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Battling through the freezing rain on Scully-Fahey Field, the No. 11 Harvard men’s lacrosse team (8-2, 2-1 Ivy) kicked off its final stretch of Ancient Eight play today with an 18-7 win against the No. 18 Dartmouth Big Green (7-3, 1-2 Ivy). Sitting at No. 5 in the RPI — a metric based on strength of schedule that influences post-season NCAA tournament rankings — Harvard has made a name for itself against both conference and non-conference foes.

Typically considered one of the easier matchups in Ivy League play, the 2025 Dartmouth squad has certainly rebranded itself as a top-tier contender. Cracking the top-20 for the first time since 2007, the team — under the new leadership of Head Coach Sean Kirwan — has made a name for itself as a team to beat. Taking that mindset into the battle, the Harvard squad set out with determination as it raced out to a 7-0 lead in just the first 15 minutes of play.

“We came out hot, winning the first five minutes which allowed us to string together plays and get the ball moving well on the offensive end,” sophomore attackman Jack Speidell said.

Drawing first blood, the Crimson did what it does best: ride hard. Following an initial win on the face off, the attack wasn’t able to send the ball past the Big Green’s standout goalie Mason Morel, who sits at No. 8 in the nation for total saves so far this season. However, the attack quickly sagged back toward the line, forcing a Dartmouth defenseman to sail the ball directly to a waiting Harvard stick.

Ever heads-up, Speidell cut downfield for a lob pass from captain Sam King over the heads of the Big Green defensemen trailing in his wake, where the empty cage sat free for a little bouncer, and whooping cheers from the bench.

Speidell took charge of the next two goals, notching the early, unanswered hat trick in just four minutes. Junior middie Andrew Perry tallied the assist for the St. Anthony’s product’s second strike, and junior attackman Teddy Malone found Speidell holding space in front of the crease for the third helper.

Winning the next face off — an area that the Crimson has seen improvement with recently — and setting up on the attack, senior middie Owen Gaffney struck gold again less than a minute later after finding himself in his sweet spot at the top of the arc.
Four straight for Harvard.

Unanswered goal number five came on a heads-up play for Malone, who found the rebound of Speidell’s crease roll as he stood his ground on the doorstep. Losing the next face off, the hustle play from junior middie Francisco Cortez sent the Big Green LSM out of bounds on the far sideline, and allowed the Harvard attack to get the ball into its offensive zone once again for a sixth tally, this time on the feed from Speidell to King, who was flying through the arc as his defender trailed and left his hands open for the easy righty finish.

Winning the next faceoff on yet another scrum, the Crimson offense looked like it was having fun. As the announcers commented on the prowess of the Harvard attack, the team fired take after take on Morel, who was the sole reason that the Dartmouth squad was still in contention. With the Crimson finding what seemed like every 50-50 ball, it was not until about the 11th minute mark that the home team even found itself on attack.

It was short lived. On a low-to-high riser, freshman goalie Graham Stevens stood tall as the Dartmouth squad hit top pipe, ricocheting the ball out on the near sideline where the Harvard defense made the hustle play and out-worked the attack on the chase. The Crimson was so solid during the first half that Stevens didn’t have to make his first save for over 17 minutes. Drawing a penalty on the clear, the Crimson found itself with the man-up advantage on its attack where Speidell struck paydirt just seven seconds into the 30-second extra-man opportunity on the feed from behind from Logan Ip.

“A lot of credit for our success on defense needs to go to the faceoff unit and the offense for riding so well,” said captain and defenseman Martin Nelson. “This significantly limited our defensive possessions and allowed us to be fresh throughout the game.”

The first face off of the second period went for the Big Green, but lock-down defense from Head Coach Gerry Byrne’s starting trio of seniors Nelson and Logan Darrin, and junior Charlie Muller got the ball back on Harvard’s attacking end where junior co-captain and middie Logan Ip found the twine on a slippery two-man-game goal from sophomore Jackson Greene — who got Ip’s defender moving with a slick dodge and assist from the inside.

Good defenses win championships, and the Crimson was certainly treating this game as such. Losing the next face off,Nelson made sure the Dartmouth attack would feel the pain as he stripped his matchup behind the cage about three minutes into the quarter, snagging the GB and setting up the midfield for a quick clear. Down by eight, Kirwan couldn’t risk using his second and last TO of the half, having burned his first early in the first quarter after Speidell knocked Morel’s stick loose and won the rebounding GB behind the net.

Luckily — or so it seemed — for Dartmouth, Frisbie Family Head Coach Gerry Byrne called for a TO with about 8:15 on the clock, setting up his attack for another drive. However, the choice worked against Dartmouth as junior John Aurandt IV showed off his speed, barreling in from the top of the box and beating his man, drawing two slides up from the crease that allowed King to creep around the far side of the post for the slippery cross-fan pass and finish.

