CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – After receiving an at-large bid to the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Tournament, the No. 12 Harvard Crimson is preparing to travel back to the JMA Wireless Dome where it will meet the No. 5 and sixth-seeded Syracuse Orange in the first round. The Crimson (10-4, 4-2 Ivy) is coming off its first Ivy League Tournament appearance since 2014, and will now compete in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2022, when it hits the field on Sunday at 5:00 PM. The 2025 ACC Champion, the Orange (11-5, 2-2 ACC), will host the Crimson for the second time this season after falling to Harvard 15-14, earlier this season inside the Dome.

What to Know

Who: No. 12 Harvard at [6] No. 5 Syracuse
Event: 2025 NCAA Men's Lacrosse Tournament
When: Sunday, May 11 at 5:00 PM
TV: ESPNU
Camps: Learn more about the Crimson Lacrosse Academy hosted at the Harvard Athletics Campus by the Harvard Men's Lacrosse Coaches for rising 4th-8th grade boys [INFO].

Quick Hits

• The Crimson (10-4) received an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament for the second time in the past four seasons.
• Gerry Byrne's two NCAA Tournament appearances are the second-most by a head coach in program history in just four full seasons at the helm of the program.
• Harvard's senior class becomes just the third group to make the NCAA Tournament twice in their careers.
• The Crimson will take on Syracuse in the Dome for the second time this season after defeating the Orange in an improbable 15-14 come-from-behind win back on Feb. 22.
• Harvard's ride is the second best in the nation by percentage, holding opponents to a .744 clearing clip this season.
• The Crimson's scoring output is powered by a 32-percent shooting percentage, which is the fifth-best clip nationally.
• Harvard has scored 196 goals on the season, the highest total since the 1996 squad, which scored 214 times. The program record for goals in a season was set by the 1978 team (224).
• Martin Nelson's 1.64 caused turnovers per game ranks him third in the Ivy League.
• Sam King, Teddy Malone and Jack Speidell became the first Harvard trio to reach 40 points in the same season since 1996.

By The Numbers

3 – Goals per game for sophomore Jack Speidell, the seventh-best clip in the country.
8 – Assists per game for the Harvard offense, good for top 10 in the NCAA.
12 – Caused turnovers per game for the Crimson, the most in the nation.
13 – LaxELO rank for the Crimson, according to Lacrosse Reference, which is the highest ranking of the Gerry Byrne era.
14 – Goals per game for the Crimson, the fifth-highest scoring offense in the country.
18 – Saves for Graham Stevens against Princeton (May 2), a career-high for the first-year.
22 – Points per game for Harvard's offense, the seventh-highest total in the country.
26 – Caused Turnovers by the starting attack group of King, Speidell and Malone, the most for a starting attack group nationally.
36 – Ground balls per game for Harvard, the third most in the nation.
49 – Percent shooting clip for Logan Ip, the fourth-best rate in the NCAA.
65 – Ground balls and caused turnovers for Martin Nelson, the highest GB+CT clip on the team.
239 – Career points for Sam King, just five shy of setting a new Harvard record.

In the National Rankings

• Harvard was voted into the No. 13 spot on the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll for Week 13.
• The USILA Coaches Poll had the Crimson slotted in the No. 12 spot.
• USA Lacrosse Magazine put Harvard at No. 11 in its Week 12 rankings.
• The Crimson finished the regular season ranked 11^th in the NCAA RPI.

Tournament Time

The Harvard Crimson received an at-large selection to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in the past four seasons after posting a 10-4 record and a 4-2 mark in Ivy League play. The Crimson went into Selection Sunday with an RPI ranking of 11 and the 12^th-hardest strength of schedule nationally. 

Series History Against the Orange

Harvard defeated Syracuse earlier this season in an improbable 15-14 come-from-behind win. It was the first winning result for the Crimson over the Orange, which owns a 14-1 record against Harvard. The sides have met once before in the NCAA Tournament back in 2006, when the Orange moved on with an 11-4 victory.

May Madness

The Crimson will return to the dance for the eighth time in program history, with its last appearance coming in 2022. Harvard has posted a record of 2-7 in the national tournament with its last victory coming in the 1996 season.
 
Harvard will play the No. 6 seed in the tournament for the fourth time in program history with the other matchups coming in 2022 (vs. Rutgers; L, 9-19), 2014 (vs. Notre Dame; L, 5-13) and 1996 (vs. Hofstra; W, 15-12).

