Proving Itself at Providence: Men’s Lacrosse Starts 2025 Campaign

For the first time since taking over the historic program, Frisbie Family Head Coach Gerry Byrne’s men’s lacrosse team won’t be defined by one key word: young. Over the past three seasons, Byrne has relied on the prowess of a stellar group of underclassmen that has turned around a declining program. Those young men are no longer strangers to the struggles of D-1 lacrosse; they have been tested countless times against the toughest opponents in the nation, and they have held their own. It will be that confidence that makes or breaks the team this year as it strives to find a way to capitalize on the unique depth of its roster and establish itself as a long-term threat against powerhouses like the 2018 National Champion Yale Elis and the Princeton Tigers.

Under the leadership of stars like captains attackman Sam King and LSM Martin Nelson, the team reached a high when it clinched an NCAA tournament bid in 2022. Falling short the past two seasons of a spot in either the Ivy League postseason or the NCAA postseason battles, the Crimson will look to position itself as a top-four seed in an effort to find glory over Memorial Day Weekend.

Inside Lacrosse gives rightful praise to King – one of very few two-time captains in the team’s 150-year history – who has been a dynamic three-year threat for the Crimson, labelling him as the No. 7 most lethal player in Division-1 lacrosse this season. Beyond that, King has been awarded the honor of USA Lacrosse Preseason All-American following a 2024 campaign in which he led the entire NCAA in all-around statistics, tallying over 70 points, 40 ground balls, and six CTOs.

While King will certainly quarterback from the X, media focus surrounding the team’s 2025 season has failed to highlight the true depth of the Cambridge program. In his one-sentence description for each Division-1 men’s program, Matt Kinnear wrote : “The Ivy League is deadly this year, but the Crimson aren’t looking to be also-rans and the ceiling is really high with Sam King flanked by several contributors like Teddy Malone, Andrew Perry and Owen Gaffney.”

What Kinnear failed to touch on is Byrne’s bread and butter: his lockdown defense. With the most efficient goals-against average in the Ivy League, Harvard will rely on seniors Nelson, defender Logan Darrin, SSDM Ray Dearth and LSM Tommy Martinson to act as linchpins in the backfield. Making its mark alongside the impressive senior class was sophomore Joost de Koning – whose first season was cut short due to injury – junior defenseman Charlie Muller, junior SSDM Owen Guest, junior LSM Sean Jordan, and junior SSDM Finn Jensen.

Despite losing key players in goalie Christian Barnard ’24 and defenseman Collin Bergstrom ’24, a majority of Byrne’s starting lineup has returned to Cambridge and is ready to make its mark on Jordan Field. With just one returning goalie on its roster in sophomore Teddy Kim – who saw no action this past season – and two new additions to the roster in freshman Graham Stevens and sophomore walk-on Miles Barakett – who is entirely new to the position, having played defense in high school – goaltending could prove to be a variable unfamiliar to the squad after the leadership from Barnard and his predecessor Kyle Mullin ’22.

On who might start at the goalie position, Byrne remarked, “That’s an open battle.”

Byrne did laud that walk-on goalie Barakett had the most saves of all three rostered goaltenders, even with seeing the least amount of field time against Stony Brook – which, tellingly, was also a function of the team’s lock-down defense through those first three periods. This will be a position to watch for the Crimson team tomorrow, as the quarterback spot is still in contention for all three guys.

While every team is tasked with filling gaps following the departure of its senior class, the Crimson is left with little room for error at the start of its season as its position in the postseason competition relies on a stellar overall record. With preseason rankings favoring the Ivy League – five of the seven programs cracked Inside Lacrosse’s Top-20 Preseason Media Poll – Harvard finds itself in the No.18 overall slot before its first game against Providence on Feb. 15.

Before that game, however, the team made the trek to Long Island with just four hours of practice under its belt to battle against Stony Brook. With any preseason scrimmage, kinks were to be expected, although a scoreline with Stony Brook leading with six goals at the half – an unofficial tally given the unscored nature of scrimmages – was certainly not how the team expected to begin its campaign.

“I think in general Stony Brook is a well-coached team and we needed to be a little bit more patient and not turn the ball over on offense,” Byrne said.

King was relatively silent against Stony Brook which caused some lapses in offensive motion and forced other players like junior middie Logan Ip and junior attackman Teddy Malone to have to step up. Shot production plagued the Crimson last season, so figuring out how to work King back into contention on the attacking end will be crucial to finding success.

“I feel like we cleared the ball very well, we faced-off better than I thought we would, I thought we played excellent defense, and a little disappointing on six-on-six offense, but really good extra-man offense,” Bryne said.

Allowing his team two weeks between the scrimmage and its first regular season contest against The Friars, Byrne will have time to work through some of his squad’s missteps. Things to build on include the team’s consistent, scrappy midfield play, which was a highlight for the Coach following the Stony Brook game. Following an injury that saw him redshirt for the 2024 season to maintain eligibility, junior middie Andrew Perry made his mark alongside past line-mates senior middies Owen Gaffney and Miles Botkiss. The depth of Byrne’s midfield lines will be an interesting variable, especially following a set of strong performances from senior Joe Dowling and junior Francisco Cortes in the team’s intra-squad scrimmage on Feb. 7.

The Crimson is no stranger to injuries, with both returning FOGOs junior Matthew Barraco and sophomore Owen Umansky sidelined against Stony Brook. In their place, neophytes Jackson Henehan and Trevor Sardis made their mark at the X, with senior LSM Max Ewald rotating in for a couple takes. Byrne welcomed a well-rounded class of freshmen to Cambridge this fall, and following breakout performances against Stony Brook and in the team’s intra-squad scrimmage, middies Patrick Grimley and Oscar Woloson will be names to watch for.

Byrne’s team will look to prove itself this weekend as it attempts to mesh together the talents of its returning players and highly-ranked freshmen. It is also taking with it the mindset that nothing is for granted; he and his squad are ready to leave it all on the field.

“I think the mindset is that you can’t overlook anybody,” Byrne said. “Both Colgate and Providence were teams that received votes in the Top-20 poll, so they’re easily Top-25 teams.”

“We beat Providence pretty handily last year, but that was last year – different players, different team, different time. So, I think guys are super excited to play but they understand that we have a lot of work to do before we play on the 15th,” he continued.

The Crimson will fight for its first 2025 victory against the Providence Friars on Saturday, travelling to Providence, R.I. for the 12 p.m. contest. Watch the game live, or stream the action on FloSports.

—Staff writer Katharine A. Forst can be reached at katharine.forst@thecrimson.com