Cohen Brothers Shine in Last Season Together

As the Haddaway song “What is Love?” a tune popularized by its “A Night at the Roxbury” fame plays in the background, two brothers with spiky, gelled hair nod their heads sideways to the beat of the music.

It’s pretty much the story of Harvard men’s lacrosse standouts Steve and Greg Cohen. Just substitute Will Ferrell for Greg, and Chris Kattan for Steve, and change the setting from the Roxbury to Syosset, N.Y., and they’ll have you doing a double-take.

“When we first came here, they used to call us the Butabi brothers,” Steve said, referencing the 1998 comedy film. “Before we came here, I didn’t know you were allowed to part your hair.”

One quick look at Greg’s driver’s license makes it easy to understand why.

“Harvard’s a special place,” he agreed, recalling the days of cheesy hairstyles and even cheesier grins.

It has been particularly special for the Cohen brothers, who, in their three overlapping years at Harvard, have become anchors of the men’s lacrosse team. A senior, Steve has had four years in the program, but after an accident on the basketball court prior to last season sidelined junior Greg for his entire sophomore season, this is the last the two will play together.

And considering how long they’ve been doing it, that’s no small pill to swallow.

“It’s definitely going to be strange once he graduates,” Greg said. “We’ve been playing not only lacrosse but sports in general together as long as I can remember, and it’s going to be strange when he’s not playing anymore.”

It didn’t begin with lacrosse, though. If things had worked out as they had begun, the Cohen brothers might have shared the spotlight on a different surface.

“We played hockey,” Steve said. “But one day, dad came home from work with lacrosse sticks.”

“We were like, ‘what are these things?’” Greg said. “I think I broke mine in like five minutes, and had to get another one.”

Good thing they did ‘stick’ to lacrosse—the two have flourished under the Crimson garb.

Eager to build upon a freshman season in which he was named New England Rookie of the Year and led the team in points and assists, Greg was poised last season to help Harvard contend for an Ivy League crown. Steve, who also had an excellent year in the 2004 campaign, totaling a careeer-high 15 points, was ready at his side. Yet, following Greg’s injury, the Crimson stumbled to a 5-8 record and a 2-4 league finish. That meant no postseason, and added motivation for the final year the two brothers would have together.

Things are looking up this year. Despite a 2-2 record out of the gate, there’s been a steady output from both Cohens. Greg is second on the team with 11 points, while Steve is tied for third at five—but it’s his presence away from the field which has meant the most to Greg and the rest of the team.

“His nickname is Stevie Ballgame,” Greg said. “He has the most nicknames of anybody on the team, by far.”

“Steve’s easy,” the elder Cohen said, remarking about the ease with which he acquires new monikers.

He’s not kidding.

“Just to run through a few, he’s Stevie Ballgame, Stevie Big Game, Stevie Locker Room, Stevie Postgame, and Stevie Big Job,” Greg said. “We could go on forever.”

And when it came to what describing what Greg does best, Steve almost did just that.

“He’s fast,” he said. “Just fast; flat-out speed. Every year there’s a lacrosse magazine that always rates the fastest players, and he comes out on top every year.”

“In high school, you just run by everybody,” Harvard coach Scott Andersen said. “There are more challenges in college, so he’s still developing. But he’s a pretty phenomenal athlete for our sport, in terms of speed.”

Apparently, that speed isn’t an inherited trait.

“I can’t run across the room,” Steve said. “I don’t know where he got it from.”

Once the Crimson’s season ends, it will mean the end of sharing rooms on road trips, lockers right next to each other in the locker room, and playing on the same team—but it won’t be the end of nicknames.

“When we were growing up, our town didn’t have a lacrosse team, so we played in the next town over so we could be on the same team,” Steve said. “We were ‘the Cohen twins,’ from third grade until eighth grade. We were twins for five years.”

“We’re really thirteen months apart,” Greg said. “But for this team, we were thirteen minutes apart.”

If not for an inch and twenty pounds or so, the ‘Cohen twins’ might have more of a ring to it.

What does have a nice ring? The Rescue Rangers.

“When I was in high school, he was on varsity in the eighth grade,” Steve said. “They used to call us Chip and Dale—little kids with squeaky voices.”

An endless number of nicknames and high-pitched squeals aside, Steve’s time at Harvard has been shaped by Greg, and vice-versa.

“For me, it was a pretty easy decision to come here,” Greg said. “Steve’s my best friend, so picture your best friend trying to pull you to a certain school, and then picture that school being one of the top academic institutions in the world. It’s really not a difficult decision.”

Nor was it difficult for the Crimson to make the decision that it wanted both Cohens here at Harvard.

“I don’t know if mentor is the right word, but Steve has a very dynamic personality,” Andersen said. “His interest in Harvard had a great impact on Greg’s decision. It was a fortunate coincidence [that we got them both].”

Now here, things haven’t worked out exactly as planned. Three years on the field together became two, Steve’s scoring opportunities have mostly been relegated to extra-man situations, and this season is the last opportunity to share in the triumph of an Ivy League title or an NCAA tournament bid.

But whatever happens as far as Harvard men’s lacrosse is concerned, the Cohens carry with them something that no amount of wins could trump.

“Ten or fifteen years down the line, wins and losses will probably fade, but you’re not going to forget times you were hanging out with your teammates,” Greg said. “After hard practices, hanging out on the field—just the dynamic of the team. You probably won’t forget that.”

As is often the case, Steve agreed.

“Anybody whose played lacrosse, it’s a network, and if you happen to bump into somebody who played here, it’s even better,” he said. “You can’t replace that. That’s something you have forever, and the fact that we get to share it is phenomenal.”

--Staff writer Malcom A. Glenn can be reached at mglenn@fas.harvard.edu.