan] gave me a great look," DeVries said. "The play just reversed around to me and I scored."

Over the final quarter, Harvard dominated the play and recaptured the edge it had early.

"There was a clear shift in momentum during the fourth," Sprong said. "We played the way we played in the first half."

The Crimson stormed out of the locker room ready to play. Buttles opened the scoring, on an assist by freshman midfielder Michael Baly to hand the Crimson its only lead of the day.

Princeton netted the next two goals before Watson bagged his man-up goal.

The Tigers again responded with a deuce, including the first offering from Prager widening the Princeton lead to 4-2.

At 14:23 of the second quarter Watson and DeVries combined for the first time for a strike. This time DeVries setup the junior for his seventh goal of the season.

"Early on, we basically possessed the ball," DeVries said. "[Princeton] didn't pressure us as much as other teams. We were moving the ball around and they couldn't slide fast enough to keep up with the second pass."

While DeVries wasn't pleased with the result, he extracted some small satisfaction from beating close friend Popham twice. Popham allowed four goals and made four saves in the second half, replacing starter Trevor Tierney.

Tierney stopped the Crimson five times while allowing four strikes.

Junior goaltender Keith Cynar had another busy day for Harvard. Cynar made 19 saves on the afternoon.

"[Cynar] made some great saves out there for us," DeVries said.

Despite dropping its third straight game, Harvard, a team with just one senior, extracted many positives from the effort. Predictably, most centered around the first half and final quarter.

"We have a young team," DeVries said. "We learned that we have the skill to play with most of the teams in this league."

At this point of the season, the lessons Harvard draws from each game are critical. With just four games remaining this year, the Crimson are playing with an eye towards next year.

"We are improving in all areas of our game," DeVries said. "The younger guys look to us juniors for guidance in lifting their play."

Next up, the Crimson will host Yale this Saturday at home. The Elis are coming off a big win against Townson State and will look to extend Harvard's losing streak.

"Yale always comes at us strong," DeVries said. "We need to possess the ball. Our `D' has played great all year, but if we don't control faceoffs it's gonna be tough."