Yale Outguns Harvard 17-15 to Open Ivy League Play

A matchup of two of the nation’s top offenses lived up to the billing as No. 8 Yale outscored No. 14 Harvard 17-15 in New Haven. A week after knocking off No. 1 Denver, Yale handed Harvard its first loss of the season.

Yale (4-1, 1-0 Ivy League) never trailed in the contest, but could never shake Harvard either.

A key moment came midway through the first quarter when a Harvard goal was wiped away due to a non-shooter falling in the crease. Instead of Harvard pulling within one goal at 5-4, Yale scored the final three goals of the first quarter to go up 8-3.

Yale eventually stretched its lead to eight goals, but Harvard scored five straight goals late in the third quarter and into the fourth quarter to get back within two goals, but could get no closer.

Matt Brandau tied Yale’s single-game assists record with eight and Carson Kuhl had a career-high four goals. Machado Rodriguez won 24 of 34 faceoffs for the Bulldogs.

Harvard goalie Christian Barnard made 19 saves while Crimson attackers Sam King (5g, 3a) and Teddy Malone (5g) each had big games.

Elsewhere in the USA Lacrosse Top 20

Jake Taylor scored seven goals on just nine shots – and the Kavanagh brothers combined for 13 points as No. 1 Notre Dame controlled No. 17 Michigan 19-9. Chris Kavanagh had a goal and six assists and Pat Kavanagh had two goals and four assists. Michigan’s Justin Tiernan scored four goals, but Notre Dame goalie Liam Entenmann made 14 saves as the Irish improved to 5-1.

No. 2 Army is off to its best start since 1958 following an 18-12 victory over Lehigh to improve to 7-0. After Lehigh jumped out to an early 2-1 lead, Army scored six straight goals and led by at least two the rest of the way. Jackson Eicher had four goals and two assists for Army and Will Coletti won 22 of 33 faceoffs. Scott Cole (3g, 2a) had a team-high five points for Lehigh and Nick Pecora made 19 saves.

No. 3 Duke was slow to get going, but pulled away in the second half to beat No. 16 Richmond 12-3. The Blue Devils (8-1) have the nation’s No. 1 offense, but scored just twice in the first 25 minutes of the game.

Josh Zawada and Charles Balsamo then scored goals in the final five minutes of the first half to give Duke a 4-2 halftime lead and then the Blue Devils outscored Richmond 6-0 in the third quarter.

Brennan O’Neill had three goals and two assists and Zawada had two goals and two assists. Duke freshman goalie Patrick Jameison continued his monster rookie season, making 12 saves while allowing just three goals.

No. 4 Penn State scored the first six goals of the game and beat Marquette 13-7 before 2,004 fans at Springfield (Pa.) High School. T.J. Malone had two goals and four assists and Will Peden had three goals as the Nittany Lions won their sixth straight game.

No. 10 Syracuse held Delaware to just one goal in the final 41 minutes of the game, beating the Blue Hens 14-6 in a neutral site game in Chantilly, Va. Delaware had a few early leads and took its last at 5-4 with 11:50 remaining in the second quarter after a goal by Cam Acchione. The Blue Hens then went silent as Will Mark was dominant and Syracuse scored the game’s next seven goals.

Mark made 17 saves for the Orange and Owen Hiltz led the offense with six goals. Delaware goalie Kevin Ellington made 20 saves.

Emmet Carroll made 16 saves as No. 12 Penn beat Brown 11-6 despite being outshot 43-29. Tynan Walsh had a team-high four points (2g, 2a) and Cam Rubin scored three times.

No. 19 North Carolina won its fourth straight game, beating Stony Brook 12-8. The win was the 250th career victory for Tar Heels coach Joe Breschi. Owen Duffy had four goals and Dominic Pietramala scored three for UNC. Stony Brook goalie Tommy Wilk made 19 saves.

Cardin Stoller made a career-high 19 saves, including a save at the end of the game, as No. 20 Rutgers held off Massachusetts 10-9 in Farmingdale, N.Y. Shane Knobloch scored three time for Rutgers, including the game-winning goal with 2:13 left in the game.