Late Offensive Outburst Helps Hofstra Take Down M. Lacrosse

The Harvard men’s lacrosse team (5-7, 2-3 Ivy) battled hard for the first 45 minutes of its game against Hofstra (8-7, 3-2 CAA) Saturday, but the Pride carried the day thanks to a strong offense that was able to convert its opportunities into an 11-5 victory.

“They were just moving the ball well and they were able to finish their opportunities,” junior midfielder Jake Samuelson said. “They were just overall team players and everyone was finishing.”

The teams fought it out in brutal conditions in Hempstead, N.Y. Rain poured down for most of the game, but play continued as there was no safety threat due to thunder or lightning.

“[Saturday] was real bad—it would soak into your shoes and you felt that you were running with weights on your feet,” freshman attackman Zach Widbin said. “I think it affects everybody equally. It didn’t really change the game.”

The Crimson was able to stay with Hofstra for most of the game, keeping the score tight up through the end of the third period.

Widbin tried to give Harvard some extra momentum at the end of the period when he scored what would be the Crimson’s last goal of the game, bouncing a shot past the Pride’s goalie to close the margin to one.

But once the fourth period hit, Harvard seemed to lose steam.

“We were staying close and for most of the game we were avoiding penalties, [but] during that stretch we went man-down a couple of times and with that team you expect them to capitalize on that,” Samuelson said. “We had just a small let-down and it really meant the game. In a tight game you just can’t mess up like that.”

Going into the fourth period, the Crimson was only down by one goal with the score 6-5, but it only took Hofstra a few minutes to score its first of five goals in the period.

The Pride’s next two goals came during two successive man-up opportunities and brought the score to 9-5.

Hofstra would go on to score two more goals in the period, its last goal coming during a man-up opportunity for Harvard that brought the score to 11-5.

“When you can’t take a lead it can [negatively affect] your mental state,” Widbin said. “[There were] a couple of good plays by them that snowballed. That has tended to happen to us lately.”

Even though only the Pride scored in the fourth period, the Crimson actually took more shots in the period and in the overall game as well. But Harvard simply had no luck getting the ball into the net.

“We didn’t really shoot very well,” Widbin said. “We seemed to be kind of hot and cold and we will have good games and really bad games. Yesterday was just one of those bad days when we couldn’t really buy a [goal].”

The Crimson started out the game strong, holding its first and only lead of the contest in the first period.

Hofstra won the first faceoff and managed to hold the ball for the first four minutes of the game before putting the first goal on the board.

Harvard quickly responded with two goals. Widbin scored his first of two goals of the game, hitting the back of the net from the left side of the goal. He was soon followed by freshman attackman Brooks Scholl, who caught a pass from sophomore midfielder Evan Calvert and was able to score at the end of the period to put the Crimson in front.

The Pride soon gained the momentum back and went on a three-goal streak, scoring the only two goals registered during the second period, with the second one coming right at the buzzer. Hofstra then went on to open up the third period with a goal only 1:44 into the period to bring the score to 4-2.

But Harvard answered back with two goals of its own to once again tie up the score at 4-4. Scholl scored his second goal of the game off a feed from sophomore midfielder Brian Mahler. Junior midfielder Tom Boylan added an unassisted goal to once again bring the Crimson close.

“When the game is tied and you are missing shots, it doesn’t seem as devastating,” Samuelson said. “I don’t know why we didn’t convert. We gave ourselves every opportunity.”

Harvard then lost its momentum, as a Crimson penalty gave the Pride its first man-up opportunity of the game and their first of three goals during those man-up advantages.

The Crimson did a good job at creating opportunities to score during the game, but simply wasn’t able to convert its chances into goals.

Freshman goalie Evan O’Donnell was back in action on Saturday after being taken out with an injury in the Crimson’s last game against Massachusetts, registering 11 saves for the game.

“He didn’t show any signs of being rusty from not playing,” Samuelson said. “He is still in a decent amount of pain and his mobility is limited clearing the ball, but he is doing his job just as well as before. He played a tough game.”

—Staff writer Abigail M. Baird can be reached at ambaird@fas.harvard.edu.