NCAA Tournament Records

Harvard has played in nine NCAA Tournament games in program history, holding a 2-7 record in those contests. The two wins came during the 1990 and 1996 seasons when the Crimson defeated Notre Dame and No. 6 Hofstra, respectively, to advance to the quarterfinal round. No Harvard team has ever made it past the quarterfinal stage and into Championship weekend.
 
The 1996 group's 15 goals against sixth-ranked Hofstra was a team NCAA Tournament record and the 1990 team's three goals allowed to Notre Dame is a team tournament low. Pat Marvin's seven points and six goals against Hofstra are the most by a Harvard player in the NCAA Tournament. The team tournament record for assists in a game came in 1980 when Norm Forbush tallied five. Below are the Crimson's NCAA Tournament records…

Individual 

Points
7 – Pat Marvin, 1996
5 – Norm Forbush, 1990

Goals
6 – Pat Marvin, 1996
4 - Mike Ferruci, 1996

Assists
5 – Norm Forbush, 1980
2 – Eight Players Tied

Saves
21 – Rob Lyng vs. Virginia in 1996
16 – Rob Lyng vs. Hofstra in 1996

Ground Balls
8 – Mark Donovan vs. Navy in 1988
7 – Eric Posner vs. Syracuse in 2006

Team

Goals
15 vs. Hofstra in 1996

Assists
6 vs. Rutgers in 2022

Goals Allowed
3 vs. Notre Dame in 1990

Saves
22 vs Virginia in 1996

Ground Balls
51 vs. Navy in 1988

Faceoffs
17 vs. Hofstra in 1996

Familiar Territory

The Harvard senior class has had some experience at the NCAA Tournament after playing against Rutgers in the first round back in 2022. Owen Gaffney (2g, 1a), Sam King (1g, 2a) and Andrew Perry (2g) all posted multiple points in the game for Harvard. Ray Dearth, Miles Botkiss, Tommy Martinson, Joe Dowling, Vince Cresci and Martin Nelson all played significant minutes in the contest as well.

Looking to Make History

Harvard will look to accomplish something that has not been done in 107 years on Sunday at the Dome, where it hopes to defeat the Orange on its home turf for the second time this season. The last time Syracuse lost twice to the same team on its home field was 1918 to the Onondoga Nation. The Crimson would be the first team in the NCAA era to knock off the Orange twice at their home in the same season.

New Dance, Same Partner

For just the third time in Harvard Men's Lacrosse history, one class of student-athletes will play in two separate NCAA Tournaments. The only other classes to do so were the 1990 and 1991 groups which played in the 1988 and 1990 NCAA Men's Lacrosse Tournaments. The class of 2025 got their first crack at tournament action in the 2022 season, when the team received an at-large bid and played at Rutgers.

Last Time Out vs. 'Cuse

Teddy Malone's herculean five-point effort at the Dome powered an improbable come-from-behind win for the Crimson against Syracuse (Feb. 22) earlier this season. After going down 5-0 in the first quarter, Harvard clawed its way back into the fight with Malone eventually tying the game at 10 in the third quarter with one of his team-high four goals. A late strike on the man-up from Sam King sealed the win for the Crimson who escaped the JMA Wireless Dome with a massive 15-14 win over the then-sixth-ranked Orange.
 
Miles Botkiss added four points with two goals and two assists, while Jack Speidell (3 points), Sam King (3 points) and John Aurandt (3 points) all contributed to the efficient Harvard offensive push. On defense, Graham Stevens made 13 saves in the cage and Charlie Muller caused two turnovers to help Harvard get the ball out of its own end. Martin Nelson hit the ground hard, scooping up five ground balls to help Harvard claw out of the deficit.
 
According to Lacrosse Reference, the Crimson's win probability was down to 19-percent in the second quarter before it started the comeback effort.

Quick Check on Syracuse

The No. 5-ranked and sixth-seeded Syracuse Orange is riding high into the tournament after capturing the 2025 ACC Tournament Championship last weekend. The Orange defeated the tournament's top-seed, Notre Dame, 14-12, before knocking off Duke, 9-8, in the championship game. The wins pushed the Orange's record to 11-5 on the season. Head coach Garry Gait's group also owns wins over No. 7 Johns Hopkins, No. 5 Notre Dame, and No. 17 Towson on the season.
 
