M. Lacrosse Dominates Colgate on the Road

Behind stellar goaltending from junior netminder Jake McKenna, the Harvard men’s lacrosse team snapped a four-game losing streak, defeating Colgate 8-2 at Tyler’s Field.

McKenna shut the Raiders down completely in the second half, recording 11 of his 16 saves to blank Colgate (8-7, 4-2 Patriot League). The Crimson (5-9, 1-4 Ivy) ran off five straight goals to blow the game wide open.

“Jake McKenna played unreal,” tri-captain and defenseman Andrew Crocco said. “He made some great, great plays that saved what could’ve been some goals in the second half. He’s the reason we shut them out in the second half.”

Repeatedly turning away point-blank shots, McKenna maintained the squad’s momentum, further inspiring the solid defense in front of him and the already overpowering offensive attack.

At the back, two minor gaffes led to Raider goals, but they were not indicative of any wider defensive woes. On the first occasion, Colgate’s Jeff Vander Meulen drifted in front of the goal and slipped through the defense to score uncontested. The second time around, Raider Robert Trapolini simply caught the Crimson defense on its heels. Faster than Harvard anticipated, Trapolini maneuvered past his defenders with a strong first move and whipped a powerful shot past McKenna.

In both cases, the Crimson either had the advantage or quickly drew level once more, keeping the game close on the scoreboard. Beyond those two hiccups, the Crimson was unchallenged at both ends of the field.

“It felt great tonight,” Crocco said. “We just controlled the tempo of the game basically. We wanted to control everything we could. We did a really good job of that.”

With little time between games in its hectic schedule, Harvard has had little time to work out the kinks in its game that led to the four-game slide. Instead, the Crimson worked primarily on scouting and defense.

Shutting down rival offenses had been particularly difficult for Harvard as of late, with opponents netting a combined 38 goals in the last three games, including a 16-goal outburst from Notre Dame in the most recent debacle.

“We’ve really been trying to focus on possession, quality shots and playing a lot of six-on-six defense,” Crocco said. “One of the things we talked a lot about was recognition of unsettled situations, that we defend the heart right in front of the crease first and then defend out.”

With the fortified defense carefully protecting the goalmouth, the Crimson succeeded in shifting the focus of play to the other end of the pitch.

“[Colgate’s] not as talented as a team, [though] they definitely have some good players,” Crocco said. “They play some good teams very well. It’s a team that if you can control the pace, you’ll do well because we’re a more talented team.”

And control the pace the Crimson did.

Junior Alex Vap positioned Harvard well from the beginning of each restart by winning nine of 14 face-offs. Slowly building up the offensive momentum in the first half, Harvard exploded in the second, netting five goals to increase the lead to six.

“Our offense had been playing hard the whole first half,” Crocco said. “But we weren’t getting our goals right away.”

But good things come to those who wait.

Freshman Steve Cohen tallied his first of the game to expand the lead to 4-2, opening the floodgates. Before the game was over juniors Anders Johnson and Jeff Gottschall and sophomore Mike McBride had scored, while tri-captain Doug Logigian found the back of the net for the second time.

—Staff writer Timothy J. McGinn can be reached at mcginn@fas.harvard.edu.