Unsettled: Harvard Upset Highlights Banner Ivy League Weekend

Welcome to this week's edition of Unsettled, a weekly look at big stories, random observations and the numbers from the NCAA men's lacrosse scene. Check back each Sunday for the latest.

With a school as old and venerable as Harvard, it feels really odd when something new happens. But that’s exactly what happened on Saturday.

The USILA weekly rankings only date to 1973, but for the first time ever, Harvard beat the No. 1 team in the country, rallying past Syracuse 13-12 before 2,159 bundled up fans at Jordan Field.

It was one of several big highlights for the Ivy League this weekend: 

• Princeton also had a 13-12 triumph, handing No. 2 Maryland its second consecutive loss
• Reigning national champ Cornell scored the final six goals of the game to beat Denver 13-9
• Yale poured in 16 goals in a five-goal win over Boston U, ranked No. 18 by the USILA 
• Brown edged city rival Providence 8-7 in overtime 
• Penn capped off a 2-0 week, including a win over No. 19 UAlbany, with a comfortable 14-6 win over Delaware 
• Dartmouth scored nine first-quarter goals in a 15-10 win over Vermont

So, a week after four Ivy League teams lost their openers, the league looks to once again be a major factor on the national scene. That’s hardly unusual, but could Harvard venture into new territory?

Syracuse bounced Harvard in the first round of the NCAA tournament last season – in overtime – by the same 13-12 score as Saturday’s game, but the Crimson might have the pieces to make history at a school that first fielded a team in 1878. Harvard has never made it past the quarterfinals in the NCAA tournament and hasn’t reached that round since 1996.

Senior Teddy Malone has 11 goals in the Crimson’s 3-0 start. Junior Jack Speidell, coming off of a summer with the U.S. U20 team, leads the team with six assists. Seniors John Aurandt IV, Logan Ip and Andrew Perry all have four goals in the early going with Aurandt playing a major role on Saturday. After Syracuse went up two late, he scored his third of the game to get Harvard back within one and then he assisted on the game-winner by Nathan Cobery with 50 seconds left.

That’s some serious veteran leadership. Head coach Gerry Byrne has taken Harvard to the NCAA tournament twice coming out of the COVID pandemic, but this might be his best team yet.

Random Observations 

Sunday’s marquee game was Georgetown at Notre Dame, but there was nothing to observe for most of the nation. A game scheduled for a national broadcast on the ACC Network was moved indoors due to weather, and with it the broadcast was shelved with no stream either. The lacrosse world went old-school with a radio feed and live stats, but tough to get a real feel for what sounded like a dominant 15-9 Notre Dame win. Georgetown committed 26 turnovers, including seven failed clears. Notre Dame had 19 caused turnovers, led by Shawn Lyght with three. 

As good of a weekend as it was for the Ivy League, the same can’t be said for the Big Ten. Ohio State and Rutgers were the only teams to post wins with the Buckeyes beating High Point 13-5 to improve to 5-0 for the season. Ohio State heads to Georgetown next weekend for its first game of the year against a ranked opponent. Rutgers shut down a dangerous Villanova team in an 8-7 victory.

But after the weekend, Johns Hopkins, Maryland, Michigan and Penn State are all looking for answers. Hopkins gave up 11 second-half goals in a 17-9 loss at North Carolina. Michigan’s loss to Army was its second straight. Maryland’s 13-12 loss to Princeton was also its second straight and Penn State was unable to build on last week’s win over Princeton, falling to Navy 12-11.

Army has trailed in three straight games – in the fourth quarter at Rutgers, by three at the half against Yale and by three in the third quarter to Michigan on Saturday – yet won all of them. The Black Knights, snubbed for the NCAA tournament the last two seasons, are doing everything to give themselves a cushion if they hit a bump in the Patriot League, but if they keep this up, that’s unlikely. Georgia native Sean Byrne made a season-high 15 saves to help Army hold off the Wolverines at the Atlanta Lacrosse Invitational.

Duke’s Aidan Maguire and Mac Christmas are two defensive specialists that can be just as dangerous on the offensive end. That was evident heading into the half of a 16-10 win over Jacksonville. Duke got the ball at its endline late in the half and threw an outlet pass to Maguire who sprinted to the offensive zone and then hit Christmas, a longpole, right in front of the goal. Christmas scored with two seconds left to stretch the lead to 8-6. Who leaves a longpole on the offensive side in that situation? Crazy creative.

Hampton hasn’t won a Division I game since the program launched in 2016, but the Pirates are getting oh so close. On Saturday, they led VMI 6-2 early and were tied with the Keydets 15-15 until Dayton Bagwell scored two goals in the final 1:42 of the game to give VMI a 17-15 win. Last week, Hampton had an early lead on Detroit Mercy and trailed by just four, 12-8, entering the fourth quarter. Saint Joseph’s transfer Maliik Wood and freshman Anthony Bardondille Jr. each had four goals against VMI. Bardondille leads the Pirates with 16 points and Wood has a team-high 11 goals.

By the Numbers

11 • Goals for North Carolina’s Dom Pietramala over the last two seasons against Johns Hopkins, the school where his father, Dave, was the head coach until being let go after the 2020 season. Pietramala had six in a 13-12 win last year and led UNC with five in Friday’s 17-9 win.

2017 • The last time that Richmond started the season 4-0 before this season. The Spiders matched the best start in school history with a thorough 16-7 win over Lehigh heading into Saturday’s game against Cornell. The Spiders fell by a single goal twice to the Big Red last year.

17 • Goals for Duke’s Benn Johnston in just four games this year. Johnston had five in a 16-10 win over Jacksonville and is now shooting 46 percent for the season.

13 • Points for the Millon brothers in Virginia’s 19-7 win at Stony Brook. Brendan, a freshman, set career-highs with five goals and seven points. McCabe, a junior, had two goals and four assists. The duo has combined for 37 points in just three games.

3 • Consecutive goals by Navy’s Mac Haley in a span of under three minutes late in the fourth quarter to help the Midshipmen rally past Penn State 12-11.

89.5 • Faceoff winning percentage for Penn’s Mac Eldridge in a 14-6 win over Delaware. Eldridge, who missed last season with an injury, won 17 of 19.

4 • Points for Cornell’s Ryan Goldstein during the Big Red’s six-goal run to close the game in a 13-9 win at Denver. Goldstein finished the game with two goals and five assists.

11 • Days that Monmouth’s Ty Caffarelli school record for goals in a game stood. He scored a record seven in the Hawks’ 15-6 season-opening win over Manhattan on Feb. 6. Eleven days later, the California native broke his own record with eight in a 15-7 victory over Wagner.

8 • Consecutive fourth quarter goals scored by Sacred Heart in a 13-12 win over Fairfield, giving head coach Jon Basti his 100th career victory. Sacred Heart’s 4-0 start is the best in its Division I era.