CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The No. 18 Harvard men's lacrosse team is still alive in the chase for a spot in the Ivy League Tournament and now turns to face the No. 9 Cornell Big Red in a key matchup that could prove pivotal for the Crimson's hopes at grabbing one of the two remaining spots in the conference championship field. The Crimson (7-4, 1-3 Ivy) will look to upset the Big Red (7-4, 3-1 Ivy) for the second consecutive season, but this time will look to do it at Schoellkopf Field in Ithaca at 12:00 PM on Saturday (Apr. 20).
 
Gerry Byrne, the Frisbie Family Head Coach for Harvard Lacrosse, and his team will look to bounce back after a narrow loss to the Penn Quakers last Saturday (Apr. 13).
 

The Matchup

Harvard and Cornell will renew its rivalry this weekend in what will be the 96^th meeting between the conference foes. Cornell owns the advantage in the all-time series, but Harvard has fought back recently, splitting the last eight meetings with the Big Red. Last season, the Crimson upset the No. 4 Big Red at Jordan Field in a 10-8 thriller for its biggest win of the campaign. The victory marked the second consecutive season in which Harvard upset a top-five team after the program defeated No. 3 Princeton at Jordan Field in 2022.
 
Two offensive titans will square off this weekend in what should be another exciting college lacrosse tilt.
 

Quick Hits

• Harvard (7-4) is coming off a narrow loss to No. 14 Penn (Apr. 13).
• Sam King's 6.09 points per game is the second-best mark in the nation.
• King's seven-point outing against Penn helped him move into sixth-place on the program's single-season points leaders (67).
• The Crimson will look to upset the top-10 Big Red for the second consecutive season.
• Harvard owns the nation's third-best man-up offense with a .643 percentage.
• The Crimson attack owns the nation's fifth-best shooting percentage (.346)

 

Crimson in the National Rankings

• Harvard men's lacrosse was featured in all three major polls for the eighth week in a row.
• The Crimson claimed the No. 18 spot in the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll.
• Harvard was slotted at No. 19 in the USA Lacrosse Magazine Top 20.
• The USILA Coaches voted Harvard into the No. 19 spot in the Week 11 Poll.
• The Crimson sit at No. 17 in the NCAA RPI

 

Statistically Speaking

Harvard's Ranks in the National Standings
3rd Best Man-Up offense in the country (.643)
5th Best shooting percentage in the nation (.346)
6th Highest scoring offense in the nation (14.73 goals per game)
8th Most Points per game as a team (23.3)
8th Best clearing team in the NCAA (.907)
9th Fewest turnovers per game (14.1 per contest)
11th Lowest Opponent Clearing Percentage (.814)
11th Most Caused Turnovers per game (9.73)
12th Most ground balls per game nationally (34.0)
 

By The Numbers

1.50 Caused Turnovers per game for Greg Campisi, the third-most in the Ivy League.
5 Caused Turnovers for Collin Bergstrom against Dartmouth (Apr. 6) and Martin Nelson against Virginia (Mar. 30), both new career-bests and tied for the second-highest total in an NCAA game this season.
6 Points Per game for Sam King, the second-most in the country
14 Game goal scoring streak for Graham Blake, the longest run of his career
19 Players with two or more caused turnovers, the most in the Ivy League.
20 Saves for Christian Barnard against Princeton (Mar. 23), a new career-high
27 Game goal scoring streak for Sam King, the eight-longest stretch in the nation
67 Points for Sam King this season, the third-most in the nation and the T-6 most in HLX history
86 Goals scored by the starting attack group of Sam King, Teddy Malone and Graham Blake, the most in the Ivy League
 

Scouting Cornell

The Big Red comes into the matchup with a 7-4 record including a 3-1 mark in Ivy League play. Cornell is ranked inside the top-10 in every major media poll, where they have been slotted for a majority of the season. The group is coming off a narrow 17-18 loss to the No. 1 team in the nation, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, last Sunday (Apr. 14).
 
Tewaaraton candidate, CJ Kirst has had another stellar season for the Big Red, scoring 3.55 goals per game to lead the Ivy League and power Cornell's third-ranked scoring offense. The offensive output has helped the team compensate for a league worst scoring defense that allows nearly 14 goals per game, a total that puts them in the bottom 10 nationally.
 
The keys to victory against the Big Red center around slowing down the fast-paced offense that ranked second in offensive efficiency according to Lacrosse Reference.
 

2023 Matchup Against Cornell 

The Crimson's upset over the No. 4 Cornell Big Red was the highlight of the Crimson's 2023 campaign. Eight different players recorded goals in the contest to help Harvard stun the national power in an eventual 10-8 victory at Jordan Field in front of over 2,000 fans.
 
Byrne and his coaching staff cooked up a stellar defensive strategy that held one of the top offenses in the nation to just eight goals. Starting goalkeeper, Christian Barnard, made 16 saves in a career effort guarding the cage.
 
