Harvard Men’s Lacrosse Clinches Ivy Tournament Bid with 13-6 win over Penn

For the first time since 2013 the No. 10 Harvard men’s lacrosse team (9-2, 3-1 Ivy) took down the University of Pennsylvania Quakers (4-7, 1-3 Ivy), dominantly beating its Ancient Eight foe 13-6 on Jordan Field. The team’s penultimate home game of the season marked another milestone for the squad as the win clinched the team’s bid for a coveted spot in the 2025 postseason Ivy League tournament, marking its first appearance in the battle since 2016.

Heading into the game, UPenn had the cards stacked against it as the squad was battling against a then-four, and now-five, game losing streak. Winning every stat line on the score sheet — outside of saves, for which the Quakers’ goalie Emmet Carroll out-saved freshman goalie Graham Stevens, who went 54 percent on the day — the battle tipped in favor of the Crimson through all four quarters.

Sitting first in the Ivy League for caused turnovers and second in the nation, the Harvard defense made its presence felt through the first 15 minutes, getting out on the UPenn offense and shutting down its opportunities. In the first five minutes, UPenn saw three TOs in the midfield, and that stat line only worsened as the squad posted a whopping six TOs in the first eight minutes of the game. Turning the ball over 24 times — 11 of which were caused by the Crimson defense — UPenn’s inability to cherish the ball allowed Harvard a more-lopsided offensive onslaught, which Assistant Coach and Offensive Coordinator Neil Hutchinson’s attack capitalized on.

“We guarded and communicated at a really high level,” said junior SSDM Owen Guest. “Coach Grill and Coach Byrne had us dialed in on the macro-level tendencies of Penn’s offense, and we took a big step in understanding our individual matchups on a micro level.”

Sitting at No. 3 in the nation for scoring, No. 3 in the nation for assists, and No. 4 for shot percentage per game, the Harvard attack didn’t deviate from its team-style offense, making the most of its time with the ball and out-shooting UPenn with 46 shots to the visitor’s mere 26. With just 13 shots on goal throughout all 60 minutes, the Quakers gave Stevens a much-needed break before the squad battles against No. 1 Cornell this weekend.

Stacking wins against then-No. 17 Boston University, Binghamton, then-No.18 Dartmouth, and UPenn, the team has clearly started to find its rhythm. The team played loose the whole game, showing off moments of creative brilliance that the ESPN+ broadcasters lauded as the squad playing “freelance style” and “just having fun on the offense.”

Getting things going on the attack was junior attackman Teddy Malone, who hit twine about three minutes into play on a textbook finish fast break play. Riding hard following a missed shot from senior middie Owen Gaffney, the attack got the ball back immediately in the midfield — a hallmark of the game as UPenn was only able to successfully clear on 16 of its 25 attempts, or 64 percent — and made light work of the Quakers’ inability to recover as sophomore attackman Jack Speidell found Malone waiting for the finish.

Six minutes later UPenn would equalize the score at one-all, but Harvard would answer with two in kind just moments later. The first came from senior attackman Sam King — who sits at No. 9 in the nation for total points, and is a contender for the coveted Tewaaraton trophy — who struck paydirt with just three seconds left on the shotclock. Bodying up his guy as he took it himself around the left side of the crease, King found glory as he fell to the turf.

Striking up momentum, junior middie Andrew Perry would strike less than two minutes later, this time on a FB goal as he barrelled down the middle of the field on the transition after receiving the ball from senior defender Logan Darrin. The defense played lock-down against the Quakers, getting out on its matchups, making contact, sending slides, and communicating through its rotations. Overall, the unit — led by Darrin, junior Charlie Muller, and senior Martin Nelson, proved an immovable brick wall that several times caused UPenn’s shot clock to expire, and made pivotal stops that allowed middies like Perry to find those chances.

Despite losing the first face off of the second quarter, play at the X was certainly an improvement from past performances, with Harvard winning the day — not, necessarily, on the initial clamp, but in the 50-50 GB scrum — with 64 percent of the draws. Freshman FOGO Jackson Henehan posted a six-for-nine record, sophomore FOGO Owen Umansky went one-for-one, and junior FOGO Matt Barraco went 7-for-12. The wings really distinguished the squad, however, with sophomore LSM Joost de Koning and senior SSDM Ray Dearth making their presence known with standout GB play.

