CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Harvard men's lacrosse completed its non-conference schedule this afternoon with a 17-12 victory over the Binghamton Bearcats. The Crimson (7-2, 1-1 Ivy) used a 10-goal first half to carry the team to the win over the Bearcats (4-5, 2-0 AE) in the first-ever meeting between the two schools. First-year goalkeeper
Graham Stevens made 14 saves while protecting the cage, and
Jack Speidell's second consecutive five-goal game paced the Crimson on both sides of the ball. Harvard earned its seventh victory of the campaign with the result and will now look to carry this momentum with them when the team returns to Ivy League play next weekend.
How it Happened
The Crimson and the Bearcats met for the first time in series history this afternoon at Jordan Field on a rainy day on the banks of the Charles River. Harvard was riding high off a dominant 16-7 win over Boston University in its last contest and looked to keep its foot on the gas in the team's final non-conference contest.
The Crimson won the opening faceoff in the contest, but it was the Bearcats who got on the scoreboard first, opening the scoring just over two minutes into the game. A quick three-goal run from the Crimson – sparked by goals from
Andrew Perry,
Teddy Malone, and
Jack Speidell – gave Harvard a lead it would not surrender for the rest of the contest. Binghamton got one more goal back to stop the Crimson run, but after that, it was all
Graham Stevens in the Bearcats' attacking zone. Stevens made three more saves in the first quarter to hold off the Bearcats and allow the Crimson offense to get into a rhythm. The play of the day came as time expired in the first quarter when
Miles Botkiss flung a full-field pass down to
Jack Speidell who, all in one motion, caught the pass and threw an underhand shot into the back of the cage as the clock hit zero. The goal restored a two-goal Crimson lead and made the score 4-2 after 15 minutes.
Matching goals from Malone and Andrew Girolamo from Binghamton started the second quarter before Harvard would go on a massive scoring run. The Crimson tacked on five unanswered goals to end the first half and take a 10-3 lead with them into the locker room at halftime. The run started with a steal and score from
Owen Guest on a failed Binghamton clear, followed by
Liam Griffiths, who scored his first goal of the season on the extra-man opportunity for the Crimson. Speidell pocketed back-to-back goals, and
Sam King capped off the scoring run with his first goal of the game, making the score 10-3 in favor of the Crimson. Harvard recorded five caused turnovers in the second quarter to go along with two failed Binghamton clears and two saves for Stevens.
Two more goals early in the third quarter from Malone and
Owen Gaffney brought the Crimson scoring run to seven straight goals and gave the team its largest lead of the game at nine goals. Binghamton cut into the lead with a quick two-goal run, but Malone's fourth goal of the game put a stop to Binghamton's building momentum. A pair of Binghamton turnovers led to Speidell's fifth goal of the game, followed by a
Jackson Greene goal – his first of the season – at the end of the frame. The Bearcats added two more tallies to their total at the end of the quarter to make the score 15-7 heading into the final 15 minutes of play.
Binghamton made its move in the fourth, opening the frame with a four-goal scoring run to shrink the deficit to just four goals at 15-11 at the ten-minute mark of the quarter. Harvard caused three consecutive failed clear attempts to stop the Bearcats in their tracks.
Sam King put an end to the Binghamton run with a hard-fought goal at the four-minute mark to put the Crimson up by five. After a quick response from Binghamton,
Logan Ip scored the dagger, throwing a shot from midfield into the empty Binghamton cage to put the game on ice. Harvard walked off the field with a 17-12 win over the Bearcats, moving to 7-2 on the season.
Harvard Highlights
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Graham Stevens made 14 saves in cage.
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Jack Speidell recorded five goals for the second consecutive game.
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Teddy Malone scored four goals on the afternoon.
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Sam King notched five points and recorded his 100th career assist.
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Jackson Henehan went 11-for-14 at the faceoff X and scooped up a game-high five ground balls.
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Tommy Martinson led the team with three caused turnovers.
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Charlie Muller, Marin Nelson, and King each had two caused turnovers.
• The Crimson caused nine failed Binghamton clear attempts.
• The Crimson man-down unit allowed just one goal on four opportunities.
• Harvard's defense held the Bearcats scoreless for a full 15 minutes of game time from the second quarter into the third quarter.
Up Next
Harvard will return to conference play next weekend when it squares off with the Dartmouth Big Green in Hanover, N.H., next Saturday (Apr. 6). The contest between the Ivy foes is set for 1:00 PM at Sculley-Fahey Field, with the action also set to air live on ESPN+.
