M. Lax Scares No. 2 Princeton with Second-Half Rally That Falls Just Short

Trailing 10-3 at halftime, Harvard men’s lacrosse tri-captain Doug Logigian tried to rally his team with words, but it was his actions on the field in the second half that spoke even louder.

Just 20 seconds into the third quarter, Logigian scored to cut No. 2 Princeton’s lead to six.

It was the second goal in a run that would see the Crimson (4-6, 1-3 Ivy) score five straight, narrowing the gap to three before ultimately falling to the heavily-favored Tigers, 12-8.

“Inspired by a passionate halftime speech by our captain Doug Logigian, we realized that we could compete with them,” said sophomore midfielder Tim Reid.

Harvard went down 10-2 to Princeton (7-2, 3-0) midway through the second quarter, but started its comeback just before halftime with inspiration from an unlikely source.

With just 12 seconds remaining in the half, freshman attack Steve Cohen scored with the man advantage to end the Tigers’ five-goal scoring streak that had started 1:14 into the second quarter.

It was just Cohen’s third goal of the season, while it was the Crimson’s second man-up score of the half after going only 6-for-28 with the man advantage through the first nine games of the season.

After Logigian’s goal 20 seconds into the second frame made it 10-4, he added another four minutes later to cut the lead to five and pick up a hat trick with his 12th goal of the season.

It was the only scoring of the third quarter as Harvard tightened its defense.

After allowing 10 goals and recording just three saves in the opening 25 minutes of the game, junior goaltender Jake McKenna and the Crimson defense shut down the Tigers for more than thirty minutes as Harvard rallied.

McKenna did not allow another goal until 4:35 of the fourth quarter when Drew Casino finally stopped the Crimson run. McKenna conceded just two goals in the second half, both to Casino, and recorded five saves on 10 shots.

Harvard drew as close as it would come when freshman attack Sean Kane found the net off a sensational feed from sophomore attack Mike McBride, allowing it to cut the deficit to just 10-7 with 10 minutes remaining.

Kane added a late goal, his 12th of the season, with 2:58 remaining to cut the lead to three once more. By then, however, the Crimson would have needed several quick strikes in order to tie the game. It didn’t get them.

Harvard’s brilliant second-half performance showed the talent and potential of the team.

“This match showed that we can play with and beat any team in the nation,” McBride said. “But in order to do so, we need to keep up the intensity and focus for all four quarters.”

Logigian and tri-captain attack Matt Primm were the driving forces behind the rally.

Junior Alex Vap collected a game-high eight ground balls and played exceptionally well in the fourth quarter, winning 5-of-6 faceoffs. He finished 14-for-24 in the game.

The Crimson owned the second half on the scoreboard and the stat sheet.

“We came out [after halftime] looking to dominate the ground ball wars,” Reid said.

Harvard did just that, winning the battle for ground balls, 20-11 in the second half and 33-28 in the game.

The Crimson also outshot the Tigers, 17-10, took 6-of-8 faceoffs and, most importantly, outscored Princeton 5-2 in the second half.

But a disastrous opening 30 minutes doomed Harvard on Saturday. Just 5:41 into the game, Princeton already had a 4-0 lead.

Logigian got one back at 8:05 of the first quarter before the Crimson and Tigers traded man-up goals at the end of the quarter.

Despite Harvard’s valiant comeback in the second half, Princeton had already put the game away with a strong run to start the second quarter. With the score 5-2 and the contest still relatively close, the Tigers scored five straight goals in the span of just 6:56 to open their largest lead of the game, 10-2.

Primm and junior midfielder Jeff Gottschall added goals for the Crimson.

Harvard will be at home this Wednesday when it faces UMass at 3 p.m. on Jordan Field.

—Staff writer Timothy Jackson can be reached at jackson2@fas.harvard.edu.