With the ESPN+ announcers calling Byrne an “offensive wizard” at crafting those plays, it was all Harvard as King — the ninth-highest point scorer in the country — found himself in point-blank range.

Nine unanswered. 38 more minutes of lacrosse. The Crimson bench was going wild.

However, Dartmouth didn’t quit. Posting its first goal with 5:17 on the clock on an extra-man opportunity, the Big Green snuck one past Stevens on a hockey-like play on the doorstep as Thomas Powell found Colin McGill jockeying for space on the crease, flinging it toward the attackman who quick-sticked it top-side. The result of a defensive miscommunication that allowed McGill to get his hands free, Harvard struggled with covering those inside cutters throughout the contest.

Squandering its next offensive take, the Big Green sloppily threw the ball into the middle of the zone where it was picked off by junior SSDM Owen Guest. The Brunswick School grad stretched the team’s lead to nine as he raced down the field, pushing the fast break as the Dartmouth defense failed to slide. Jogging back to the sideline, the junior was met with raucous cries from his teammates as the clock read 1:41 left to go in the first half.

On a textbook tic-tac-toe play just six seconds later, freshman FOGO Jackson Henehan won the ball cleanly forward to himself where he hit King for the outlet. Holding his space as the Dartmouth defense slid upfield to the threatening King, Speidell sat alone on the doorstep where King found him for his fifth goal of the afternoon. Neither team would strike paydirt in the last minute and a half, and Harvard would jog off up 11-1.

Taking the field, the Big Green returned with a new urgency. Notching the first two goals of the second half — the first from the same duo of Powell to McGill, and the second on a man-up goal that resulted from a one-minute slashing penalty against King — Dartmouth wasn’t ready to quit.

However, the home team was no match for the Crimson.

Stymying Dartmouth’s momentum was Perry, who found time and space down the left alley as he beat his matchup and sailed a lefty snipe past Morel. Stringing together another goal was Aurandt, who found himself alone on the crease as his defender over-played him on the slide, which allowed him to tuck underneath his matchup’s bottom shoulder and dive cross-crease for a backhanded finish past Morel. Already featured once on Sports Center Top-10, Aurandt was itching for another highlight reel play.

The next potentially momentum-shifting play came with 5:41 on the clock, as Wyatt Wiggins was sent to the box for 30 seconds, but the Big Green was unable to handle the puck, sending the ball loose on a cross-crease pass that Nelson was able to scoop up on the rebound. Harvard was unable to capitalize on the resulting offensive possession, and the Crimson found itself on the defensive end once again.

On yet another short-lived offensive opportunity, Dartmouth sent the ball right back to the Cambridge team. Reacting to a snipe of an outside shot, Stevens stood on his head for a save that sent him sprawling to the floor before finding sophomore SSDM Jack Petersen on the outlet. The former offensive middie showed his attacking prowess as he barrelled down the field for a fast break finish and his first goal of the season.

Dartmouth posted the next strike on a quick FB goal on the faceoff, but Perry once again proved to have the answering cry, this time finding glory on a heads-up feed from Aurandt who saw Perry wide open on the backside for a right-handed rip as Dartmouth failed to recover with a second-slide.

Up by 10, the Crimson wasn’t showing signs of slowing down.

Despite allowing an additional Dartmouth goal, the Crimson was entirely in control of the fourth quarter. Failing to finish on a man-up attempt, King — who drew the quick double all game — found Malone cutting cross-fan on even-strength, hitting the junior who finished cross-hand through traffic.

After some back and forth play, and with just over five minutes on the game clock, Dartmouth drew a penalty that would serve to put the final nail in its coffin, sending Harvard man-up for one minute on a non-releasable penalty resulting from contact to the head. 31 seconds into the extra-man, Speidell tallied his sixth of the day on a pass from King as he held his space floating through the middle.

With Byrne sensing the victory, the fans delighted in seeing the team’s seniors and second line take the field. Winning the next face off outright, the offense wasn’t able to strike again on the remaining moments of the locked-in extra man, but with 2:21 on the game clock, senior attackman Elijah Cohen found glory with his first of the season on the skip-pass to send his team up by 11.

Rotating out Stevens, sophomore netminder Teddy Kim tallied his first career save on an outside righty bullet from the Big Green shortly after Cohen’s goal, quickly scooping up the rebound and getting it down to his offense for one more possession to end the game. Drawing a flag on the clear, Harvard would end the game with one more man-up play that it would graciously run out to finish its road trip with an 18-7 victory.

While not much needs to change heading into the next game, Nelson wisely noted that “we need to continue to improve in unsettled situations and man-down.”

Hoping to build on yet another ranked win, the Crimson will welcome UPenn — who lost in a tight 14-11 battle against the Yale Bulldogs today — to Jordan Field next Saturday for its penultimate home game of the 2025 season. The action will commence at 1 p.m., but if you can’t catch it live, stream the contest on ESPN+.

—Staff writer Katharine A. Forst can be reached at katharine.forst@thecrimson.com