CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The No. 7 Harvard men's lacrosse team will look to rebound this weekend when it returns to Ivy League play with a matchup against the Brown Bears. The Crimson (8-1, 2-0 Ivy) will battle the Bears (5-4, 0-2) Ivy in a key conference matchup. Harvard is looking to continue its success in the Ivy League and improve to 3-0 in conference play this weekend in its penultimate home game of the 2026 season.
What to Know
Who: No. 7 Harvard vs. Brown
When: 1:00 PM EST, Saturday, April 4
Where: Jordan Field / Boston, Mass.
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 at Byrne-Method.com
Quick Hits
- The Crimson dropped its first contest of 2026 in its last matchup against the No. 4 North Carolina Tar Heels, moving the team's record to 8-1 on the season.
- Harvard started 8-0 for the first time since 1961 and posted its best start under the Frisbie Family Head Coach for Harvard Men's Lacrosse, Gerry Byrne.
- The Crimson posted a win over No. 20 Boston U. in the 2026 Charles River Rivalry game last Tuesday (Mar. 24).
- With a shooting percentage of .358, Harvard ranks second in the nation.
- The Crimson has posted a scoring margin of +3.78 goals, the tenth highest clip in the country.
- Jack Speidell leads the team with 36 points on the season.
- Led by Offensive Coordinator, Neil Hutchinson, the Crimson offense is the second-most efficient unit in the nation, scoring on 38.5 percent of its possessions.
- The Crimson is ranked fifth in the latest NCAA RPI Poll (Mar. 31).
- Nathan Cobery and Logan Ip are two of the most accurate shooters in the nation, scoring on 50.0 percent of their shots to tie for the fifth-best percentage nationally.
- John Aurandt IV has recorded 26 points in his last seven games and has already reached his single season high with 27 points this season.
- Harvard became just the second team in program history to reach the 8-0 mark, joining the 1961 group.
By the Numbers
4 – Players with Ivy League weekly awards this season (
Teddy Malone,
John Aurandt IV,
Graham Stevens and
Logan Ip).
5 – Or more opponent scoring droughts of 15 or more minutes for Harvard this season.
5 – Players with 20 or more points on the Crimson.
7 – Ivy League weekly awards for Harvard this season.
8 – Times Harvard has allowed one or fewer goals in a quarter this season.
9 – Times Harvard has scored five or more goals in a quarter this season.
10 – Caused turnovers for SSDM
Owen Guest this season, tied for the fourth most in the nation by a non-defender or LSM.
12 – Four or more goal scoring runs for the Crimson in 2026.
26 – Points in the last seven games for
John Aurandt IV.
36 – Points for
Jack Speidell, the most on the team.
50 – Percent shooting percentage for
Nathan Cobery and
Logan Ip this season, the fifth best clip in the country.
65 – Years since a Harvard team opened a season 8-0.
102 – Career goals for
Teddy Malone.
126 – Goals scored by the Harvard offense this season.
In the National Rankings
NCAA RPI – 5
USILA Coaches Poll – 8
Inside Lacrosse Media Poll – 7
USA Lacrosse Magazine Rankings – 6
Lacrosse Reference LaxELO – 12
NEILA Coaches Poll – 1
Scouting Brown
- The Brown Bears will come to Jordan Field with a 5-4 record and an 0-2 mark in Ivy League play in 2026.
- Brown fell to No. 8 Princeton last weekend in a 14-20 defeat.
- The Bears own wins over St. John's (Mar. 21), UMass-Lowell (Mar. 17), Bryant (Feb. 28), Providence (Feb. 21) and Fairfield (Feb. 14).
- As a team, Brown has score 99 goals (11.00 gpg) and allowed 103 goals (11.44 gaa) this season.
- The Bears own one of the highest assist rates in the nation with 61 helpers on 99 goals.
- Brown's man-up unit has converted on 16-of-30 chances this season.
- The man-down unit has performed well with stops on 18-of-31 penalties.
- At the faceoff X, Brown owns a 51.1-win percentage.
- Marcus Wertheim leads the Bears with 34 points and 13 assists through nine games.
- Jeremy Hopsicker leads the team with 25 goals.
- Henry Brayer is the team's primary faceoff specialist this season and has won 103 faceoffs and grabbed 55 ground balls.
- Trey Taylor is the top pole for the Bears and has caused eight turnovers this season.
Crimson vs. Bears - Series History
- The Crimson and the Bears have met 79 times in the series history.
- Harvard leads the series with a 44-35 record.
- The first meeting between the schools came back in 1925, a 5-2 win for Harvard.
- Harvard has won the last four matchups since 2022, all by one goal.
Active Stat Leaders vs. Brown
Lacrosse Reference Metrics
- Harvard is ranked 12th in the Lacrosse Reference LaxELO rankings.
- The Crimson owns the second most efficient offense in the nation, scoring on 38.5-percent of its possessions.
