Men’s Lacrosse Clinches Second Straight Overtime Win

In its season-opener against Villanova on Saturday, the Harvard men’s lacrosse team (2-0, 0-0 Ivy League) called on its defense at the end of the game to preserve a 12-12 tie and force overtime. The defense answered the call, and the Crimson pulled out a 13-12 win.

On Tuesday against Holy Cross (0-3, 0-0 Patriot League) at home, it was the offense’s turn to come through as time winded down. After Crusaders junior attacker Jon Vogel found the back of the net with 45 seconds remaining in the game to put his team up 10-9, Harvard won the faceoff and called timeout to set up for one final attack.

Just seven seconds after the pause in play, sophomore midfielder Sean Coleman sent a centering pass to classmate Morgan Cheek, the attackman who scored the game-winner over the weekend. Cheek once again delivered for the Crimson, firing a shot past Holy Cross senior goalie Michael Ortlieb with 17 seconds left in regular time, sending the game into overtime.

Harvard had trailed 6-0 at one point in the first quarter, 7-2 at halftime, and 8-4 at the start of the fourth quarter. Yet by the time the full 60 minutes had passed, Harvard had climbed back into the game, and the two teams were back at square one, with 10 goals apiece. Sudden death overtime.

The first extra period ended without a score as the pressure forced the squads into a combined five turnovers. After the Crimson stopped the Crusaders in their first possession of the second overtime, however, senior midfielder Brendan Newman finally broke the deadlock.

With Newman’s goal, Harvard tallied its second consecutive overtime win. The last time the team had two such wins in a season was in 2002, but it has already managed to match the feat in the first two games of 2016. Meanwhile, Holy Cross, despite its valiant effort, drops to 0-33 all time against the Crimson.

“We’ve got a lot to work on,” Harvard coach Chris Wojcik ’96 said. “It was very lucky we didn’t have to learn our lesson the hard way tonight, but no one is pleased with the way we started the game.”

Crusaders coach Judd Lattimore will be lamenting just the opposite, as his squad dominated play over the first three quarters. After scoring only eight goals in each of its first two games, Holy Cross exploded for six in the first quarter alone on Tuesday.

Senior attacker Sean Wilkinson led the charge, scoring two goals and creating problems for the Crimson with his speed and deceptive movements. Sophomore attacker Logan LeBlond also added two tallies for the Crusaders in a quarter in which they outshot Harvard 12-2.

“I was very disappointed with how flat we were in the first half,” Wojcik said. “We were slow on ground balls and credit to Holy Cross for taking advantage of that. They came out strong and we just didn’t have a response.”

Faceoff violations also hurt the Crimson early in the game, as it picked up two quick violations in the first seven minutes, and had to play more conservatively at the faceoff X for the rest of the half. This threat of picking up a penalty allowed the Crusaders to go 8-11 at the X and control possession throughout the first two quarters.

Harvard finally began to show signs of life in the second and third quarters, picking up their intensity on defense. The team could only muster four goals on the other end, however, and still found itself trailing 8-4 heading into the final period.

“Coach told us at halftime that it was unacceptable to be outhustled by them like we were, let alone at home” Crimson co-captain Sean Mahon said. “The guys definitely started to play harder after that, and luckily, it showed on the scoreboard.”

Devin Dwyer, a senior attackman for Harvard, was integral to the turnaround, as he scored in each of the last three quarters. He paced the team with two goals and an assist in the fourth quarter as the Crimson clawed back into the game. Dwyer finished with four goals and three assists, including one on the game-winner to Brendan Newman.

“Devin was there for us throughout the game, but everyone else including me needed to step up,” Mahon said. “Now, it’s up to looking at the game film and making sure we come out more prepared next game.”

—Staff writer George Hu can be reached at george.hu@thecrimson.com