Late Goal Dooms Harvard To Loss

In sports, everything can change in the blink of an eye, as the No. 17 Harvard men’s lacrosse team learned Saturday afternoon.

Late in a tie game at Scully-Fahey Field in Hanover, N.H., the Crimson (5-2, 1-1 Ivy) needed to contain Dartmouth (4-3, 1-1) for a just few seconds in order to send the game to overtime.

The Big Green had possession with the chance for the final shot. It fired on net but missed, and the ball soared out of bounds with 4.7 seconds left on the clock, with Dartmouth retaining possession behind the net.

Big Green attackman Nikki Dysenchuk then took the ball behind Harvard sophomore goalie Harry Krieger, driving from the right side. He beat one Harvard defender and fired a low line-drive shot that blew past Krieger as time expired, giving Dartmouth a 9-8 victory.

“He was able to get around a defender and get a shot off,” sophomore Alex White said of the final play. “We were expecting him to feed into the crease; we weren’t expecting a dodge.”

It was a heartbreaking loss for the Crimson, which had just completed a late surge of its own, pouring in two goals in the contest’s final three minutes to tie things up.

“That’s always a tough way to lose,” junior attack Jeff Cohen said. “You fight hard for an entire game; to come up a little bit short [is tough].”

The Big Green scored not only extremely late but also very early, with junior John DeChiaro beating Krieger just seven seconds into the contest. But junior Terry White responded 40 seconds later for Harvard to tie the game at 1-1.

Despite the early blitz, neither team could find the net again until Cohen beat Dartmouth junior goalie Fergus Campbell to give the Crimson the lead with 44 seconds remaining in the opening period.

Cohen’s second score of the game, coming 3:04 into the second quarter, was sandwiched by two Chris Costabile goals for the Big Green that tied the game at 3-3 heading into the half.

Dartmouth pulled ahead early in the third period, when midfielder Rhett Miller beat Krieger at 13:33. But Harvard responded with two quick goals of its own—the first by sophomore midfielder Ryan Stevens and the second by Cohen, giving the junior three on the afternoon. Co-captain Dean Gibbons assisted on Cohen’s score, his third assist of the game and 10th of the season.

“They ran a zone [that] was pretty soft in the middle,” Cohen said. “My teammates found me. Dean had some great passes today. I credit them.”

But Big Green midfielder Adam Boardman tied the game with his first goal of the season at 5:08, and attack Kip Dooley fired one past Krieger two minutes later to put Dartmouth up, 6-5, heading into the final period.

Fifty-three seconds into the fourth, White found Stevens, who beat Campbell to tie the game at six. But Costabile responded at 10:12 with his third of the game, and junior Drew Tunney added another score at 3:47 to give the Big Green a two-goal advantage.

But the Crimson attack would not quit. It turned to Saturday’s two go-to scorers to bring it back into the game, and they delivered.

Stevens earned a hat trick off of Gibbons’ fourth assist with 2:25 remaining to cut the deficit to one. After Boardman was whistled for a tripping penalty at 1:39, Harvard had a man-up chance to tie the contest, and Cohen delivered again. The junior rifled a quick shot at Campbell that was denied, but senior Matt Hull picked up the rebound and found Cohen, who beat Campbell on his second attempt for his fourth score of the afternoon and 18th of the season.

“[Stevens and Cohen] really shot the ball well today,” Alex White said.

With the game tied, Dartmouth won the ensuing faceoff and kept control for the rest of the game. After a shot by freshman Jeff Perkins sailed high with six seconds remaining, Dysenschuk beat Krieger as time expired to give the Big Green the win.

Campbell had 17 saves for Dartmouth, while Krieger had six for the Crimson. Harvard accumulated more shots (41-26), won more ground balls (37-31), had fewer turnovers (19-18), and won more faceoffs (13-7) than Dartmouth but nonetheless could not emerge from Hanover with the victory.

“Dartmouth kind of suckered us into their game plan,” White said. “They held on to the ball a lot. We weren’t able to capitalize on opportunities as well as we would’ve liked...the game came down to the last play; unfortunately we let it get to that point.”

—Staff writer Scott A. Sherman can be reached at ssherman13@college.harvard.edu.