- In defensive efficiency, Harvard ranks 25th nationally, allowing goals on just 27.8-percent of defensive possessions.
- It's cumulative efficiency of 39.9-percent ranks third in the NCAA.
- The team's cumulative shooting percentage of 40.8-percent is the best in the nation.
- The Crimson's game control percentage – the percent of game time where a team owns a win probability of 75-percent of higher – ranks sixth in the nation with a 73.4 percent clip.
- The team's strength of record – +1.66 expected wins – is the second-best mark nationally.
At the Helm
The Frisbie Family Head Coach for Harvard Men's Lacrosse,
Gerry Byrne, is in his seventh season at the helm of the program in 2025-26. The team has experienced success under Coach Byrne, posting a 40-25 record and a 13-13 mark in Ivy League action. Byrne has guided the Crimson to two NCAA Tournaments and last season helped lead the team to a spot in the Ivy League Tournament for the first time since 2016. Most recently, Coach Byrne made history, becoming the first head coach to lead his team to a win over a No. 1 ranked team in program history.
Turn and Byrne
Jordan Field has become a safe haven for Harvard under Byrne in the past six seasons. The skipper has led his team to a 25-7 record in Cambridge since taking over in 2020. That mark also features a 20-2 record against unranked opponents in games held at Jordan Field. The last loss came against Colgate (an eventual NCAA Tournament team) last February.
Offensive Firepower
Picking up where it left off in 2025, Harvard's offense – led by the Associate Head Coach and Offensive Coordinator
Neil Hutchinson – has continued to turn in impressive performances in 2026. The offense ranks inside the top 15 in the NCAA with a 35.8-percent shooting clip (2nd), 21.33 points per game (11th), and 14.00 goals per game (6th). Harvard has scored 126 goals this season to post the third best scoring start in program history. The total is second to only the 2024 team (137 goals) and the 1961 team (132 goals) for its pace through nine games.
A Game of Runs
Harvard has shown its ability to pull away from its opponents this season by going on impressive scoring runs. Most notably in the game against Michigan (Mar. 7), Harvard used a 13-2 run in the final 40 minutes of the game to pull away and post a 17-7 victory. The streak featured two scoring runs of six goals. Harvard has posted 12 scoring runs of four or more goals this season.
In the contest against No. 20 BU (Mar. 24), Harvard used a five-goal run in the third quarter to take back the lead and fuel an eventual win.
Bullseye!
The second most accurate team in the nation, Harvard owns a shooting percentage of 35.8 on the season to rank second in the NCAA. Led by two of the most consistent shooters in the NCAA,
Nathan Cobery (5th, 50-percent) and
Logan Ip (5th, 50.0-percent), Harvard has worn down opposing goaltenders with its ability to get shots on target. 63.9-percent of Harvard's shots have been on cage this season, one of the best marks in the country.
Harvard posted a 50-percent shooting percentage against Marquette (Feb. 28) with 19 goals on 38 shots. The clip was the highest in a game since the 2023 season when Harvard scored 23 goals on 43 shots against Providence. It was just the fourth time the team has eclipsed the 50-percent shooting clip in a game since 2010.
Teddy Reaches the Century Mark
Senior attack
Teddy Malone passed the 100 career goals milestone in the matchup against Dartmouth (Mar. 20) to become just the 12th player in program history to score 100 goals. Now with 102 career tallies, Malone is tied for ninth in team history.
Spidey and His Amazing Friends
One of the most talented attackmen in the Ivy League,
Jack Speidell is picking up where he left off in 2025. A dynamic playmaker, Speidell has shown off his ability as a distributor this season and is tied for the team lead with 12 assists. A Team 91 LI alum, Speidell now owns 36 points on the year and holds the team lead. The St. Anthony's product produced a nine-point outburst against Marquette (Feb. 28) the highest total for a Crimson player since
Sam King '25 reached the same total in the 2025 matchup against Marquette.
Stevens The Stopper
Sophomore goalkeeper,
Graham Stevens, has been excellent in 2026 for the Crimson, saving shots at a 57-percent clip and allowing just 10.32 goals per game. The metrics rank fifth and 25th in the country, respectively. Stevens has made 13.78 saves per game, a number that ranks in the top five nationally.
Most recently, Stevens posted a career-best 22 saves in a win over No. 20 Boston University in the Charles River Rivalry game.
It's Not How You Start
The 2026 Harvard men's lacrosse squad recently became just the second team in program history to reach the 8-0 mark and the first team to do so in the NCAA era. As the coach of the 2024 and 2026 teams, Byrne becomes the first head coach in HLX history to lead a team to two separate 6-0 starts.
Up Next
Harvard will continue its league schedule next weekend when it travels South to New Haven to take on the Yale Bulldogs. The rivalry game is set for a 3:30 PM start and will air live on ESPN+.
