Men's Lacrosse Drops Season Opener at UNC

With its first game in the books for the 2019 season, the Harvard Men’s Lacrosse Team has reasons to be proud of its fight. Strong play from newcomers against a tough Tar Heels team forecasts well for the campaign to come despite the loss.

A UNC (2-0) team ranked No. 12/14 this year defeated the Crimson (0-1) squad 16-11, powering through a well-rounded team effort from the Harvard group. The Tar Heels capitalized off of a hot start against the visiting Crimson with a pair of UNC freshman attackmen, Henry Schertzinger and Jacob Kelly, who netted three of the first four goals of the game. For Harvard, its own freshman stepped up to the challenge. Attackman Austin Madronic scored his first two goals of his Crimson career in the opening period, brining the game to 3-2.

UNC dominated most of the second quarter, scoring four of the five goals. However, in the last four minutes of play, junior attackman Ryan Graff added a pair of big goals to bring the game to a more manageable 2 goal deficit. After a strong Freshman season in which Graff ranked third on the team with points (22) and second on the team in goals (20), Graff’s sophomore season was racked with injuries. Fired up and ready to make his mark on the league fully healthy this year, Graff netted a career high five goals in Saturday's contest, overcoming his previous high of four.

The third period saw Madronic bag his third goal of the game and junior tri-captain Kyle Anderson score his first, extending his point-scoring streak to 14 games, which tracks back to last year. Anderson was a dominant force on attack last season, netting a team high 34 goals to go along with 8 assists. He hopes to build on last year’s success throughout the 2019 season. With crunch time approaching, the score stood at a manageable 8-11 with the Harvard team ready to make a final push for the win.

The fourth quarter saw a hungry Crimson team surging, as Graff added another two goals within the first 8 minutes to bring the UNC lead to only one goal. However, three straight UNC goals put the game out of reach. On a more positive note, two freshman combined to score a final Harvard goal with 2:38 left in the game. First-time starter Isaiah Dawson nabbed his first career goal, assisted by Madronic, Harvard’s points leader for the game.

“UNC was a good team and it was a very physical game,” Anderson commented on the team’s performance, “I was proud of our guys for standing tall and fighting back. With eight minutes left we were down 11-10 and it was anyone’s game.”

The tale of the tape revealed a good fight against a talented UNC squad. Three freshman — Madronic, Dawson, and Nick Loring — started their first games for the Crimson and two of them scored.

“Overall the college game is definitely faster than high school lacrosse,” Loring commented on the comparisons between the college and high school game, “but the coaches and upperclassmen have been really helpful in getting the freshman up to speed with schemes and gameplay.”

A quality performance from fellow first-time starter sophomore Kyle Mullin in goal kept Harvard in the game with a game-high 14 saves. The discipline and responsibility that Harvard coach Chris Wojick ‘96 emphasized over the offseason paid off, as the Crimson squad stayed competitive in the game all the way to the end.

“Unfortunately a couple of balls bounced their way in the end and we didn’t get the outcome we wanted,” Anderson said. “But I think everyone is excited about the start and [is] looking forward to building on it next Saturday at home against Umass.”