CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – After posting a top 20 win in its first outing of the 2025 season, the No. 15 Harvard men's lacrosse team is set to open its home schedule of games when it welcomes in RV Colgate to Jordan Field. The Crimson (1-0, 0-0 Ivy) will battle the Raiders (1-2, 0-0 Patriot) for the tenth time in series history when the sides meet on Jordan at 2:00 PM on Tuesday (Feb. 18) and live on ESPN+.

WHAT TO KNOW

Who: No. 15 Harvard vs RV Colgate
When: 2:00 PM, Tuesday Feb. 18
Where: Jordan Field, Boston, Mass.
Stream: ESPN+
 

WHAT'S NEXT FOR HLX?

After a season opening win over No. 20 Providence, the Harvard Crimson men's lacrosse team will now open its home schedule of games with a matchup against the Colgate Raiders on Jordan Field this Tuesday (Feb. 18) at 2:00 PM.
 

SERIES HISTORY WITH COLGATE

The Crimson and the Raiders have met nine times in program history, dating back to the 1925 season. Harvard leads in the all-time series with a 9-0 record including four wins on its home turf. The last meeting in the series came back in the 2023 season, when Harvard defeated the Raiders 14-10 in Hamilton.
 
Sam King owns six points against the Raiders in two career games and Owen Gaffney is just behind his classmate, with five career points. Overall, 17 active Crimson players have seen action against the Raiders in their careers.
 

AGAINST THE PATRIOT LEAGUE

Harvard will take on a Patriot League foe for the 24th consecutive season when it hosts the RV Colgate Raiders on Tuesday. In his tenure as head coach, Gerry Byrne has guided the Crimson to a 5-2 mark against Patriot League foes. Two of those wins were against Colgate, coming in the 2022 and 2023 seasons. As a program, Harvard is 61-55-1 against the Patriot League all-time.
 

QUICK CHECK ON COLGATE

The RV Colgate Raiders come into the contest with a 1-2 record in the first two weeks of the season. The team earned a 19-14 win over Albany in its last contest. It was the first win of the season for Colgate who has also played No. 5 Virginia (L, 9-19) and No. 14 Penn State (L, 9-14).
 
Senior attack Jack Turner leads the team with 16 points and 11 goals and fellow senior Matt LaCombe (14.2 GAA, .466 SV) heads the goalkeeping effort for the Raiders through three games. The team's offense ranks 27^th in the nation with 12.33 goals per game and the defense ranks 63^rd after allowing 15.67 goals per game to its three opponents in 2025. Most notably, the group ranks 12^th in the country with 35 ground balls per game and rank 62nd in the nation with a 46-percent clip in the time of possession metric according to Lacrosse Reference.
 

IN THE WIN COLUMN

Harvard men's lacrosse opened its 2025 season last weekend with a 12-10 win over the Providence College Friars. It was the ninth win over a ranked opponent for Harvard during the Byrne era.
 

CRIMSON IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS

Harvard men's lacrosse comes into week three of the NCAA lacrosse season ranked No. 15 in the nation by Inside Lacrosse and the USILA Coaches. Harvard got a bump from its week two rankigns of No. 17 in both polls after the victory against Providence. The team is also receiving consideration in the USA Lacrosse poll after beginning the year ranked No. 18. 
 

NEW CAREER HIGH FOR KING

Senior captain and attack, Sam King, set a new career high against No. 20 Providence, dishing out six assists. It was the most assists for a member of the Crimson since Morgan Cheek recorded eight against Boston University in the 2018 campaign.
 

STEVENS STRONG IN DEBUT

First-year goalkeeper, Graham Stevens, performed well in his first career start, making 13 saves while allowing only 10 goals to pick up his first career win. A five-star recruit out of the Pingry School and Leading Edge Lacrosse, Stevens's save total was the highest for a Harvard first-year in their first career start since at least 2007.
 

ATTACKING THE CAGE

The talent of Harvard's starting attack unit of Sam King, Teddy Malone and Jack Speidell was on full display in the season opener as the group combined for 14 of the team's 19 points in the victory. King paced the group with seven points (six assists), while Malone led the group with four goals. The junior logged an extra-man goal and the eventual game-winner to help lift the Crimson to victory.
 
Speidell recorded his first career hat-trick - that featured an impressive no-look, over-the-shoulder goal - in the effort. Speidell also got his first career start in the opener.
 

MIDFIELD MONSTERS

Senior midfielders, Owen Gaffney and Miles Botkiss, each scored a pair of goals against Providence to help the Crimson come out on top in the top-20 showdown. Botkiss helped spark the Harvard offense by scoring the first two goals of the contest and Gaffney potted a pair of second half goals to help lift the Crimson to the result. Gaffney's goals were his first since the 2023 season after missing the entire 2024 campaign due to injury.
 

