Harvard Outsoars Hawks, 11-2

The Harvard men’s lacrosse team continued its string of successes yesterday afternoon against Hartford with an 11-2 win in West Hartford, Conn.

The Hawks (0-5) did not present much of a formidable opponent for the red-hot Crimson (3-1). After a slight blip in the season opener, Harvard has reversed its fortunes entirely by rattling off three straight. In the series history against Hartford, the Crimson had won all but the first of six total meetings going into yesterday’s matchup.

As in the past, the third frame was all Harvard.

The Crimson got off to a quick start in the quarter as freshman attacker Dean Gibbons found sophomore Jesse Fehr for the score just 43 seconds in. The goal marked both Fehr’s second of the game and second assist from Gibbons—the first came in the opening frame.

Gibbons himself would get in on the scoring action seven and a half minutes later, but not before sophomore midfielder Travis Burr found the back of the net, sandwiching Gibbon’s goal with two of his own.

“Every game, every practice, every week, they’re getting better,” Harvard coach John Tillman said of his young offense. “They’re starting to get what their strengths and their teammates’ strengths are. I think today was a big confidence builder for them.”

After going into the break up just 4-1, the game was still within reach for the Hawks, but the four-goal outpouring was one from which Hartford couldn’t recover.

“I think it’s a lot of settling in,” tri-captain Brooks Scholl said of his team’s recent third-quarter heroics. “Definitely we make some adjustments, but having some success in the past in the third quarter was something we talked about today. It’s a lot about energy and coming out more aggressive and tough.”

The first quarter began almost as quickly as the third, with sophomore midfielder Jason Duboe taking the game into his own hands on an unassisted goal just 2:05 in. Hat trick has been the name of the game for the sophomore of late, and yesterday he found a way to outdo his previous three-goal performance—adding two more goals for a hat trick in the first half alone. The third and final time he found the back of the net was the only score of the second quarter for either team.

“He’s got some raw tools, but he’s got a lot of drive and passion,” Tillman said. “I think the longer we have him here, the better he’s going to be. He came to Harvard as an athlete that played lacrosse and now we’re turning him into an athlete that is a great lacrosse player. He’s not afraid to make a play.”

Hartford was far from down and out early on, as Hawk attacker Leif Abrahamson responded less than two minutes after Duboe’s first goal with an unassisted tally of his own.

But that was the only score his squad would see for nearly 48 more minutes of play, as the defense stepped in. Junior goalie Joe Pike made 10 saves on the afternoon, and the ‘D’ allowed just 16 shots—only one in the third quarter—to Harvard’s 32.

“Joe’s been playing great, especially the last couple of games, definitely setting the tone for our defense,” Scholl said. “Our defense has been playing great, physical lacrosse. They’re playing smart defense.”

The fourth quarter saw a number of new Harvard faces, as the squad entered the frame up 8-1, but the Crimson still didn’t give any leeway.

After Hawk midfielder Justin Bearse ended the scoring drought at 7:07 on an assist from Michael Cudmore, the Harvard freshman duo of Greg Gilroy and Matt Hull took over. Gilroy answered 56 seconds later, and Hull found the back of the net twice in the last three minutes.

Harvard’s first big test—and last game before the Ivy League season begins—is this Saturday against Fairfield, the team’s first ranked opponent, at Jordan Field at 1 pm.

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