Harvard Gets Set For Season Opener

This weekend will be telling for the Harvard men’s lacrosse team, which travels to Stony Brook University (0-1) for a 1 p.m. game tomorrow.

Four of the Crimson’s first five games are on the road, something the team had a tough time handling last season, when it won just one away from home. This spring will bring especially tough road competition.

“We haven’t had much success on road trips in the past,” senior captain Tom Mikula said. “So this game will hold a lot of importance for us.”

Harvard has never faced the Seawolves, who were defeated last weekend by No. 3 University of Virginia, 17-4. Stony Brook showed some strengths in the loss, especially on the attack—junior Sean Chamberlain scored two goals and senior Jason Cappadoro added a goal and two assists—but many weaknesses were also evident.

After being down 3-0, the Seawolves rebounded with two goals of their own to make it 3-2, only to give up ten straight scores directly thereafter. The team was held scoreless for nearly 15 minutes of play.

In spite of this, Harvard coach Scott Anderson warns that the game will test the Crimson, especially as a season-opener.

“Stony Brook is a very aggressive team in terms of schemes,” Anderson said. “They throw junk defenses, zones, and ten-man rides. The solution is really to be poised and to make the proper adjustments. It’s a pretty big challenge early in the season. We need to recognize what is going on in different situations.”

Not only is Harvard up against a strong attack from the Seawolves, but the team may suffer from recurring offensive difficulties.

Despite strong defensive play, last year the squad lost many games as a result of an inability to score goals.

“Being a consistently good offensive team and shooting the ball well will be our two biggest challenges,” Anderson said.

Yet the 2006 squad is stronger than last year’s team. The Crimson will have a better attack with the return of junior Greg Cohen, who provided much of the offense his freshman year. Cohen missed the entire 2005 season after he broke his arm during the preseason.

“We’re looking for him to provide a lot of offense for us,” Mikula said. “We’re looking forward to having him back this year. He was really someone we missed.”

Cohen is just one of the many upperclassmen Harvard will look to for guidance and motivation. Adding a new face to the offensive mix, freshman Max Motschwiller has been a spark in preseason. The team’s midfield and defense will undergo the most changes. Despite a large percentage of veterans in the backfield, including Mikula, who won second team all-Ivy honors in 2005, new defensemen may see time in order to increase the depth of the squad.

“The most inexperience is in the midfield defense,” Anderson said. “But they’ve looked good in preseason, so I’m not concerned.”

A combination of freshmen and converts to the position will have to prove themselves. Senior Peter Doyle will play long-stick mid for the first time, while junior P.J. Maglathlin is returning from a year off, and freshman Sam Slaughter will round out the group. Two freshmen, Nick Sapia and Garrett Schabb, will start at short-stick mid.

The Crimson is also looking to use a new strategy in goal, potentially splitting the time between freshman Joe Pike and sophomore Evan O’Donnell to utilize each player’s abilities.

After Saturday, the Crimson begins a long season of both tough conference and non-conference play, beginning with a game Mar. 10 against preseason No. 10 Massachusetts. The schedule includes four 2005 conference champions, and nine games against schools that are either ranked or receiving votes in the national poll.

“How well we come out this weekend will set the tone for this season,” Mikula said. “So we’re going to put a lot of emphasis on this game.”

Yet with Saturday being just the first game of the season, Anderson fears putting too much emphasis on a non-conference game. The coach hopes to display a strong, balanced attack and more mental toughness than Harvard showed last year, particularly in road games.

“I don’t think it’s the defining game,” Anderson said. “It certainly would help us to build confidence and momentum. It would be great as a team to play well. We know we have a lot of tough games. We need to play them one-by-one as a team.”

—Staff writer Madeleine I. Shapiro can be reached at mshapirofas.harvard.edu.