Quinnipiac Awaits Men's Lacrosse in Non-Conference Contest

The Harvard men’s lacrosse team hopes to break its longest losing streak of the season when it faces Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn. this afternoon.

The Crimson (4-6, 1-2 Ivy) heads down to Connecticut today for its last non-conference matchup after hosting and losing its last three games, including a 14-12 loss to Cornell on Saturday. Harvard currently sits tied for fifth place in the Ivy League.

Quinnipiac (4-5, 1-1 NEC) moved to a shared third-place spot in the Northeast Conference after snapping a five-game losing streak with a 12-8 win over Mount St. Mary’s on Saturday.

“This is not an Ivy League game,” first-year atackman Devin Dwyer said. “But every game we play is important, especially coming off some tough loses.”

These two teams have faced each other four times before, with Harvard taking the victory in each match. Last year, the Bobcats came to Cambridge and fell to the Crimson, 18-4. In 2011, the score was 14-7.

“We beat them the last time,” Harvard coach Chris Wojcik ’96 said. “But they’re a very good team. They were very young last year, but they now have another year of experience.”

This spring, both teams have won the same number of games, four, but Harvard has tallied one more loss than its upcoming opponent.

In terms of common teams played, both squads have faced Bryant (No. 1 in NEC) and Brown (tied No. 5 in Ivy) this season. While QU lost, 17-7, on the road against conference rival Bryant back in March, the Crimson edged the Bulldogs, 7-5.

In the match-up against Brown, however, the tables were turned. The Bobcats took a 9-7 win over the Ivy team back in February, while Harvard fell short a few weeks later, losing by a final tally of 11-9.

But this one piece of evidence may not be enough to deny the strength of the Crimson team in the upcoming contest. Harvard’s regular-season opponents are arguably more competitive Div. I schools than those of Quinnipiac. For instance, in national standing, Cornell is No. 2, Duke is No. 7 and Princeton is No. 10. Additionally, the Crimson lost by no more than two goals to the Blue Devils and the Big Red. The Bobcats, on the other hand, have faced no ranked teams.

Numbers aside, Harvard knows what it needs to do in order to win.

“In the Cornell game, although we played well and had a lead, we just didn’t finish and close out the game,” Wojcik said. “We’re looking to not only play good lacrosse in the first three quarters, but then play with that same urgency and execute well in the fourth quarter. We’re looking to extend into a complete game.”

While the Bobcats are coming into this contest off of a solid win from the weekend, recent loses are motivating the Crimson to secure a win.

Wojcik was thoroughly pleased with his team’s performance on the field, despite the losses added in the record book. The greatest challenge for Harvard will be to close out the game.

“I think we have been playing really aggressively on both sides of the ball, we need to continue to do that, but do it for 60 minutes,” Wojcik said.

Also key for a victory is the squad’s mentality.

“We have to play confidently” Dwyer said. “I play with these guys every day in practice, and we try to play hard every day. We want to bring what we do in practice to the game, especially in the last 15 minutes in order to come out with a win.”

Junior attackman Peter Schwartz expressed another challenge that his team will face against Quinnipiac.

“It’s always tough going up on the road mid-week,” he said. “We have to stay focused and get ready to play.”

On the field, there isn’t one factor that Wojkic believes will be the determinant in a victory.

“We have a team-first approach,” he said. “We need every single guy on our team to do his job in order for us to be successful.”

Dwyer, a force on the offensive line for Harvard, attributes his success to his teammates’ hard work off-ball.

Heading into its last non-conference game, the Crimson is ready to break its losing streak.

“As long as we play the way our coach tells us to, by playing fast, playing confident, and playing smart to the best of our ability, we know that really no one can get in our way,” Dwyer said.