Freshmen Sparkle During M. Lacrosse's Season

For the Harvard men’s lacrosse team, this season was all about what could have been and what will be.

What could have been because of the multiple Ivy League losses that the team suffered by just a goal or two, and what will be because of the impressive contributions of one of the most talented freshman classes in the country.

Just a few weeks removed from a tough 7-5 loss to Penn to open conference play, the Crimson led then-No. 16 Cornell by a score of 8-6 with just 4:41 remaining after a goal by junior attackman Mike McBride. After two late Big Red goals tied the game, however, Cornell scored on the first shot of overtime to deal Harvard (7-6, 2-4 Ivy) a crushing loss that all but ended the Crimson’s hopes of an Ivy League title.

“[The Cornell game] was the most difficult loss in my career at Harvard,” senior defenseman Hani Malone said. “I think most of the seniors would agree with me.”

Cornell finished the season at 5-1 in the Ivy League and earned an NCAA tournament bid, joining Princeton (5-1 Ivy) and Penn (3-3 Ivy) as the Ivy League representatives. Harvard finished in a tie for fifth with Brown, ahead of only Yale.

“You don’t forget about a game like [the Cornell game],” said sophomore attackman Sean Kane, who tallied 18 goals to lead the team in that category. “There’s no way we should have lost that game. It shouldn’t have even been close. That second [Ivy] loss hurt us a lot. Winning it could have totally changed our Ivy season.”

Though disheartened by its devastating defeat, the Crimson did anything but lie down. Just three days later, Harvard beat the then-No. 10 Bears 12-10 in Providence on the strength of a second-half hat trick by freshman midfielder Brian Mahler.

“We knew we were a better team [than Brown],” Kane said. “We were pissed off. We weren’t going to let Cornell ruin our season.”

The momentum from the win over the Bears was not enough to carry the team through the season, however, as Harvard dropped decisions to Princeton and Dartmouth sandwiched around a win over Holy Cross and an 11-10, last-second victory over Yale.

After an 11-6 win over the Crimson on Jordan Field last season, the Bulldogs danced in the center of Harvard’s home turf.

“The last 30 seconds of [the Yale] game defined our balls-out attitude,” Kane said. “It was a great feeling to rub it in their faces. After last season, we vowed never to let [the dancing] happen again.”

The non-league portion of the schedule—which included wins over Quinnipiac, Hartford, Fairfield and Holy Cross—was much kinder to the Crimson than its Ivy schedule. Harvard’s biggest non-league win immediatly followed an early-season 15-4 defeat at the hands of Bucknell, as the Crimson traveled to then-No. 14 UMass and took an 11-7 decision.

“That was the turning point of our season,” sophomore attackman Steve Cohen said. “Our backs were against the wall and it was a big win. We rode that momentum for a while.”

And with the appearence of the Quakers’ in the NCAA tournament, despite a fairly pedestrian 7-6 overall record and three Ivy wins, Harvard must surely be frustrated by thoughts of what could have been accomplished this season. But the Crimson must also be encouraged by the breakout play of the ’07 class. Led by attackman Greg Cohen—who was first on the team in assists (15) and points (26)—and midfielders Brian Mahler and Evan Calvert, the freshmen accounted for about 29 percent of Harvard’s goals and almost 35 percent of its total points this season.

“The freshmen were important because we needed them to make an impact right away,” Malone said. “They’re young and they make mistakes, but they’re here for a reason. They know how to play the game.”

Crimson coach Scott Anderson said this group of rookies “could be the best class ever.”

While the outstanding play of the freshmen was a major factor in Harvard’s ability to go from a 5-10 record in 2002-2003 to a 7-5 record this year, there were obviously other key pieces to the puzzle.

In goal, tri-captain Jake McKenna posted a .561 save percentage and an 8.28 goals-allowed average en route to Honorable Mention All-Ivy Honors. In front of him, tri-captain Spencer Stenmark—the only other Crimson player to pick up Honorable Mention All-Ivy Honors—and Malone combined with sophomore Tom Mikula to start 37 of a possible 39 games. Mikula made the switch from defensive midfielder before the start of the season.

“Tom had an unbelievable season,” Anderson said. “He wasn’t even a defenseman [a few] months ago. We’re amazed by him every day in practice.”

At midfield, Harvard was led by its top line of tri-captain Jeff Gotschall, sophomore Jake Samuelson and Mahler for much of the season, though they weren’t the only players to see action.

“Last year, we basically ran three middies,” Kane said. “It was great to have three solid midfield lines [this season]. It speaks for our recruiting and development.”

At attack, Greg Cohen, McBride and Kane started the majority of the games, while Steve Cohen and senior Anders Johnson also saw extended action. All five attackmen registered double-digit goal totals.

—Staff writer Jonathan P. Hay can be reached at hay@fas.harvard.edu.