The first goal of the second half was yet another buzzer-beater by King, this time on a broken play that saw the captain snag a one-handed ground ball and work through three defenders before sniping top shelf with six on the shot clock. Next, Speidell tallied his first of five on the day on the assist from King, flying through the middle of the arc before sending it behind the back as he crossed GLE where he was met with a look of utter bewilderment from UPenn’s goalie Emmet Carroll.

The Quakers would answer about a minute later, and Speidell would notch his second to keep Harvard ahead by four. Notoriously a gritty program, UPenn showed it wasn’t down for the count. Working its way back into contention, the Quakers celebrated with the final two goals of the half, cutting the Crimson’s lead to just two. The first on a shifty take from attackman Chris Patterson – a transfer from Hobart — and the second from middie Casey Mulligan. It seemed that the game might shift into the visitor’s favor.

However, Harvard is no longer a team led by undreclassmen. And, the poise and composure showed. Not allowing the dip at the end of the second define it, the squad came out blazing, and held UPenn to zero goals in the third quarter. Malone got things going two minutes into play on another FB opportunity, this time on the assist from Guest, who got the ball safely out of the defensive zone on the pass from junior middie Francisco Cortes.

The next two goals both came from Speidell, the first on a man-up attempt that saw him assume his usual position posting up in the middle, and the second on a high-IQ creep around the left side of the cage where junior middie John Aurandt IV found him with the cross-crease assist.

Rounding out play for the third quarter was a buzzer-beater from Guest, who took it himself on the clear from the defensive end, not drawing a slide from the scrambling UPenn defense, and getting the shot off with 0.1 seconds left on the clock. Tallying his third-straight game with a goal, the SSDM certainly has proven his prowess on the offensive end. Up 10-4 and with a comfortable 6-goal lead, the squad was starting to find its groove.

Back and forth play defined the first three minutes of the last quarter, and the Harvard attack was rewarded with a one-minute extra-man opportuntity that it quickly squandered. Carroll realized that the Crimson was trying to find Speidell in the middle for another quick finish, and the goalie easily intercepted the pass before finding his outlet and getting the ball over the midline.

The mistake didn’t haunt it, though, as another solid round of defense neutralized the UPenn possession. Back-to-back saves from Stevens bailed out the squad, and this time Harvard capitalized. Rotating on its second line of middies, the team set up and got to work. A decisive dodge from Malone got the defense biting, and unable to recover on the second slide, Aurandt found himself calling for the ball wide open on the left wing. King hit him from behind and the junior wisely saw his defender overplay him on the approach, toe dragging around the SSDM before using the approaching slide as a screen to send it past Carroll.

Up by its largest lead of the day — seven goals — with nine minutes left to play, it was go time for the Quakers if they wanted to have any hope of a comeback. In a seeming answer, UPenn’s attackman Ben Smith tallied back-to-back goals following Aurandt’s, the second of which was alley-ooped on a slick BTB assist to Smith as he cut through the fan.

Even with the late-game push from Smith, though, Harvard’s lead was too much to overcome, and the squad equalized Smith’s two goals with two of its own to end the game up by seven. Speidell’s last goal of the day was the penultimate strike, this one again coming off the feed from King who hit the St. Anthony’s product with a leading feed from left X as Speidell got a step on his cutter and broke away to wrap around the right side of the crease.

Putting the nail in the coffin was junior middie Logan Ip, who, with about three-and-a-half minutes left found himself double-teamed in the low right corner in UPenn’s last-ditch attempt to get the ball on attack. Splitting the double team and racing towards cage, Ip scored on the open net and secured another win for the Crimson. Running out the clock for the last minutes, Head Coach Gerry Bryne celebrated his first Harvard victory against the Quakers by substituting on his senior class to get them involved in the historic matchup.

“We have to make sure we have a great week of practice to set up a good 60 minutes on Saturday,” said Malone about what the team needs to do heading into its game against Cornell this weekend. “We can’t lose sight of what is important, which is playing for each other and earning more games with our teammates this season.”

The seniors will be celebrated once again this weekend as the squad welcomes No. 1 Cornell to Jordan Field on Saturday at 1 p.m. for both senior day celebrations and alumni day. Following the matchup, the women’s team will be hosting Ancient Eight rival No. 6 Yale at 4 p.m.. If you can’t catch the action live, stream both contests on ESPN+.

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