HOUSTON, Texas – It was a Texas-sized win for the No. 4 Harvard Men's Lacrosse team, who posted a convincing 17-7 victory over the Michigan Wolverines this afternoon in a neutral site battle at the Kinkaid School. The Crimson (5-0, 0-0 Ivy) used a stellar offensive effort to sprint past the Wolverines (3-4, 0-0 B1G) in a victory that featured a 14-2 Harvard scoring run in the final 42-plus minutes of the contest. John Aurandt led the offense with a career-high seven points and
Graham Stevens matched his career best with 18 saves while guarding the Crimson net.
The Crimson improve its record to 5-0 with the result, the second time the team has accomplished the feat under the Frisbie Family Head Coach for Harvard Men's Lacrosse,
Gerry Byrne.
Harvard Highlights
- John Aurandt IV led the Crimson with seven points, scoring three goals and dishing out four assists. The senior midfielder set a new career high with his point and assist totals.
- Graham Stevens locked down the cage, making 18 saves and allowing only seven goals.
- Jack Speidell continued his hot streak with four goals and an assist to reach five points.
- Teddy Malone and Logan Ip each finished with three goals and an assist for four points.
- Quinn Kelly caused three turnovers on the defensive side of the field, a game-high.
- Joost de Koning and Speidell shared the team lead with four ground balls.
- Nathan Cobery, Jared Maznik, Jackson Greene and Finn Pokorny each scored a goal. Pokorny's was the first of the SSDM's career.
- Teddy Kim came on in relief of Stevens and made one save in the matchup.
- Harvard grabbed 32 ground balls as a team and only turned the ball over 12 times.
- The Crimson man-down unit went 1-for-1 on the day.
- Harvard failed to clear just once in the contest, going 22-for-23.
- The Crimson allowed just two goals in the entire second half and allowed zero in the fourth quarter.
- Harvard used a 14-2 run over the final 39 minutes of play to secure the 10-goal win.
How it Happened
- For the fifth consecutive season Harvard and Michigan faced off in the teams' budding rivalry. This edition of Harvard-Michigan took place in Houston, Texas at the Kinkaid School in a neutral site showdown.
- Harvard was first on the board in the matchup, scoring back-to-back goals to take a 2-0 lead just 3-and-a-half minutes into the action. John Aurandt IV and Nathan Cobery scored the opening tallies for the Crimson to help the team build a lead.
- Michigan fought back with its first strike of the game at the 11-minute mark of the opening quarter. After a series of defensive stops by both sides, Logan Ip restored the lead for Harvard with his first goal of the contest. Michigan did not allow Harvard to go on a run, scoring again to make the score 3-2 late in the quarter. The Crimson kept working with time winding down and would score its fourth goal of the opening quarter when Aurandt connected with Jack Speidell. The strike made the score 4-2 going into the second quarter.
- Michigan rallied to start the second quarter, putting together a three-goal scoring run to take the lead, 5-4 at the 12:37 mark. After the third Wolverine goal, it was all Harvard for the remainder of the contest. The Crimson dug in defensively to hold off the Wolverines for the remainder of the half and give the offense room to work.
- The Crimson offensive run began with a tying-goal by Teddy Malone at the 10:31 mark and the go-ahead goal by Speidell with 6:05 on the clock, making the score 6-5 Harvard. Aurandt got the Crimson crowd in Houston on its feet, scoring an impressive goal with three seconds left in the half, giving Harvard a 7-5 lead at the break.
- Graham Stevens made eight saves and Harvard forced nine Michigan turnovers in the half to hold off the Wolverine attack.
- The third quarter began with a three-goal Harvard run, built by goals from Speidell, Jackson Greene and Malone to give Harvard a 10-5 lead just two-and-a-half minutes into the second half.
- Michigan countered with two goals – and another Speidell tally in between the Wolverine strikes – to make the score 11-7. The Wolverines' seventh goal at 6:56 in the third quarter would be its last of the game.
- The Crimson quickly rebuilt its lead, extending the advantage to seven after a three-goal scoring run to end the quarter. Malone started the run that featured a goal by Jared Maznik and Aurandt's third tally of the game. The stretch gave Harvard a 14-7 lead heading into the final frame.
- In the fourth quarter, Harvard got started early with another strike by Ip to make the score 15-7 in favor of the Crimson. After the goal, Michigan pushed hard to attempt to get back into the game. Harvard's defense stood tall in the quarter as the Crimson made nine saves – eight by Stevens and one by Teddy Kim – to hold off Michigan.
- Finn Pokorny, a senior SSDM, scored his first career goal in transition late in the quarter and Ip struck once again with three minutes remaining to give Harvard a 17-7 lead.
- The Crimson would hold on to post a 10-goal win over the Wolverines and extend its winning streak over the B1G foe to three consecutive games.
Up Next
After a 5-0 start in non-conference play, the Crimson will begin its Ivy League schedule next Saturday when it makes the trip to Philadelphia to battle the Penn Quakers. Harvard and Penn are set to clash at Franklin Field at 1:00PM with all the action set to air live on ESPN+.