Individually, Syracuse's high-powered offense is led by the three-pronged group of Joey Spallina (78 points), Owen Hiltz (64 points) and Sam English (31 points), with Michael Leo (37 points) and Luke Rhoa (28 points) also factoring into the mix. The Orange also have one of the best faceoff men in the nation on their sideline in John Mullen, who owns a 64-percent winning percentage and 151 ground balls on the season. Riley Figueiras (20 CTO) and Nick Caccamo (16 CTO) are the two primary defenders for the Orange, which allows just under 10 goals per game to its opponents.

The King

Sam King has continued to prove why he is the best all-around player in college lacrosse with his offensive output and his contributions defensively. Not only does King rank inside the top 15 nationally with 64 points and 4.57 points per game, but his ground ball total and caused turnovers help him stand alone nationally. The Baltimore native is the only player in the nation to tally 60 points, 35 goals, 25 assists, 35 ground balls and 15 caused turnovers.

Comeback Crimson

The Harvard men's lacrosse team has had to do some uphill sledding this season but has proven its resolve by erasing several significant deficits in 2025. Most recently, the group erased a four-goal deficit in the victory against Brown due in part to a Herculean effort by Logan Ip (five goals) and a last-minute winner from Jack Speidell. Harvard has posted four come-from-behind wins on the year in total.

40x3

The starting Crimson attack unit of Sam King, Jack Speidell and Teddy Malone have all reached the 40-point mark this season, giving Harvard three 40-point scorers for the first time since 1996. King leads the way with 64 points on the year while Speidell and Malone are close behind with 56 and 46, respectively. All three rank inside the national top-70 in points per game with King again leading the group with the 11th-highest total (4.57) nationally.
 
Harvard has never had three student-athletes reach the 50-point mark in the same season.

Best Start in Almost 30 Years

Harvard is off to its best start since the 1996 season after reaching the 10-3 mark in the regular season. The ten-win total is already the most in a season for Harvard since 2014 and the team still has at least one game remaining in its season. The Crimson reached the total by defeating six teams receiving votes in the national polls against the 19th toughest schedule in the nation.

On the Ride

Harvard owns the nation's second-best opponent clearing percentage, showcasing the team's dominance on the ride this season. Crimson opponents have cleared the ball at just a 74-percent clip with Harvard averaging nearly seven opponent failed clears per game. The whole team has contributed to the success of the Harvard ride, but the attack group has especially stepped up to stifle opposing teams. In 13 games, Harvard's starting attackmen have combined for 26 caused turnovers, with Sam King's total of 15 leading the group. King's 1.07 caused turnover per game are second-most by an attack in the nation.
 
Against Penn, the Harvard ride was relentless, forcing 11 Penn failed clears, the most in a game this year and the most in a game since last season (11 vs. Merrimack). The Crimson has forced seven or more failed clear in six of its 13 games in 2025.

Hitting the Ground

A staple of Gerry Byrne's defense has been winning the non-faceoff ground ball battle. The Crimson has executed that area of the game excellently this season and currently is third the nation in overall ground balls per game with 36.14. FOGO Jackson Henehan leads the team with 55 ground balls this season but is being chased down by Martin Nelson, who owns 42 ground balls on the season. Sam King's 37 and Ray Dearth's 32 ground balls round out the top four in the category for the Crimson.

The Harvard Globetrotters

The Crimson offense has been spinning the ball all season long and currently ranks fifth nationally with 14 goals per game. Harvard has already scored 196 goals this season which are the most goals scored by a Harvard team since the 1996 season. The Crimson's flashy offense has dazzled all season long and has produced some of the most viral goals in team history. Jack Speidell and his signature behind-the-back shot have highlighted a great collection of highlights for Harvard's offense in 2025.
 
The team record for goals in a season was set by the 1978 team who scored 224 goals in 14 games. Harvard's goal total of 196 just passed the 1998 team for the fourth-most goals in a season in program history.

In the Cage

First-year goalkeeper Graham Stevens has impressed in his rookie campaign, leading the team to a 10-3 regular season record while starting in every game and playing all but seven minutes in cage. The New Jersey native has made 159 saves on the year, which is the most by a first-year goalkeeper for the Crimson since at least the 2010 season.
 
