CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Harvard men's lacrosse kicked off Ivy League play with bang, defeating the Brown Bears in overtime, 16-15.
Sam King netted the walk-off goal, his team-high fourth of the game, to lift the Crimson to its third win of 2023. The Frisbie Family Head Coach for Harvard men's lacrosse,
Gerry Byrne and his group earned a key Ivy League win and went above .500 with the result.
King paced the squad with seven points and
Teddy Malone finished with a career-high six points to lead the Crimson offense.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- It was a great day for lacrosse in Providence, as the Crimson met the Brown Bears on Stevenson-Pincince Field in nearly 60-degree weather. The Crimson broke out its black alternate jerseys for the contest.
- The Crimson stormed out of the gates, winning the opening faceoff then running downfield to score the first goal of the game just 35 seconds into the contest. Hayden Cheek registered the goal off the feed from Owen Gaffney to give Harvard the early lead.
- The captain, Nick Loring, scored his first goal of the game four minutes later to boost the lead to 2-0. After being shut down for the first ten minutes, Brown finally got on the board at 5:27 in the opening frame.
- The Crimson answered with a quick strike by Sam King just 45 seconds later, but Brown battled back to level the score at three as time expired in the first quarter.
- The Harvard offense was on fire in the second quarter, totaling six goals in the period. Joe Dowling kicked off the action with a man-up goal just thirty seconds into the quarter. Malone and Miles Botkiss added strikes to help the Crimson build a 6-3 lead. Brown answered with a quick three-goal run of its own to tie the score with time winding down.
- Keeping its foot on the gas pedal, Harvard put together another three-goal run in the final two minutes of the quarter. King scored the first two goals of the run to complete his first-half hat trick before Botkiss potted the final goal of the half. The run was powered by two faceoff wins from Andrew DeGennaro.
- Brown threatened early in the third quarter, scoring back-to-back goals to come within one of Harvard. Loring thwarted the Bears pursuit with a huge goal to give Harvard its tenth of the game. Teddy Malone added on to the total with another goal, his second of the game.
- After another pair of Bear strikes, Hayden Cheek ended the third period with his second goal of the game, giving the Crimson an 11-8 lead after three quarters.
- The sides went back-and-forth nearly the entire 15 minutes in an intense fourth quarter battle. Brown took the first shot, scoring two goals to even the score at 12. Loring threw the next punch, completing his hat-trick with a goal and retaking the lead for his team. Brown tied the score again two minutes later, but Teddy Malone put an end to its hopes with his third goal of the game just under a minute later.
- The next four minutes was all about the defense, as neither team could find the net with its attempts. Brown finally broke through, scoring back-to-back goals to take a 15-14 lead with just over two minutes to go in regulation.
- With time winding down and Brown holding the ball, the Harvard defense kept pressuring the Bears and forced a turnover to retake possession with 44 seconds left. After clearing the ball, the Crimson called a timeout with 18 ticks of the clock left. Teddy Malone sent the game to OT with his fourth goal of the game off a great play out of the timeout, tying the game at 15 all and sending the Crimson and the Bears to overtime for the first time since 2012.
- Brown controlled the opening draw in overtime, but its possession was short lived thanks to Owen Guest, who caused a turnover to get the ball back in the Crimson's hands. Owen Gaffney took the shot on the ensuing possession but was denied by Brown goalie as the battle continued in the Crimson's defensive end. The Harvard defense stood tall, fighting off four Brown shot attempts and get another possession with just over a minute remaining in overtime. Greg Campisi successfully cleared the ball before Byrne called timeout to set up the offense.
- On Harvard's next possession, the Crimson were working the ball around the offensive zone looking for an angle. Settled at the 30, Gaffney threw a great skip pass across the zone to Malone who quickly dumped the ball off to Sam King who was making a move up from X. King received the pass and snuck a shot through the goalie's legs that just barely made it over the goal line to end the game.
- King's OT game-winner was his fourth strike of the game and gave Harvard its first OT win since 2019 and its first win in Providence since 2011.
HARVARD HIGHLIGHTS
- Sam King paced the offense with seven points, scoring four goals and throwing three helpers.
- Teddy Malone finished in a close second with six points, including four goals, to record a new career high. The first-year also chipped in with four groundballs and two caused turnovers in a great all-around effort.
- Nick Loring (3G), Miles Botkiss (2G, 1A) and Logan Ip (3A) each finished with three points.
- Harvard assisted on 13 of its 16 goals this afternoon and had a season-low eight turnovers.
- Andrew O'Berry, Collin Bergstrom and Martin Nelson all recorded three groundballs.
- The extra-man unit continued to roll, scoring two goals and going 2-for-3 in the contest to improve its season total to 14 (.667).
- The Crimson successfully cleared on 21 of 22 chances.
- Harvard earned its first OT win since 2019 and defeated the Bears on their home turf for the first time since 2011.
UP NEXT
Harvard will have its fastest turnaround of the season this week as it will head across the Charles River to take on the Boston University Terriers on Tuesday night. The Charles River rivalry between the Crimson and Terriers will be renewed at 7 PM on Nickerson Field and on ESPN+.
