CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The 2024 season has finally arrived for the Harvard Crimson men's lacrosse program, that is set to return to action this Saturday (Feb. 17) for a tilt against the Providence College Friars. The Crimson (0-0, 0-0 Ivy) will battle the Friars (1-1, 0-0 BIG EAST) to open Jordan Field on Saturday at 3:30 PM.
The highly anticipated 2024 season comes with high expectations for the Harvard Crimson, who return a host of its starting roster from a year ago and a majority of players from its NCAA Tournament run in 2022. The Frisbie Family Head Coach for Harvard Men's Lacrosse,
Gerry Byrne, and his staff have retooled and reloaded their program with new faces and talent this offseason and now have their sights set on new season.
THE MATCHUP
Harvard has not competed against the Friars since the 2019 season, a matchup that ended in a 9-8 win for the Crimson. The regional foes have met five times in the series history dating back to 2001 and all five contests have ended in Harvard victories.
Providence has already played in two contests this season, posting a 12-6 win against Holy Cross on opening day (Feb. 4) before falling in a close 13-15 loss to Bryant last Saturday (Feb. 10). Last season, the Friars posted a. 6-9 record and a 2-23 mark in BIG EAST play. The program, that has not put together a winning season since the 2017, holds a 2-43 all-time against Ivy League opponents.
Harvard owns a 11-6 record against current BIG EAST opponents in its program history.
WHAT'S HAPPENING
- Frozen Faceoff: Free hot chocolate and coffee to all in attendance. First 60 undergrads in attendance will receive a free pair of gloves.
- Crimson Pub: All fans 21 and over can enjoy beverages at the Crimson Pub on the berm at Jordan Field.
- One Love Game: Harvard Lacrosse will be giving away One Love Foundation gear throughout the contest.
QUICK HITS
- Harvard opens the 2024 season with a tilt against Providence at Jordan Field.
- The Crimson will play 13 games in 2024, including seven on its home turf.
- Harvard open the season with a five-game-in-two-week stretch. Three of those contests will be played inside the friendly confines of Jordan Field.
- Collin Bergstrom, Sam King and Andrew O'Berry will captain the Crimson in the 2024 season.
- A Baltimore native, King was one of only 50 players named to the 2024 Tewaaraton Award Watch List.
- Three first-year players, Jackson Greene (No. 28), Jack Speidell (No. 38), and Jack Petersen (No. 51) all landed on the Inside Lacrosse Power 100 freshman list.
- This game will also serve as Harvard Lacrosse's One Love Game. The program has partnered with the One Love Foundation to bring awareness to its mission of ending relationship abuse.
LAST YEAR'S NUMBERS
- Harvard will look to improve on a 5-7 record in 2023 and a 2-4 mark in league play.
- The Crimson ranked highly in a number of defensive statistics nationally, including opponent clearing percentage (third, .789), caused turnovers per game (fourth, 10.5), and ground balls per game (tenth, 35.58).
- Sam King ranked no. 14 in the nation in points per game a year ago, recording 4.67 per contest in 2023.
- King's assists per game (2.08) and goals per game (2.58) were both inside the top 30 nationally.
- Joe Dowling ranked in the top 50 nationally with five man-up goals.
- The Crimson's man-down defense was stout last year, ranking atop the Ivy League with a .667 percentage.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
- Returning point-scorer Sam King is back with the Crimson in 2024 to lead the Harvard attack unit.
- Sophomore Teddy Malone will join King on the attack and will look to improve off an impressive first-year season in 2023.
- Jackson Greene, Jack Spiedell and Jack Petersen will all see playing time right from the jump after showing off their skills in Fall competitions.
- The Crimson returns an experienced defensive group that includes former All-Ivy league talents Collin Bergstrom and Greg Campisi. Charlie Muller and Martin Nelson, who both started more than 10 games a year ago, will both be back in the crimson and white.
- Senior goalkeeper, Christian Barnard, will return to mind the crease for the Crimson.
- Owen Umansky, a member of the incoming first-year class, is looking to make an impact in the faceoff circle for Harvard next to junior Andrew DeGennaro.
- Andrew O'Berry and Ray Dearth will both look to build off solid season a year ago when they lead the defensive midfield group this season.
KING NAMED TO TEWAARATON WATCH LIST
All eyes will be on number seven in Crimson once
Sam King hits the field on Saturday, as the junior attack was honored yesterday by being named to the 2024 Tewaaraton Award Watch List. A junior captain, King has led the program on the scoresheet in each of the past two seasons and last year became the fifth-fastest player in program history to reach the 100-point milestone.
