Men's Lax Loses to Princeton on Dedication Night

The ribbon was cut, the honoraries were introduced and the turf glowed beneath the new set of stadium of lights, but the No. 15 Harvard men's lacrosse team took too long to find the back of the net.

Following an unsettling trend that has shown up in both wins and losses this season, the Crimson (6-3, 2-2 Ivy) did not score until early in the third period, after No. 4 Princeton had already netted a half dozen in the first half.

"We did not capitalize on any of our chances in the first half, even though we had a few of them," freshman attackman Matt Primm said. "We were told before the third that we just needed to calm down to convert those chances--the difference was just a shift in execution."

The Crimson met the Tigers (7-1, 4-0) on Jordan Field's artificial turf in the first night game in the history of Harvard sports. Harvard hosted a number of soccer games for the 1984 Olympics under the lights at Harvard Stadium, but the lights were removed at the end of the Games.

The field, a gift of Gerald Jordan '61, was dedicated in a brief ceremony at midfield before the opening whistle.

The Crimson has played the majority of its games at Jordan this year, but will split time between the new facility and Ohiri Field's natural surface in order to keep opposing teams off balance.

If the visitor's home field is grass, the Crimson will play at Jordan. If the opponent normally plays on turf, the Crimson will cross the street to Ohiri, its old home site.

Harvard started the game with a dominating five-minute set in its own offensive zone.

After middie Adam McGowan wrenched the first face-off from the center stripe, the junior moved down the left side and put the offense in motion.

With freshman middie Doug Logigian working the top of the zone and senior attackman Lawson DeVries behind the net, the Crimson methodically worked the ball around the perimeter.

DeVries drew numerous double teams coming around the left side of the cage, but could find no one in front for the dish. Princeton's strong play on the crease stifled the Crimson throughout the first half, as the Tigers slid well from the off-side to account for double-teams on the near post.

"We were able to draw the doubles [double teams] and get people open, but we could not really find a lot of good shots in close," Primm said. "They were very good around the crease, and though I don't think their size was a big factor, they were good at bringing pressure and getting our offense out of its full rhythm."

The Crimson got few chances in the middle all day, but the first two periods were particularly arid for Harvard. After a full five minutes around Princeton's cage, Tiger goalie Brendan Tierney, who had nine saves on the day, stopped a shot from junior attackman Roger Buttles and play went the other way.

Unfortunately for the Crimson, the Tigers moved down the field and put pressure on goalie Keith Cynar immediately.

Cynar, who had 21 saves for his third-straight game with 20 or more, made a huge stop early in the Tiger's initial set, after Brendan Tierney got open on the doorstep.

Cynar kicked at the sharp bounce shot, muffling the ball before beginning the clear. But the Crimson could not execute in transition, and the Tigers were back on Cynar less than a minute later.

Middie Brad Dumont hit the rope to start the first half romp only seconds later at 10:27 with a left-handed bullet from a tough angle.

Dumont found space along the left side and moved down towards the flank as though he were wrapping around the cage. With a quick flick, however, he beat Cynar stick side.

It was a strong start for the Tigers, and one of the few times Cynar was beaten from medium range on the day.

"In the first 5 minutes we ran the offense the best we had all year," Primm said. "But after that they ran down and got one quick goal and I think we lost our rhythm after that--we got a bit flustered."

And it showed.

Princeton won the period's remaining face-offs and began to dominate around the Crimson cage.

The Tigers spent much of the period working along the top of the zone in favorable one-on-one match-ups, trying to draw double teams as they cycled through a series of isolation plays. The strategy worked well, as Princeton registered 30 shots in the first half to Harvard's 10.

Key to Princeton's domination was the strong midfield play, led by senior Josh Sims, who had three goals and an assist on the day. With pressure coming from the front of the cage, the Tigers were free to leave a man behind the goal to back-up errant shots, causing the Crimson to spend a long time in its own end.

Dumont hit again at 4:30 in the first period in a spectacular individual effort. After running into trouble in the center of the zone, the freshman spun to his right only to meet another Harvard defender. After spinning back to his left, he was sandwiched between two Crimson players. Dumont stepped through the double team with his stick above his head and found open space.

From there it was an easy walk in on a helpless Cynar.

Sims scored 25 seconds later off a pass from attackman Matt Streibel to stretch the lead to 3-0.

Princeton looked at home on Cynar's crease throughout the game. Tigers attackman B.J. Prager, who had four goals in the game, had a couple of quick-sticks--goals that are more one-touch flicks then shots.

The Crimson was outshot 51-29 on the evening.

The second stanza saw much of the same, with Princeton spending long periods in the Crimson's offensive zone.

Prager had two in the frame, both from Streibel, and freshman Matt Hartopolis pushed the lead to six with only 27 seconds left in the half.

At the buzzer, it was 6-0 with 30 minutes still left to play.

"Everyone at the half just said that we needed to calm down and the goals would come," Primm said. "The focus was on execution."

After starting with a man advantage from a call against the Tiger's late in the second frame, the Crimson found the rhythm and the net, as junior attackman Dana Sprong connected for Harvard's first goal.

Working in front of the net in the Crimson's normal offense, which inverts the middies, Sprong got a pass from Primm on the left side and beat Tierney high.

Despite an unnecessary roughness penalty on sophomore James Christian at 8:19, junior defenseman Peter Zaremba cut the Tiger lead to four at 7:39 off a pass from senior midfielder David Winslow that cut across the Princeton defense and found Zaremba close on the left post.

Despite a re-energized attack, the Crimson could not surmount the early lead. After another Princeton goal from Matt Bailer, DeVries notched his first at 1:19. Prager answered with his fourth with less than a minute left in the third period, and Harvard was back where it started the stanza--six goals down.

In the fourth, the teams traded goals, but again, the final buzzer found the first half massacre the margin of error.

The difference throughout was execution. Especially in the first 30 minutes, the Tigers ran its offense with a disconcerting efficiency, taking numerous shots on Cynar's crease with little immediate challenge.

With a constant back-up, Princeton simply reset from behind after missing a shot.

The Crimson, meanwhile, had a tough time finding good scoring chances until late in the game, and even then the shots were often rushed.

Princeton gets no rest in the coming week. The Tigers play No. 9 Cornell (8-0, 4-0) this Saturday and No. 1 Syracuse (8-1) on Sunday--an especially tough weekend, since Cornell beat Syracuse 13-12 last Tuesday in Ithaca.

The Crimson will have an easier time this week. Harvard travels to UMass (4-5, 1-3 ECAC) on Wednesday and faces Yale (6-3, 1-3) in New Haven on Saturday.