SEVERN, Md. – The No. 3 Harvard men's lacrosse team suffered its first defeat of the season this afternoon to the No. 4 North Carolina Tar Heels. The Crimson (8-1, 2-0 Ivy) could not recover from a big second quarter run by the Heels (9-1, 0-0 ACC), who earned a 17-7 win in the top five matchup at Archbishop Spalding High School in the Baltimore area.
Jack Speidell's three goals paced the offense in Harvard's final regular season contest.
Harvard Highlights
How it Happened
- The No. 3 Harvard Crimson and the No. 4 North Carolina Tar Heels met in the Baltimore area this afternoon to battle at Archbishop Spalding High School. The highly anticipated showdown featured two of the top five teams in the nation and served as Harvard's final non-conference tilt.
- North Carolina made the first move in the game, scoring on its first two possessions to build an early lead. The Crimson got one back when Jack Speidell found the back of the net for Harvard's first tally of the contest. Harvard's defense settled in after the start, stopping the Tar Heels on their next five opportunities.
- The Crimson had several chances to get back to level but was held off by the UNC goalkeeper. The Heels added one more tally in the quarter to take a 3-1 lead, a total that would stand at the end of the first quarter.
- Logan Ip made the score 3-2 with an early second quarter goal after a caused turnover by Michael Savadove. UNC would respond in a big way, going on a three-goal scoring run to restore its lead to 6-2.
- John Aurandt IV found the back of the net on a Carolina 10-man ride, but the Tar Heels responded strongly again, this time with a four-goal run to build a 10-3 lead at the halftime break.
- UNC struck first out of the break but Harvard answered with a two-goal run to make the score 11-5. Jack Weissenburger scored his first career goal followed by a rip from Speidell to put together the run.
- Another Speidell tally – his third of the game – came in between two more UNC goals as the score made its way to 13-6 at the end of the third quarter.
- Teddy Malone got on the scoresheet with a strike in the fourth quarter but a late response from North Carolina gave the Heels a 17-7 win over the Crimson.
Up Next
Harvard will be back on its home turf next weekend in its return to Ivy League play. The Crimson will battle the Brown Bears at Jordan Field with first faceoff set for 1:00 PM. All the action from the contest will stream live on ESPN+.
