CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Off to its best start in league play since 2014, No. 5 Harvard men's lacrosse will look to build on its strong start when it travels South to New Haven for a key Ivy League matchup against the No. 17 Yale Bulldogs. The Crimson (9-1, 3-0 Ivy) will begin a challenging final stretch of games against the Bulldogs (5-4, 2-2 Ivy) at Reese Stadium on Saturday (Apr. 11). First faceoff is slated for 3:30 PM with all the action streaming live on ESPN+.
 

What to Know

Who: No. 5 Harvard vs. No. 17 Yale
When: 3:30 PM EST, Saturday April 11
Where: Reese Stadium/New Haven, Conn.
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 earned a 12-10 come-from-behind win in its last matchup with Brown (Apr. 4).
• Harvard improved to 9-1 and 3-0 in Ivy League play with the result.
• The Ivy League mark represents the best start in league play since the 2014 season.
• This will be the fifth matchup with a ranked opponent for Harvard this season.
• Harvard is 3-1 against ranked opponents this season.
• Harvard and Yale will clash on the field for the 107^th time this weekend in a rivalry that dates back to 1882.
• Gerry Byrne and the Crimson snapped a five game losing skid to Yale last season with a 14-11 win over the Bulldogs at Jordan Field.
• Harvard has not won a game in New Haven since 2014.
• Teddy Malone leads the team with 29 goals and is second in the Ivy League with 2.90 goals per game.
• Teddy Malone (38), Jack Speidell (36) and Logan Ip (30) all have eclipsed the 30-point mark this season.
• John Aurandt IV is just outside the 30-point mark with 29 on the season.
• Graham Stevens owns a .570 save percentage which ranks sixth in the NCAA.
• With its 3-0 record in league play, Harvard is atop the Ivy League standings and the only remaining unbeaten team in conference action.
• Nathan Cobery is the national leader in shot percentage with a 52.9-percent clip this season.
• Harvard's offense has posted 13.8 goals per game, the eighth-best mark nationally.
• The Crimson offense is the second-most efficient unit nationally with a 38.4-percent rating this season.

 

By the Numbers

3 – Goals for Logan Turley vs. Brown, the most in a game in his career.
4 – Inside Lacrosse Midseason All-Americans for Harvard.
4 – Man-up goals for Andrew Perry in 2026, the most in the Ivy League.
5 – Or more opponent scoring droughts of 15 or more minutes for Harvard this season.
6 – Times Harvard has reached nine wins in the past 30 years.
7 – NCAA RPI Ranking for Harvard men's lacrosse.
8 – Ivy League weekly awards for Harvard this season.
10 – Caused turnovers for SSDM Owen Guest this season, tied for the seventh most in the nation by a non-defender or LSM.
12 – Years since Harvard last started 3-0 in the Ivy League.
22 – Saves for Graham Stevens against BU (Mar. 24), a new career high.
28 – Ground balls for Nathan Cobery this season, the fifth-most for an attack nationally.
29 – Goals for Teddy Malone, the second most in the Ivy League.
31 – Ground balls per game for Harvard this season.
53 – Shooting percentage for Nathan Cobery, the best clip in the NCAA.
65 – Years since Harvard last posted at least nine wins in its first 10 games.
106 – Goals for Teddy Malone, the seventh-most in program history.
164 – Turnovers forced by the Harvard defense this season.
 

In the National Rankings

NCAA RPI – 7
USILA Coaches Poll – 6
Inside Lacrosse Media Poll – 5
USA Lacrosse Magazine Rankings – 4
Lacrosse Reference LaxELO – 12
NEILA Coaches Poll – 1
 

