Pictured: Jeff Cohen, who netted four goals Saturday, leads Harvard with 29 scores this fall.
Photo courtesy: Kevin Burns Photography

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Jeff Cohen scored four goals, while Kevin Vaughan dished out four assists, including three on goals by Cohen, but the 19th-ranked Harvard men's lacrosse team suffered a 9-8 loss at No. 17 Yale in the final game of the regular season.  With the defeat, the Crimson concludes the regular season 6-6 overall and 2-4 in the Ivy League, while the Bulldogs move to 10-3 and 4-2 in the Ancient Eight. 

After trailing 2-0 for much of the first quarter, Vaughan, who led Harvard with six ground balls, found Cohen for the Crimson's first goal with 3:00 to play in the opening stanza.  Despite a 2-1 deficit after the first 15 minutes of action, Harvard owned a sizeable lead in shots, 13-5.

In the second quarter, the Crimson successfully killed off a one-minute penalty before Jason Duboe knotted the game, 2-2, with a shot past Yale goalkeeper Johnathan Falcone at 13:49.  Harvard's offense continued to surge as Vaughan and Cohen once again teamed up for a goal at the 6:51 mark, giving the Crimson its first lead, 3-2.  With 3:28 remaining in the half, Dean Gibbons notched a goal after receiving a pass from Peter Schwartz, as he made it a 4-3 contest in favor of the Crimson.  Only 32 seconds later, Cohen tallied his third goal of the game off another pass from Vaughan, giving Harvard a two-goal cushion. 

At the midway point of the game, Harvard held a 5-3 lead and owned a 23-9 advantage in shots. 

The Crimson tacked on a goal by Travis Burr to start the third quarter at the 12:03 mark, pushing its lead to 6-3.  After Yale scored back-to-back goals, Gibbons pushed Harvard's lead back to two scores, 7-5, with an unassisted tally at 3:08.  The Bulldogs netted two more goals later in the third to make it a 7-7 contest entering the fourth quarter.

With 10:01 left to go in the final stanza, Cohen put the Crimson back on top, 8-7, after Jack Doyle fed Cohen with a pass for the sophomore attacker's fourth goal of the day.  The Bulldogs netted the game's next two goals, pulling ahead, 9-8, with 5:48 remaining. 

Harry Krieger stopped seven shots in the cage for Harvard, while Falcone turned aside five shots in the Yale net.  Harvard, which outshot Yale, 37-27 for the game, was 0-for-3 on man-up opportunities and grabbed 23 ground balls, compared to 29 for the Bulldogs.  The Crimson was also 10-of-13 on clear attempts.