Stevens had one of the best games of his young career against Princeton last weekend, tallying a career-best 18 saves to stump a surging Tiger attack. The New Jersey native was nails between the posts, holding the second-ranked Tigers to just one goal in the first quarter, five goal in the first half and 11 total. His 18-save effort helped him earn a spot on the Ivy League's All-Tournament team.

Speidell Senses

Sophomore attack Jack Speidell is in the midst of a breakout sophomore season where he has established himself as one of the best scorers in the Ivy League. Over the past eight games, Speidell has scored 27 goals and tallied 32 points to help him move into the top ten in scoring average nationally. The New Yorker currently ranks seventh in the nation with 3.07 goals per game and 26th nationally with 4.00 points per game. Speidell now holds 56 points on the season with 43 goals and 13 assists. Speidell's goal total is already the 11^th most in a single season in program history.

Causing Chaos

As a team, Harvard caused 11.79 turnovers per game which is the most in the NCAA. Five players rank in the national top 110 in caused turnovers per game including team-leader Martin Nelson who owns 1.64 caused turnovers per game to rank 24th nationally. Charlie Muller ranks seventh in the Ivy League with his 1.29 caused turnovers per game.

Ip Service

One of the best two-way midfielders in the Ivy League, Logan Ip is having yet another remarkable season in 2025. In the regular season, Ip recorded 36 points with 21 goals and 15 assists while also chipping in defensively with 15 ground balls and two caused turnovers. The junior captain has recorded a point in his last 3 games and passed his single-season career high of 28 points that he set last season.
 
Ip posted five points in back-to-back contests at the end of the regular seasons and was named the Ivy League's Offensive Player of the Week after scoring a career high five goals against Brown (Apr. 26).

100/100/100 Club

The first member of the HLX triple century club, Sam King passed the milestone against Binghamton (Mar. 29) with another five-point performance. The Baltimore native currently has 127 career goals, 108 assists and 126 ground balls to his name and ranks third in team history with 239 career points.

Chasing History

Senior captain Sam King already has his name all over the Harvard men's lacrosse record book, but now towards the end of his senior season, finds himself climbing into the top portion of the career goals, assists and points tables. The Baltimore native currently owns 129 career goals, which is the fourth-most in HLX history and just 13 shy of the program record of 142 set by Jeff Cohen '12. The Gilman school product also owns 110 career assists which is the fifth-highest total in program history. The program record of 152 assists was set by Mike Eckert '96 nearly 30 years ago.
 
King recently took a hold of third-place on the program's all-time points list after passing Devin Dwyer '16 earlier this season. With 239 career points, King finds himself just four points away from tying the program record and five away from setting a new program career high.

Contributions from the Midfield

Harvard's talented attack is complimented by a highly skilled offensive midfield that is made up of seven contributors. The group has combined to scored 76 goals and dish out 51 assists during the regular season, led by Logan Ip's 21 goals and 15 assists. Flanking Ip in the first midfield, you'll find Andrew Perry (14 goals, six assists) and John Aurandt (14 goals, 10 assists) who have both shined this season.
 
The second line is comprised of five players in Owen Gaffney (13 goals, four assists), Miles Botkiss (10 goals, 11 assists), Francisco Cortes (five points) Joe Dowling (three points) and Jackson Greene (two points).

A Guest Appearance

Junior SSDM Owen Guest has continued to progress during his junior campaign, becoming one of the Crimson's most reliable defensive midfielders. Guest has wreaked havoc in the midfield by causing 10 turnovers and scooping up 20 ground balls. The New York native has also contributed offensively with five goals, all of which have been scored in Harvard's past seven games. Guest's goal total puts him in the top-five nationally in SSDM scoring.

The Nelly Show

Starting defender and team captain, Martin Nelson, has been one of the best defenders in the Ivy League this season, causing 23 turnovers and snatching up 42 ground balls to rank 3^rd and 11^th in the Ivy League, respectively. Nelson has posted multiple caused turnovers in eight games this season and went on a seven-game multiple CTO streak earlier this season.

Rayzor Sharp

Senior SSDM Ray Dearth has continued to torture opposing offenses with his stout presence in the defensive midfield. Dearth has posted 14 caused turnovers on the season and picked up 30 ground balls to rank fourth on the team in both metrics. The totals are also both new career highs for the Connecticut native. Dearth plays all over the field for Harvard, jumping in on the faceoff wing, on the ride/clear units and in the defensive zone.