Sophomore Vandervelde Bolsters Men's Lacrosse's Offense

The Harvard men’s lacrosse team has watched a new offensive star emerge this week, seemingly out of nowhere. Murphy Vandervelde, a sophomore midfielder who until last week had not scored in his collegiate career, has scored seven goals in the Crimson’s last three games.

“It’s great to see Murphy break out in terms of his goal scoring,” Harvard coach Chris Wojcik '96 said. “He has a great shot and great fundamentals, and he’s been really working hard to earn his opportunities.”

Vandervelde scored his first goal at Dartmouth on Mar. 23.

“I came in off the midline, [freshman midfielder] Brendan Newman threw me the ball, and I just stepped in and had a 12 to 13-yard step down shot that beat the goalie to the bottom-left corner of the cage,” Vandervelde said. “It was surreal.”

“It took longer for me than most people to get my first collegiate goal,” he added. “But it worked out in the end.”

The Crimson went on to beat Dartmouth, 9-6. With the added confidence that accompanies breaking onto the scorecard for the first time, Vandervelde entered the Albany game on Tuesday looking to find the net again. He delivered with his first career hat trick.

Early in the first period, the sharpshooter caught the ball off a pass from senior Jack Walker, spun to the outside and shot side-armed past the goalkeeper for his second goal of the season.

Vandervelde followed that in the second quarter with another score. The sophomore received the ball in his sweet spot on the left side of the offensive set during a Harvard man-up opportunity before burying it in the cage.

“I feel most comfortable shooting from the two corners, about 13 yards out, on the football hash,” Vandervelde said. “That’s where [freshman attack] Devin Dwyer, who is such a great feeder, always looks off my guy before getting me the ball for my shot.”

Vandervelde got the ball in his spot again, man-up, with 10:52 remaining in the game, and fired a laser into the back of the cage, securing his first hat trick. It was one of the few bright moments that night for the Crimson, which fell to the Great Danes, 16-7.

“I would rather a win with no hat trick and no goals at all than to lose like that,” said Vandervelde after the Albany game. “Looking forward, we’ve got Duke on Saturday and we’re going to really stick it to them.”

The midfielder nearly made good on his promise, leading his team against the No. 10 Blue Devils with another three goals.

Down 7-6 with 3:15 remaining in the third quarter, the Crimson got the ball, man-up, after a Duke slashing penalty. Vandervelde caught a pass nineteen seconds later and fired, but was rejected by Duke sophomore goaltender Kyle Turri.

Yet Vandervelde refused to let that shake him.

Harvard picked up the ground ball off the rebound and swung it around the cage to Dwyer. The freshman then passed the ball through the Blue Devil defense to an open Vandervelde on the left hash. Refusing to be denied twice, the midfielder leveled the score at 7-7.

The Crimson then entered the fourth quarter man-up, and it took only 18 seconds for Vandervelde to get the ball on the left hash and find the bottom-left corner of the net for his second tally of the game, giving Harvard the lead.

Duke evened the score, but committed another penalty with 8:31 remaining in the contest.

The entire crowd knew what was coming next.

The Crimson passed the ball around the back of the goal to Dwyer, who got it to Vandervelde about 15 yards from the goal on the right hash.

“The third shot was my most ambitious of the day,” Vandervelde said. “It was one of those that would either work out or would get me chewed out. But there was no doubt in my mind that I would shoot that ball.”

“I was feeling it,” Vandervelde added. “I just aimed for the top-left corner and it went in.”

Vandervelde’s second hat trick in that many games gave Harvard a 9-8 lead, but the Crimson eventually lost its second straight contest, 12-11.

Five of the sophomore’s seven goals have come while the team had an extra man.

In Harvard’s first six games of the season, the team’s man-up unit converted on 23.8 percent of its opportunities. Since Vandervelde joined the unit at Dartmouth, the Crimson has had a 58.3 percent success rate.

“He’s definitely earned more playing time,” Wojcik said. “He’ll be in the rotation more on offense going forward into the rest of the season.”