Crimson Seeks Memorable Season, Ivy Title

As a player it’s always there. You can’t stop thinking about it. You want it, you need it to happen. Then there comes the time at which you finally succeed.

For the Harvard men’s lacrosse team, that time, the time to become the Ancient Eight victor, is now.

Without an outright Ivy title in the fifty years of the league’s existence, the squad believes this team is the one to do it. But a long and difficult season lies ahead.

When the Crimson takes on No. 13 Ohio State this Sunday in Columbus, Oh. at noon, there will be a lot on the line. Last season, the squad finished a disappointing 6-6 in the regular season and went on to lose 11-4 at Syracuse in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Many believed Harvard never should have made it to the game at all.

And so this is the year. This is the time the team regains its respect.

“We’re going into this season with the highest expectations we’ve had since I’ve been here,” co-captain Brian Mahler said. “We’re going to take it one game at a time. We want to perform to the best of our abilities on Sunday and just build momentum and carry on from there.”

The Buckeyes are just the first roadblock along the way, and they will not be put away easily.

Ohio State has the experience advantage, as it will enter Sunday’s matchup with four games under its belt, while Harvard will be suiting up for the first time.

After opening the season with an easy 13-5 victory over Robert Morris, the Buckeyes promptly fell to North Carolina in a 14-10 battle. Both games featured an Ohio State front filled with sizeable and physical players, something that may cause trouble for the Crimson.

“Pound for pound they’re a lot bigger than our team,” co-captain John Henry Flood said. “We’re more athletic, we’re one of the fastest Division I teams in the country...the big thing we need to overcome is first-game jitters.”

Flood, himself, will have a lot to handle.

The senior dominated the faceoff last year for Harvard, but is up against tough competition in senior counterpart Eric O’Brien, who went 18-27 last weekend.

The cocaptain will be aided by a strong and experienced midfield including Mahler and classmate Carle Stenmark, both of whom spent much of last spring watching from the sideline due to injury. Junior Nick La Fiura, the veteran player in the bunch, will play long pole.

On offense, the Crimson returns its top two goal scorers in the form of seniors Evan Calvert and Greg Cohen. Cohen was named a preseason honorary all-American, and the two combined for 68 of the squad’s 156 points last season. Sophomore Max Motschwiller impressed many as a breakout freshman at midfield last year, but this spring he will try his hand at the attack.

“He’s probably our best feeder and that’s been the biggest challenge in terms of changes to the offense,” Harvard coach Scott Anderson said. “That’s a hard position to learn how to play. He’s done well, he just doesn’t have a lot of experience.”

What was a young defensive core last season will have to recover from the loss of all-Ivy defender Tom Mikula and classmate Peter Doyle, who combined for 70 ground balls their final year.

But with a season under its belt, the young group of sophomores Eric Posner, Max Gottschall, and Sean Whitsitt will look to prove itself. Newcomer Billy Geist will add to the core.

“[Geist] is very talented, he understands systems really well and has not had much trouble adjusting to the level of play,” Anderson said.

This opening week will be a difficult test for the defense in the form of sophomore Joe Delgarno, who already has seven goals this season, after posting 41 points in his debut spring.

Harvard is hoping its unusual style in goal can keep the Buckeyes guessing. The Crimson splits play between junior Evan O’Donnell, who was honorable mention all-Ivy his freshman year, and sophomore Joe Pike, one of the top goalie recruits.

The weekend is shaping up to be a tough matchup for the maturing Harvard squad, but the competition may just be enough to jumpstart it into a memorable season.

—Staff writer Madeleine I. Shapiro can be reached at mshapiro@fas.harvard.edu.