No. 5 Duke Hands No. 13 M. Lax First Loss of Season

The 13th ranked Harvard men's lacrosse team posted wins over Penn and Fairfield during spring break to extend its unbeaten season before losing to No. 5 Duke.

The Blue Devils (7-2, 2-0 ACC) beat the Crimson 14-8, limiting Harvard to only two goals in each quarter.

The Crimson hung with Duke early and was down just 6-4 at the half. In the third quarter the Blue Devils reeled off four straight goals to put the game out of reach for Harvard.

Senior attackman Jared Frood, senior midfielder T.J. Durnan and brothers Nick and Chris Hartofilis accounted for those four strikes to give Duke a 10-4 lead.

The first half was much the same. Junior midfielders Roger Buttles and Adam McGowan scored in the opening minutes to give the Crimson a 2-0 lead.

Duke then scored five unanswered goals, three of them on extra-man situations. Senior attackman Jared Frood scored three of those five with fellow seniors, midfielders Chris Kakel and T.J. Durnan, accounting for the other two.

Senior attackman Lawson DeVries stopped the Blue Devil scoring run to make the score 5-3 off of an assist from junior attackman Dana Sprong.

Nick Hartofilis scored off of an extra man opportunity to put Duke up 6-3 and then Harvard's Buttles scored in a two man-advantage situation to leave the Crimson down by two at halftime.

In the fourth, Harvard closed the gap to 11-8 off of goals by first-year midfielder Jay Wich and Primm. But, the Blue Devils answered with three goals from Kakel, junior attackman Greg Patchak and Nick Hartofilis.

Duke's defense controlled the remainder of the game holding the Crimson scoreless despite multiple opportunities to score during a three minute Duke penalty for an illegal stick.

Senior goalkeeper Keith Cynar had nine saves on the day and let up more goals than he had saves, a very unusual statistic for him.

Duke converted five of six extra man opportunities and won 38 ground balls to the Crimson's 28. Harvard converted only two of six man-up situations and was outshot by the Blue Devils 40-34.

The transition game and special teams play was evenly split for the two teams.

Both Harvard and Duke won 12 face-offs and the Blue Devils converted 16-of-19 clears while the Crimson converted 14-of-16 building off of a strong showing in transition against Penn on March 25.

In that game against the Quakers (3-3, 0-2 Ivy), the Crimson held on to win, 15-12, despite six fourth quarter Penn goals. Freshman attackman Alex Kopicki scored the last two with 4:26 and 3:28 remaining to give the Quakers the lead

Just after, freshman attackman Matt Primm and junior defenseman Peter Zaremba scored the game-winning goals with 30 seconds and 3:16 remaining respectively to ensure Harvard's win.

Primm led the way offensively tallying four goals on the day. DeVries chipped in with three goals and senior attackman Geoff Watson had a game high five points on three goals and two assists.

Cynar had 11 saves in a more characteristically solid performance between the pipes.

Harvard addressed a problem area in its transition game against the Quakers. The Crimson converted 17-of-22 clears on the day. This coming off of a narrow 8-7 win against Hobart where Harvard transition mistakes fueled a lot of the Statesmen's offense.

Harvard came from behind against Fairfield (2-5) on the 28th to win 10-9 on the strength of fourth quarter goals by Buttles and Primm.

The Crimson owned the third period, scoring four goals and holding Fairfield scoreless. After being down 6-4 at halftime, four different Crimson players found the back of the net, beating Fairfield goalkeeper C.J. Kemp.

Early in the first quarter, Harvard fell behind for the first time all season after sophomore attackman Rob Scipioni and junior midfielder Peter Shanley got past Cynar.

Wich and Sprong tied the game at two before captain attackman Spencer Steele put the Stags ahead 3-2 at the end of the first quarter.

Freshman midfielder John Hemsley scored at the start of the second quarter to give Fairfield a 4-2 lead. The Crimson's Sprong scored two goals and the Stags's Scipioni and Steele accounted for two more before the half.

After the explosive third quarter, Fairfield mounted a comeback. Shanley scored two goals and Stag captain Mark Beckwith scored one to give Fairfield a brief 9-8 lead before Sprong and Buttles gave Harvard the win.

Cynar had 14 saves for Harvard. He stopped two Fairfield shots from point-blank range in the closing seconds, one as time expired.

Harvard's set offense continued to improve in this game with both DeVries and Primm tallying four assists.

The Crimson returns home this Saturday for its next game, hosting Cornell at Jordan Field.