McKenna Shines For M. Lacrosse In Upset of UMass

In lacrosse, there are goalies and then there are monsters. Senior goalie Jake McKenna was the latter on Saturday, racking up 15 saves to lead the men’s lacrosse team to a startling 11-7 victory over the 14th-ranked UMass (2-2).

With eight saves in the first quarter alone, McKenna kept the Crimson (2-1) afloat long enough for them to bound ahead of the Minutemen (2-2) with seven unanswered goals in the second half of Saturday’s game in Amherst. Contributing heavily to the offensive rally was senior attackman Anders Johnson, who came off the bench to deliver a hat-trick.

Senior midfielder Jeff Gottschall and freshman attackman Greg Cohen added two goals apiece to the Crimson’s tally, rounding out an overpowering offensive performance in the second half.

After being outshot 27-11 in the first half, it was only by an enormous effort from McKenna that Harvard ended the half down only 5-4.

“It’s like having a brick wall in the game,” said Cohen. “Not only that, he makes great pitches, setting up plays for our offense like that.”

According to McKenna, the fact that UMass managed 46 shots in the game belied the effectiveness of the Crimson’s defense.

“The three close defensemen in front of me did a great job of shutting them down and only giving them long-range shots,” he said. “They made my job pretty easy.”

Cohen credited McKenna with delivering the ball to sophomore midfielder Peter Doyle in the closing seconds of the first half to set up a shot that was deflected in by Johnson, bringing the score to 5-4 in favor of the Minutemen when it could easily have been 6-3.

“He was able to see them well, because of how the defense was playing their offense, forcing them to go down the side, not allowing passes across the center,” said Johnson of McKenna. “When Jake can see the shot coming he’s very good at shutting it down, and that’s why he’s such a leader and one of the best players on our team.”

The teams were neck-and-neck all through the first half, with McKenna taking a battering from the Minutemen offense. UMass led 3-2 after the first quarter, but Cohen tied it up with a goal on the Crimson’s first possession of the second quarter.

After halftime, Harvard took over, going on a seven-goal run that had brought the score to 11-5 by the middle of the fourth quarter.

Neither Cohen nor Johnson were sure why the tide shifted so dramatically in the second half.

“We just kept playing hard and the younger guys kept stepping up,” said Johnson. “We kept their defense giving. Everyone passed well, dodged hard, kept up the intensity, took good shots and capitalized on those.”

Johnson turned in his third goal just 56 seconds into the fourth quarter, capping off a surprising performance from a player who has been relegated to the bench for much of the season.

“Anders is unbelievable,” said Cohen. “At practice there’s always whispering on the sidelines about how he has the best stick skills anyone’s ever seen.”

UMass managed two goals in the fourth quarter, but was unable to catch the Crimson.

The win comes as an unexpected momentum boost to Harvard after a tough 15-4 loss at the hands of Bucknell on March 6.

“That definitely knocked the wind out of our sails,” said McKenna.

Cohen said the loss to Bucknell inspired a feverish level of practice last week in preparation to face the Minutemen powerhouse.

“We put in a great week of practice as a team,” said Cohen. “A lot of the success came from individual effort.”

Harvard will look to carry the momentum off this victory into next week, when the squad will face Holy Cross (0-3) in Worcester on Tuesday and Fairfield at home on Saturday.

—Staff writer Nathaniel A. Smith can be reached at nsmith@fas.harvard.edu.