Men's Lax Drops Season Opener to Ohio State

Nine months after a seven-goal loss in the opening round of the NCAA tournament, the Harvard men’s lacrosse team looked to rid itself of the sour feeling left by the Orange of Syracuse.

But strong execution from a hardened Ohio State (3-1) squad and a lack of offense for the Crimson (0-1) resulted in a 13-4 Buckeye win against Harvard in front of 511 fans at a windy North Turf Field in Columbus, Ohio yesterday.

And just like last May, it was the Crimson’s slow start that proved too much to overcome.

“I think that it being our first game and their fourth, we just had some first-game jitters,” said co-captain midfielder John Henry Flood. “We got in a 5-0 hole before we knew it.”

The margin ballooned to a 7-0 cushion for the Buckeyes with 2:09 to play in the second quarter before senior midfielder Carle Stenmark notched a goal to bring the margin to 7-1 at halftime.

Ohio State also had a six-shot lead to go along with its six-goal advantage heading into the break.

“Their defense was aggressive, and they pressed down on us,” senior attackman Greg Cohen said. “They kind of shocked us a bit, and our shots weren’t the highest percentage.”

Making matters worse was the fact that Harvard’s leading scorer from 2006, senior attackman Evan Calvert, was sidelined due to a sprained ankle suffered late in the week. Junior Liam Griff got the start in Calvert’s place, and though he filled in admirably—Griff scored two third-quarter goals off of Flood assists—Calvert’s presence was missed.

“When you practice one thing for weeks on end and a few things go wrong, it’s tough,” co-captain midfielder Brian Mahler said. “It’s not the main reason why we lost, but it did affect us. We have to become a more adaptable team.”

The Crimson made the contest a bit more interesting early in the third quarter, when Harvard scored back-to-back goals just over a minute apart to shrink the lead to 8-3. Sophomore midfielder Matt Motschwiller scored the second of the two, but Ohio State fired off four straight goals to push the lead back to 12-3 and squelch any ideas of a Crimson comeback.

“We battled back in the third quarter, but it was just too slow of a start,” Flood said.

Anything Harvard lacked on offense in the early goings was made up for by the Buckeye attack unit. Ohio State kept sophomore Joe Pike busy in goal, earning a lead it would never relinquish less than two minutes into the game.

The Crimson’s two-goalie experiment saw Pike get the bulk of the action while junior Evan O’Donnell filled in late with the outcome long decided.

“They were taking quality shots,” Flood said. “Most of their shots, our goalies didn’t even have a chance to save because they were on the doorstep. We were taking shots from 15 yards away.”

Harvard will travel to Stony Brook on Saturday to try and replicate its 9-8 season-opening win over the Sea Wolves from a year ago. With three of its first four games on the road, the team hopes that it can emerge from the early non-conference schedule healthy enough to compete for the Ivy League title.

“You have to learn what you can from the game,” Cohen said. “We have to have a short memory.”

“We can’t go anywhere but up,” Mahler said. “Nobody liked the way that felt. We have something to prove.”

—Staff writer Malcom A. Glenn can be reached at mglenn@fas.harvard.edu.