No. 13 Harvard Set For Rematch Against No. 4 Cornell In Ivy Tournament

No. 13 Harvard will search for revenge as it battles the hosting No. 4 Cornell Big Red on Friday at 4 p.m. EDT in the Ivy League Tournament Semifinals.

The Crimson fell to the reigning national champion in Ithaca, N.Y., last Saturday, 11-9, despite an even score with the Big Red with less than four minutes on the clock.

“You got the good news, bad news story,” said head coach Gerry Byrne. “The bad news, in some ways, is that you’re playing them again. The good news is that you’re playing them again.

“We know we can play with this team. They are the defending national champions, but we’ve beaten this team before,” Byrne added, referring to Harvard’s 2023 victory over Cornell. “So you take the lessons from the game. We did a lot of things really well, and so we want to reinforce those. And the things that we didn’t do well, we spent a lot of time watching film and drilling on the field, so that when you get the opportunity to do it again, you execute.”

“It’s an accumulation of all the things we’ve done so far this season,” said senior attack Teddy Malone. We’ve been riding super hard and getting some gritty groundballs. Now, if we can combine that with some clean execution on offense and defense and in between the lines, we’ll be great.”

The defeat marked the second straight week the Crimson failed to capitalize on a tied game late in the fourth, after No. 2 Princeton scored with 17 seconds left to prevail over Harvard, 15-14.

A victory for the Crimson on Friday will all but clinch an at-large bid for the team in the NCAA Tournament, while a loss will force Harvard to sweat it out during the selection show.

For the senior-heavy roster, this reality places a lot of pressure on a team in control of its own destiny.

“It’s always difficult,” said captain Sean Jordan. “I think our mindset, at least defensively, is to just go in and have some fun, play the game you always love to play. It’s a game, it should be fun.”

Harvard will look to return to the NCAA Tournament after it blew a six-goal lead last season to fall to then-No. 6 Syracuse, 13-12. The Crimson has never participated in consecutive NCAA Tournaments.

Cornell dominated the faceoff battle last Saturday, 18-6, led by Ivy League Midfielder of the Year Jack Cascadden. The disparity resulted in plenty of fast-break opportunities for the Big Red, including one that led to the game-winner late in the fourth quarter.

“It takes a village when you’re facing off,” said Byrne. “It’s not just our face-off guys, it’s really the other nine guys. We’re going to try and do some different things on the wing and with our ride so that we don’t give up goals off the face off and we’re able to win back some possessions.”

Cornell’s junior attack Ryan Goldstein had seven points, and Ivy League Attackman of the Year Ryan Firth scored five goals, accounting for the majority of the Big Red’s offense during the game last week.

“They’re a really impressive offense,” said Jordan, named to the All-Ivy First Team. “They move the ball really fast. Goldstein and Firth are both great players we have to watch for. I think that our defenders have been doing a great job recently. As long as we play our own game, slide when we need to, and communicate, we’ll be just fine.”

On the offensive end on Saturday, Harvard was uncharacteristically inefficient, shooting at just a .231 clip compared to its .331 shot percentage on the season.

“They’re just trying to speed us up and get us out of rhythm, which I think they did a little bit in our game last Saturday,” said Malone. “This week, we’ve been flying around in practice. We’re prepared for their chaos, and I’m excited.”

The game on Friday will mark the first time in program history that the Crimson has qualified for consecutive Ivy League tournaments. Harvard has never won the Ivy League Tournament Championship.

The victor will face the winner of the other semifinal game, a showdown between No. 2 Princeton and No. 9 Yale, for the Ivy League Tournament Championship on Sunday at 1 p.m. EDT in Ithaca.

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