Three Things to Watch For in Sunday's Men's Lacrosse Final

On Friday night, the Harvard men’s lacrosse team (8-7, 3-3 Ivy) rode a record-setting nine-goal performance from sophomore attacker Morgan Cheek to an upset victory over No. 2/2 Brown (14-2, 6-0). With the win, the Crimson has earned a spot in the Ivy League tournament championship game, where it will face off against No. 7/6 Yale. At stake for Harvard is not only its first tourney title, but also a bid to the NCAA tournament. Here are three things to watch:

1) Cheek’s Hot Streak

Cheek has scored 13 goals in his past two games, including a four-goal output against the same Bulldogs defense he will be facing on Sunday. He sits second on the team in both goals and assists, with 35 and 23, respectively. Senior attacker Devin Dwyer leads the Crimson in both categories.

On Friday, Cheek found the back of the net in a variety of situations, including in both man-up and man-down sets. To contain him, Yale has several options to call on. Senior defender Michael Quinn and junior defender Chris Keating were recently named All-Ivy selections, but one will potentially have to be tasked with stopping Dwyer as well unless the Bulldogs play more of a zone set.

2) Crance Capitalizing on His Chance

In bold move for a team that was ranked in the Top-5 nationally at the time, Yale slotted freshman goalie Hoyt Crance into the starting lineup with only a few games remaining in the season. Sophomore Phil Huffard, who started the first ten games, has assumed a backup role as Crance has taken full advantage of his opportunity.

Crance sports a 4-1 record, with his save percentage increasing in each of the past three games. Despite being a freshman, he showed composure in guiding the Bulldogs to a 7-6 victory over Penn in the semifinals of the Ivy tournament.

While Harvard is not known for a high-scoring offense, it has the playmakers to challenge Crance on Sunday. Dwyer and Cheek lead the attack, but the Crimson has a stable of experienced senior attackmen who have all shown abilities to find the net this season.

3) Closing the Game

When Harvard and Yale meet on Sunday, only eight days will have passed since their previous meeting. In that encounter, the Bulldogs rallied from a 8-4 deficit to win, 9-8, as the Crimson lacked a spark on offense in the fourth quarter to hold onto its lead.

Harvard responded well after the letdown with a resolute performance at the end of the game against Brown, but it is to be seen whether the collapse against Yale last weekend will be on the minds of Crimson players if Sunday’s final goes down to the wire.

—Staff Writer George Hu can be reached at yianshenhu@college.harvard.edu.