"Sam has proven day in and day out that he is an All-American caliber player and leader and this recognition confirms that he is one of the best players in college lacrosse," said the Frisbie Family Head Coach for Harvard Men's Lacrosse,
Gerry Byrne. "His work ethic, selflessness and determination to his craft is a model for his teammates and the engine and compass for our program."
A two-time All-Ivy League selection, King was one of nine Ivy League student-athletes to appear on the list for college lacrosse's most prestigious honor. The nomination is well deserved as shown by King's production offensively through his first two collegiate seasons. In just two years in Crimson, King has accumulated 102 points with 56 goals and 46 assists. The Baltimore native has recorded a point in every game he has played and is riding an active 15-game multi-point game streak heading into the season opener this weekend.
THE BOYS ARE BACK
Harvard welcomes back a strong host of returning players to the field in 2024 including four of its five All-Ivy League selections from a year ago. Statistically, Harvard brings back a large portion of its production including 85-percent of its goals and assists. The Crimson is also bringing back 83-percetn of its ground balls and caused turnovers from last season.
STARTING STRONG
Harvard will open its 2024 season and its home slate this weekend against Providence. Harvard is 3-1 in season openers and 4-0 in home openers under Coach Byrne.
CATCHING UP WITH THE CRIMSON
Harvard men's lacrosse was hard at work this offseason, competing in a number of highly competitive scrimmages to sharpen its skills for the Spring slate. Coach Byrne and his crew hosted fans at Jordan Field for three competitive intrasquad contests. The Second annual HLX Kickoff Scrimmage, Third annual Burrito Bowl and Second Annual BBQ Bowl all were highly attended and highly competitive contests. The Crimson also made the trip down to Philadelphia for a pair of Fall exhibition games against Maryland and Lehigh that gave Harvard a chance to test its skills against two strong opponents.
The Crimson unofficially kicked off the 2024 season two weeks ago when it saw success in a scrimmage against the University of Massachusetts Amherst on Feb. 3 at Jordan Field.
NEW FACES ON THE SIDELINE
Coach Byrne restructured his staff this offseason, bringing in two new faces to help lead the program. First, Byrne brought in
Nick Grill to help him on the defensive side of the field. Grill arrived in Cambridge after one-year stints at Vermont and Binghamton, where he served in a similar assistant coaching role.
Former DII National Champion at Merrimack,
Christian Thomas was also brought into the program to serve as the team's Director of Lacrosse Operations.
Byrne also made one more move to complete his staff, elevating
Mike Terranova to assistant coach. Terranova will serve as the team's goalkeeping coach and faceoff coordinator.
CRIMSON PICKED FIFTH IN IVY LEAGUE POLL
Harvard was picked to finish fifth in the preseason Ivy League Media Poll, finishing ahead of Brown and Dartmouth to claim the fifth spot on the list. Cornell was picked to win the league unanimously.
INSTANT IMPACT
The Harvard men's lacrosse staff, led by the Frisbie Family Head Coach for Harvard Men's Lacrosse
Gerry Byrne, kicked off the year by welcoming in its 11 new first-year players, who joined the Harvard Class of 2027.
Jack Speidell,
Jackson Greene,
Nick Bruckner,
Owen Umansky,
Andrew Glinski,
Wyatt Wiggins,
Teddy Kim,
Jack Petersen,
James Canipe,
Michael Smyth and
Joost de Koning all quickly established themselves in the locker room and will look to make a positive impact on the team this year. Inside Lacrosse ranked three of the first-years among the top 100 incoming freshmen on its Power 100 Recruits list with No. 28 Greene, No. 38 Speidell and No. 56 Petersen
MEN'S LACROSSE RAISES 33K FOR TEAM IMPACT
In coordination with the team's Burrito Bowl, Harvard men's lacrosse continued its relationship with Team IMPACT, hosting the event in coordination with the foundation. In only five days, the Crimson raised over $33,000 for non-profit that will help them match more kids with teams around the country.
The Crimson has had a relationship with Team IMPACT since the 2021-22 season.
UP NEXT
Harvard will quickly turn around to begin preparing for matchup with another regional foe next weekend. The Bryant Bulldogs will come into town on Tuesday (Feb. 20) to take on the Crimson at Jordan Field in the weeknight tilt. The 7:00 game will air on ESPN+