Harvard's play in the defensive midfield was the x-factor in the upset. Chase Yager '23 and Ray Dearth dominated the Cornell offense with their play, causing chaos in transition to stop the Big Red in its tracks. Dearth and Yager both caused two turnovers and picked up three ground balls in the outing. To top it off, the duo scored the ninth and tenth goals of the game in the fourth quarter to send Harvard off with a win.
 

May Madness

With two spots in the Ivy League tournament locked up, the Crimson is now in a standings battle with Princeton (2-2 Ivy) and Cornell for the final two slots. The Crimson would need to take care of business in its next two outings, to come out of the 2024 regular season with a 3-3 record to clinch a spot in the tournament.
 
Cornell (3-1) is on the cusp of taking the third spot in the field and would need just one victory in its remaining two games against Harvard (Apr. 20) and Dartmouth (Apr. 27).

Harvard would also need some help from the Penn Quakers and Yale Bulldogs, the next two opponents for the Princeton Tigers, who own the tiebreaker against the Crimson. Should Princeton lose in its final two outings – and Harvard win its final two outings – Harvard would make the tournament.
 

Last Time Out

Harvard came up short in another heated Ivy League contest this past weekend, falling to the No. 14 Penn Quakers 15-12 in Philadelphia. The Crimson held the halftime lead, but could not hold off the second-half surge by Penn who came away with the win over Harvard.
 
Sam King notched seven points in the outing with six goals, tying a season-high. Jack Speidell chipped in on attack with two goals in one of the best games in his young career. Logan Darrin and Greg Campisi each grabbed two ground balls and caused a turnvover to lead the Crimson defense.
 

Sam King Writes His Name in the Record Book

Junior captain and attack, Sam King, has used one of best offensive season in Crimson history to fly up all-time leaders list in the Harvard men's lacrosse record book. Currently, King owns 67 points in 2024 which is already tied for the sixth-most in a season in program history. With two games remaining, King needs eight more points to reach the No.  2 position on the list.
 
The Gilman School product also entered the top ten in the career points list this season where he ranks tied for seventh with his career total of 169. The all-time leader, Mike Eckert '96, recorded 243 career points from 1993-96. King is also currently tied for ninth on the career assist leader list with 79.
 

The Crimson Shield

Harvard's defensive unit has turned in a number of impressive efforts this season and has shown its ability to lock down teams for long periods of time in game. This past weekend against Penn, the Crimson shutout the Quakers for a 13-minute stretch between the first and second quarters.  
 
Dartmouth (Apr. 6) was also held without a goal for 10-plus minutes on four separate occasions in the game, the longest being an 18-minute stretch between the second and third quarters.
 
Three weeks ago, against Virginia, Harvard held the No. 2 team in the nation to just three first half goals and kept them off the scoreboard for 19-plus minutes between the first and second quarters.
 
The Crimson defense has recorded a shutout stretch of ten-plus minutes in every contest this season, with the longest being a 23-minute shutout run in the season opener against Providence.

 
Spidey on SportsCenter Top 10

First-year attack, Jack Speidell, landed at No. 5 on the SCTop10 this past Sunday after his behind-the-back goal against Dartmouth went viral. Speidell's clip has generated over 15,000 likes and has been viewed over 150,000 times across social media since Apr. 7.
 
Speidell has come on strong in the second half of his first collegiate season, scoring four goals in his past three games.
 

Jack of All Trades

An indicator of his all-around skillset, Sam King is currently the only player in the nation to have recorded 60 points, 30 goals, 30 assists, 30 ground balls and five caused turnovers. Excelling in all phases of the game, King has shown his effectiveness all over the field in 2024.
 

Milestone Watch

A number of Crimson student-athletes are approaching key career milestones including…
 
Sam King

• Two points away from taking sole possession of sixth-place on the Harvard career points list.
• 10 goals shy of 100 career goals.

 
Collin Bergstrom

• 10 caused turnovers away from 50 in his career.

 
Miles Botkiss

• Three goals away from 50 career goals.
• Five points away from 75 career points.

 
Greg Campisi

• One ground balls away from 100 career groundballs
• Seven caused turnovers away from 50 career CTOs.

 
Teddy Malone

• Five goals away from 50 career goals.

 
 

Like a Well-Oiled Machine

Harvard men's lacrosse is the fourth-most efficient team in the nation according to Lacrosse Reference, posting a cumulative efficiency of 41.2-percent through 11 games. This metric is a combination of Harvard's offensive efficiency (goals per possession) and the defensive efficiency (goals allowed per possession). The Crimson's offensive efficiency alone also ranks fifth in the country, as Harvard has scored on 38.3-percent of its possessions in 2024.
 

Up Next 

Harvard will wrap up its 2024 regular season schedule at Jordan Field when it hosts the Brown Bears next Saturday (Apr. 27). The Crimson will celebrate its senior class when it takes the field for its final regular season tilt at Jordan Field which is slated for 3:30 PM.