Scouting Yale

• The Yale Bulldogs own a 5-4 record on the season and 2-2 mark in conference play.
• Yale is 2-4 against teams ranked in the national polls.
• The Bulldogs enter the weekend on a two-game winning streak after knocking off No. 9 Cornel (Mar. 28), 13-12 and defeating Dartmouth (Apr. 4), 18-7.
• The team owns 107 goals (11.9 gpg) on the season and has allowed 102 goals 11.3 (gaa).
• Yale averages 37.6 shots per game and owns a .317 shooting percentage.
• With a percentage of 57.9 (11-for-19) on extra-man-opportunities, Yale ranks third nationally.
• On the man-down, Yale has stopped 53.6-percent (15-for-28) of opponent EMO opportunities.
• The team averages 16.67 turnovers per game and 29.67 ground balls per game, which are good for fifth and sixth in the Ivy League.
• Connor Gately, a sophomore attack, leads the Bulldogs with 34 points and 20 assists.
• Sean Grogan is the team's leading scorer, with 19 tallies on the season.
• Junior attack Peter Moynihan has come on strong in Ivy play and owns 10 points in his past four games.
• Patrick Pisano and Luke Michalik are Yale's top defensemen and share the team lead with 27 ground balls.
• Nick Wehmeyer and Ben Cuomo split faceoff duties and own 46.8 and 42.6 FO percentages, respectively.
• Ben Friedman took over the starting goalkeeper spot for Yale and owns a 5-3 record along with a 11.45 GAA and a .552 save percentage.

 

Crimson vs. Bulldogs – Series History

• Harvard and Yale have met 106 times in the series history.
• The Crimson trails in the all-time series, 39-67.
• Harvard snapped a five-game losing skid to the Bulldogs last season.
• Each of the last four meetings have been decided by three or fewer goals.

 

Active Stat Leaders vs. Yale

Goals: Malone (7), Ip (4), Perry (4)
Assists: Malone (8), Ip (4)
Points: Perry (7), Malone (5), Speidell (4)
Ground Balls: Malone (8), Guest (7)
Caused Turnovers: Muller (4), Guest (2)
Faceoffs: Henehan (6), Barraco (4)
Saves: Stevens (8)
Goals Allowed: Stevens (11)
 

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 38.4-percent of its possessions.
• In defensive efficiency, Harvard ranks 27th nationally, allowing goals on just 27.9-percent of defensive possessions.
• It's cumulative efficiency of 39.7-percent ranks third in the NCAA.
• The team's cumulative shooting percentage of 40.6-percent is the best in the nation.
• The team's strength of record – +1.49 expected wins – is the sixth-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 41-25 record and a 14-13 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 26-7 record in Cambridge since taking over in 2020. That mark also features a 21-2 record against unranked opponents in games held at Jordan Field. The last loss came against Colgate (an eventual NCAA Tournament team) last February.
 

Road Warriors

The Crimson is 6-2 in road contests in the past two seasons and is 2-0 in true road games this season. Both the Crimson's road wins in 2026 have come against opponents ranked in the national polls.  
 

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 35.5-percent shooting clip (1st), 21.10 points per game (12th), and 13.8 goals per game (8th). Harvard has scored 138 goals this season to post the fourth best scoring start in program history. The total is behind only the 1978 (150 goals), 1979 (143 goals) and 2025 (141 goals) teams.  

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.
 
Recently, 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. This past weekend against Brown, Harvard posted four straight fourth-quarter goals to comeback and defeat the Bears, 12-10. The Crimson allowed just one goal early in the final frame before standing tall defensively for the final 14-plus minutes.
 

Bullseye!

The most accurate team in the nation, Harvard owns a shooting percentage of 35.5 on the season to rank first in the NCAA. Led by the most consistent shooter in the NCAA, Nathan Cobery (1st, 53-percent), Harvard has worn down opposing goaltenders with its ability to get shots on target. 62.7-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 106 career tallies, Malone is in seventh place on the all-time scoring list.
 

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 second on the team with 12 assists. A Team 91 LI alum, Speidell now owns 36 points on the year and recently eclipsed the 100 career points milestone.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 10.29 goals per game. The metrics rank sixth and 25th in the country, respectively. Stevens has made 13.50 saves per game, a number that ranks in the top ten nationally.
 
Stevens posted a career-best 22 saves in a win over No. 20 Boston University in the Charles River Rivalry game. It was the most saves in a game for a Harvard goalkeeper since the 2019 season when Kyle Mullin '22 made 22 stops against Providence.
 

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.
 
With a current record of 9-1, Harvard is off to the second best start in program history – behind the 10-0 1961 squad – and reached nine wins for just the sixth time in the past 30 years. The team's 3-0 start in Ivy League play is the best since the 2014 season.
 

Up Next

The Crimson will be back on its home turf next weekend for its final home game of the 2026 regular season. Harvard is set to honor its 2026 class on senior day when it hosts nationally ranked Princeton at Jordan Field. The team will also join the greater Harvard community to celebrate Cambridge Day. The game is slated to begin at 1:00 PM and will air live on ESPN+.