State Power Provides Major Road Test

UNC-Duke. Auburn-Alabama. Kentucky-Louisville.

Oftentimes the best rivalries are between intrastate competitors, especially when both teams are among the nation’s elite.

Such will be the case tomorrow afternoon when the No. 12 Harvard men’s lacrosse team takes on No. 18 Massachusetts at 1 pm at Garber Field in Amherst.

“It’s definitely a rivalry within the state,” sophomore attackman Jeff Cohen said. “They’re also one of the top teams in the country, and we’re trying to climb the ladder to be one of the top teams in the country as well.”

In its second game against a nationally-ranked opponent this season, the Crimson will be looking to build on its 9-7 victory against Holy Cross last Saturday.

To win, Harvard’s defense will have to contain a high-powered Minutemen offense that has averaged 14.5 goals per game on the year and has outshot opponents 168-130 on the season.

“I think our D will really have to step it up this week,” senior defenseman Billy Geist said.

In net trying to stop the Massachusetts attack will either be freshman Harry Krieger or sophomore Christian Coates.

Coates picked up the win against Canisus in the season opener, giving up just four goals in 45 minutes of playing time, but he struggled in allowing 13 goals in a loss against No. 14 Georgetown his next time out. Head coach John Tillman gave Krieger his first career start against the Crusaders, and he gave up seven goals and earned the victory.

Cohen said the starter will be determined by practice performance this week, but no matter who’s in net, the team will be ready to go.

“We’re confident in either of them,” he said.

Whoever is in goal will be focused on stopping the Minutemen’s best weapon, senior midfielder Bobby Hayes, a 2010 Preseason All-New England selection who already has 11 goals on the year.

Joining him on the attack will be junior Ryan Hantverk, who has nine goals, and sophomore Art Kell, who has eight.

Harvard, meanwhile, will hope for another strong game from junior attackman Dean Gibbons, who had four goals against Holy Cross, giving him a team-best ten on the season. Cohen is second on the team with eight.

If Harvard is going to keep up with Massachusetts’ high scoring offense, it will likely need to amass more than the nine goals it managed against the Crusaders. That means the rest of the attack—junior Matt Hull, sophomores Kevin Vaughn and Dan McDermott, and a group of freshman—will need to bring their best efforts.

“I think it would definitely be good to hit the double-digit goal mark,” Cohen said. “But we have confidence in our defense and our goalie that if we do score nine on a certain day, they’ll pick us up.”

One thing the Harvard offense will especially focus on tomorrow is getting off to a fast start. The Crimson trailed Holy Cross, 4-1, last weekend before pulling ahead. The team also fell behind, 13-8, against the Hoyas, before mounting a furious rally but eventually falling, 13-12.

“Coming out of the gates quick is something we’ve focused on,” Geist said. “I’m pretty confident we’ll do that this weekend.”

The offense will try to do so against inexperienced Minutemen goalie Tim McCormack, who will be starting just his fifth career game and first against a ranked opponent. The sophomore has defeated Albany, Sacred Heart, and Hartford but lost to Yale, and he owns a .379 save percentage on the season.

“I played against [McCormack] in high school,” Cohen said. “He’s a really good player. Maybe the fact that this will be one of his first big-game starts could be an issue, but I wouldn’t bank on it. He’ll come to play.”

One of Harvard’s biggest strengths this season has been its ability to cause turnovers, forcing 23.7 per game. However, they will have a tough time maintaining that average against a Massachusetts team that has averaged only 14.25 giveaways per contest.

“If we can get one or two extra possessions in a game, in a one-goal game that could translate to a win for us,” Cohen said.

Last season, the Minutemen forced 14 Harvard giveaways in handing the Crimson its worst loss of the season, 7-3. In that matchup, each team was ranked one spot higher than it is now—Harvard came in at No. 11, and Massachusetts was No. 17. Hayes and Kell each had a goal in that game, and the Crimson was unable to do much scoring against Minutemen senior goalie Doc Schneider despite outshooting Massachusetts 39-21.

That defeat has fueled Harvard, especially the team’s seniors, who want to improve their record to 2-2 against their interstate rivals. Retribution is something that will certainly be on the minds of the entire team.

“All week, coach has been harping on us that last year they came into our home stadium and bullied us around a little bit,” Cohen said. “So that’s definitely on the back of our minds.”

“It was our toughest loss last year,” Geist added. “A pretty emotional loss for a lot of guys. So we’re definitely excited about this weekend, and hopefully we can win it back.”