No. 7 Harvard Survives Brawl Versus Brown, 12-10

No. 7 Harvard came out on top in a closely fought contest, defeating Brown 12-10 on Saturday at home on Jordan Field.

The contest between the two sides was the seventh in a row decided by two goals or fewer, while the Crimson’s head coach, Gerry Byrne, extended his perfect coaching record against the Bears to 5-0.

Senior attack Teddy Malone moved into seventh on Harvard’s all-time goals scored list with four goals on the afternoon to make it 106 in his career.

Freshman midfielder Logan Turley scored his first career goal and added two more for a hat trick, with all three coming in clutch moments during a tight game, establishing himself as an offensive threat.

“It just felt good today,” said Turley. “The offense the whole year has just been clicking. We just have trust and confidence in one another. I think it’s been big, and it’s gonna be big for the rest of the season for us.”

Harvard, whose faceoff percentage was the eleventh worst in the country entering the game, was down to its third and fourth string FOGOs, senior Matt Barraco and freshman Harry Luong. Barraco finished 7-15 on faceoffs, hopefully a sign of better things to come.

Brown played an incredibly physical game, causing the Crimson to struggle mightily in transition, with 22 turnovers and five failed clears. An electric bench turned every big hit into momentum that the Bears were able to carry throughout the game.

“You have to try to meet that energy,” said Byrne. “They were kicking our ass on the tough loose balls. We failed to clear like ten times, and that led to four or five goals for them. They play aggressively and unafraid. But again, I don’t want to get penalties. So, trying to find that happy medium between being confrontational but not being out of control.”

“We have to be better,” said senior defenseman Charlie Muller. “Luckily enough, we battened down the hatches on defense, and we made stops when we needed to in this game. And we came out with a win in Ivy League play, which is super important.”

“But it was an ugly one,” the senior added.

Harvard (9-1, 3-0 Ivy) was coming off its first loss of the season against No. 2 North Carolina, in which it fell 17-7. The Crimson’s 8-0 start was its second best in its history, which included the program’s first ever victory over a No. 1 team, when it defeated Syracuse 13-12 on Feb. 21.

“It was an unfortunate game versus UNC,” said Turley. “But we were back pressing all week with a different fire that we haven’t had all season.”

Brown (5-5, 0-3) has had a relatively unimpressive season, failing to finish within six goals of a ranked team until today.

Sophomore attack Nathan Cobery caught a pass at X and curled up from behind the cage to open up the scoring for the Crimson.

Brown responded with a goal from sophomore attackman Brady O’Kane. O’Kane rapidly struck again to give the Bears the lead.

Brown’s senior attackman Jeremy Hopsicker struck twice to make it 4-1 midway through the first quarter.

Harvard was not looking like itself, with sophomore goalie Graham Stevens, fifth in the nation in save percentage entering the game, only one for five on saves. Meanwhile, the Crimson’s offense was uncharacteristically failing to capitalize on opportunities.

“On the defensive end, we definitely got out to a slow start,” said Muller. “ I think that we’ve had to throw the second punch, and that's something that we’re working on as a unit, throwing the first punch, and really coming out of the gate strong.”

Byrne called a timeout to stop the bleeding, hoping to help his defense regain its composure. Right out of the break, Malone rushed up from X to get the Crimson back in it.

The momentum didn’t stay Harvard’s way for long, as Brown’s Jackson Wolfram scored with just a second left on the shot clock to put the visiting team ahead 5-2.

Malone punched right back for the Crimson on a man-up advantage, and Turley scored on an incredibly hard-fought possession for his first collegiate goal.

Cobery opened the second quarter with a goal on a free play to even it up at five.

Brown’s O’Kane seemingly retook the lead, only for the goal to be overturned via a replay review. An injury to starting goalie, junior Connor Foley, worsened things for the Bears.

Sophomore attackman Jared Maznik scored on a man-up to give Harvard its first lead in nearly twenty minutes.

Hopsicker scored a nasty behind-the-back goal for Brown to tie the game once more.

With 12 seconds left before the halftime break, Byrne called a timeout to draw up one final play. Senior midfielder John Aurandt IV capitalized on the opportunity, giving the Crimson a 7-6 lead headed into the break.

Brown scored on a man advantage to tie the game early in the third quarter, and Hopsicker got another behind-the-back goal to put the Bears ahead.

Senior midfielder Andrew Perry ripped top ched to knot it back up at eight.

Junior attackman Jackson Wolfram hit the bottom right corner to give the Bears the lead once again, as Brown carried a 9-8 advantage into the final quarter.

Harvard’s third quarter was defined largely by the opportunities it didn’t get to have: the Crimson failed to clear the ball four times in the third while being outshot by Brown, 11-4.

“I think today we never rested on the clear,” said Muller. “Brown was bringing two down pressure and consistently clogging up the middle of the field. We weren’t looking to the corridor, and I think if we looked there and made that pass a little bit better, we would have more success. And that all starts with having clean stick work.”

Senior midfielder Marcus Wertheim scored to give the Bears a two-goal lead early in the fourth.

Luckily for the Harvard fans that lined Jordan Field, Malone struck twice to tie the game at ten with just nine minutes remaining in regulation.

Turley then fired a missile from the restrainer, chipping the crossbar on its way into the net to put the home team in front.

The rookie recorded another one for a hat trick, tacking on a crucial insurance goal for the Crimson.

A last-ditch effort from Brown proved fruitless as Harvard survived, 12-10.

After his rough one-for-five start, Stevens bounced back to allow just six goals on 16 attempts and finish with an above .500 save percentage for the seventh time this season.

The victory for Harvard extends a pair of unfortunate streaks for Brown: The Bears have not defeated the Crimson since 2019, and have yet to win an Ivy League game since 2024.

After struggling against the Ancient Eight’s lower tier in Brown and Dartmouth, the Crimson will have to dig deep to finish the regular season with the Ivy League crown, beginning with its 107th matchup against its arch rival, No. 18 Yale, in New Haven, Conn., on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. EDT.

A victory for Harvard will prevent the Bulldogs from qualifying for the Ivy League tournament.

“We’ve got to continue to develop our faceoff group, and we have to clear,” said Byrne. “And we have to battle a traditional rival that’s a big opponent in every sport.”

Yale (5-4, 2-2) is not a team to be taken lightly, as it recently stunned No. 10 Cornell in Ithaca, prevailing 13-12.

“Yale’s a really good team,” said Turley. “We need to lock in and get ready for them. We gotta take every opponent as if it’s the best opponent in the country, and that’s what we’re gonna do all season, and I think we’ll hopefully see a lot of success in the next couple of weeks.”

Harvard’s schedule doesn’t get any easier after its trip to New Haven, as it takes on No. 5 Princeton in Cambridge and No. 10 Cornell on the road to conclude the regular season.

— Staff writer Maxwell P. Friedman can be reached at [email protected].