Offense Stalls in Second Half

For the first quarter and a half of the Harvard men’s lacrosse team’s showdown with Princeton on Saturday, the Crimson offense looked like it could possibly eke out an upset against the Tigers.

Unfortunately for Harvard, the Princeton defense flipped on the switch during the break.

A game that was tied through almost the first 28 minutes and which featured four first quarter goals from each team saw the Tigers defeat the Crimson by a score of 9-7 in front of 2,211 fans at a Jordan Field equipped for just 900 spectators.

A team often known for its defensive prowess, Princeton (7-3, 3-0 Ivy) looked shaky in and around the net in the beginning, giving up goals often and early to Harvard (5-4, 2-2 Ivy).

The first 17 minutes were uncharacteristically strong offensively for both teams, as they combined for nine goals from nine different players. A 6-5 halftime deficit had the Crimson in striking distance, but the Tigers put the clamp down on Harvard in the third and fourth quarters, allowing the Crimson only two second half goals on the way to the victory.

“Both teams came out fired up,” junior midfielder Evan Calvert said.

Calvert once again paced Harvard on the afternoon, scoring twice and also notching an assist, to increase his team-leading point total to 26.

“We were trying to slow the ball down a little bit, to keep possession,” he said of the team’s slowed offensive production later in the game. “We were just trying to keep our tempo to the game, and then they got a couple quick goals and that kind of threw off the tempo.”

While the Crimson’s quick start was great, the fact that it was matched by Princeton caused a bit of concern.

“Defensively, we made some mistakes in the first half,” Harvard coach Scott Anderson said. “We almost have to be perfect defensively, and hope that our offense gets us the number of goals that we need.”

The latter nearly happened, when a Crimson flurry late made things slightly more interesting.

Down 8-5 entering the fourth quarter, a score from extra-man specialist Steve Cohen made it a two-goal game with 6:31 to play.

After a Tiger score made it 9-6 with 3:12 remaining and long Princeton possession brought the action down under a minute, sophomore midfielder Zach Widbin made it 9-7 with 12 seconds to go.

After a brief scrum following the faceoff, Calvert emerged with an open look that hit the post, ending Harvard’s hope for the improbable comeback.

Still, if the Crimson had not let by a few easy goals earlier, the team wouldn’t have had to play from behind.

“We let a couple slip away that I think we’d like to get back,” Calvert said. “But our defense played great when it was six-on-six, and I think we played great in six-on-six. We stayed with them.”

Harvard did stay within striking distance the entire game—the lead swelled to no larger than three goals at any point. But a scoring drought of over 30 minutes spanning three quarters proved to be the Crimson’s undoing.

“In the second half our offense was a little flat, and the defense played a little bit better, but the total didn’t quite add up,” Anderson said. “We either need to have a little better effort defensively or keep our offense going a little bit more.”

Junior attackman Greg Cohen started the scoring for Harvard 11:51 into the first, followed by co-captain Jake Samuelson just over three minutes later. The highlight of the quarter, however, came when junior midfielder John Henry Flood won a faceoff and came right down the field for a goal—the first point of his career.

The fact that every goal—seven in all—was unassisted speaks to the strange nature of the game’s opening.

“It is unusual,” Anderson said. “The focus is stopping set plays; we didn’t really think we were going to get hurt by individual stuff. We were just a little slow with our switches—a little slow to go, so I think we created some of their opportunities.”

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