DEARTH DOMINANT IN GAME ONE

One of the strongest SSDM's in the Ivy League, senior Ray Dearth put on a show with his defensive skill against No. 20 Providence. Dearth caused a game-high three turnovers - also tying a personal career high -and scooped up three ground balls. Dearth was the catalyst of a Crimson ride that forced six failed Providence clears. he was also featured heavily in a Harvard defense that cleared the ball at an 85-percent clip in game one.
 

BEGINNING THE CLIMB

After a top-20 win in its season opener, Harvard moved up to the No. 15 spot in the Inside Lacrosse Media poll. The Crimson started the year in the No. 18 spot before moving up to No. 17 in the week one poll. Last season, Harvard rose to as high as No. 12 in the national rankings after a historic 6-0 start the 2024 campaign.
 

RECORD WATCH

Sam King is just 61 points shy of breaking the all-time program scoring record of 243. The total has stood as the best in program history since 1996 when Mike Eckert '96 broke the record of 241 set by Grady Watts '62. King also ranks T6 in career assists with 87.
 

IRON SHARPENS IRON

Gerry Byrne added another ranked win to his coaching register after defeating the Providence College Friars last weekend. It was Byrne's ninth victory over a ranked team in his tenure as the Crimson Head Coach. The Crimson picked up two wins over ranked foes a year ago with victories against No. 18 Bryant and No. 13 Michigan.
 

OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN

Sam King' 25, Martin Nelson '25 and Logan Ip '26 were voted as captains by their peers for the upcoming season.
 

ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE

The Harvard men's lacrosse team continues to set the standard for academic excellence, achieving an impressive 3.72 GPA for the Fall 2024 semester. This remarkable achievement represents a nearly one-point increase from the team's GPA in the Spring 2024 semester, underscoring their commitment to both athletic and academic success.
 
This accomplishment builds on Harvard's already impressive academic track record. The team has won three consecutive United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) Team GPA Awards, an honor bestowed annually to the NCAA Division I program with the highest team GPA. The Fall 2024 results further solidify Harvard men's lacrosse as a leader in fostering a culture of excellence that bridges academics and athletics.
 

POWER 100 STATUS

Six Harvard men's lacrosse first-year players were honored by Inside Lacrosse this week by earning Power 100 status from the outlet. The Inside Lacrosse Power 100 list ranks the top 100 first-year players in the nation annually. The Crimson has been a familiar team on the lists in previous seasons as team now has had 15 student-athletes land on the list in the past three seasons. The six placements on this year's list are tied for the most in the Ivy League.
 
Graham Stevens, a five-star prospect out of New Jersey, headlines the list for the Crimson at the No. 15 spot. A Pingry School and Leading Edge product, Stevens is the highest ranked goalie on the list and one of only 20 players in the nation to earn a five-star ranking on Inside Lacrosse's recruiting rankings. No. 29 Michael Savadove comes into his first collegiate season as the sixth-highest ranked defense recruit in the nation. A pair of attack, No. 33 Jared Maznik and No. 34 Nathan Cobery, gave Harvard back-to-back spots in the top half of the list. Patrick Grimley, a four-star midfielder out of New Jersey, came in at No. 72 and another attack, Mac Mohn, rounded out the list at the No. 78 spot.
 

NEILA Preseason poll

The Crimson will open the 2025 season as the No. 1 team in New England after the team earned enough points to overtake Ivy League rival Yale in the first poll of the 2025 season by the NEILA. Harvard received one first place vote and received enough supplemental votes to take the top spot.
 
2025 NEILA D1 Preseason Poll
Predicted Order of Finish
1 – Harvard (1)
2 – Yale (4)
3 – Boston University
4 – Providence
5 – Massachusetts
6 – Bryant
T7- Brown
T7- Dartmouth
T7 – Vermont
 

MAKING THEIR RETURN

After being held off the field due to injury a year ago, several major contributors will be back in the mix for Harvard Lacrosse in 2025. Highlighting the group of returners are 2023 All-Ivy selections Andrew Perry and Owen Gaffney. A duo that racked up a combined 45 points with 27 goals and 18 assists will be competing for minutes with an already stacked offensive midfield that features a versatile Logan Ip (20/8/28 in 2024), Miles Botkiss (12/13/25) and John Aurandt IV (10/2/12). The defense will also be getting a boost from senior Tommy Martinson - who was forced to sit out the entire 2024 season - and sophomore Joost de Koning - whose season was cut short due to injury. Martinson and de Koning, who are both All-Ivy caliber performers, will help fill the gaps on defense that were left behind from the departures of Collin Bergstrom '24 and Greg Campisi '24.