Cohen Shines Again for No. 17 Harvard
from press release
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Freshman attacker Jeff Cohen scored a career-best six goals to guide the 17th-ranked Harvard men's lacrosse team to an 11-4 victory against Holy Cross Saturday afternoon before 832 fans at Harvard Stadium. Travis Burr added two goals and an assist, while Joe Pike made 10 saves for his sixth win of the season.
Cohen's six-goal effort was the most for a Harvard player since Greg Cohen '07, Jeff's older brother, tallied six scores at Dartmouth May 5, 2007.
Harvard, which improves to 6-5 on the season, opened the scoring at 13:40 of the first quarter as Cohen notched his first of the game on an unassisted shot. The Crimson later went up 2-0 later in the first at 2:23 as Burr put a shot past Holy Cross goalkeeper Jimmy Harrison. With time winding down in the opening frame, the Crusaders (3-11) got on the scoreboard on a blast from Chris Smirti with five seconds remaining.
In the second, the Crimson played flawless defense, holding Holy Cross to only five shots and no goals. Burr tallied the period's lone score, as he netted a shot at 5:16, making it 4-1in favor of Harvard. After two quarters, the Crimson held a sizable advantage in shots, 19-8, and led in ground balls by a 14-6 margin. Harvard was also a perfect 9-for-9 on clear attempts.
Cohen continued his offensive assault in the third, as he scored back-to-back goals at 10:49 and 9:13, respectively. His first goal of the second half was assisted by Ben Smith, while Jesse Fehr handed out an assist on the latter score. Midway through the frame, Harvard was called for three penalties, and Holy Cross capitalized on two of them, cutting the Crimson lead to 6-3.
Nick Smith responded for Harvard with a goal off an ensuing face-off at 4:42, beginning a 4-0 run for the Crimson. Early in the fourth, Nick Sapia netted the second goal of the streak at 14:08, followed by consecutive goals by Cohen, which pushed Harvard's advantage to 9-3.
After Smirti picked up his fourth goal of the day for the Crusaders at 6:44, Cohen tallied his 26th score of the season on an unassisted shot with 3:42 to play. Less than a minute later, Jeff Wannop capped the scoring for Harvard off a pass from Eric Posner at 2:48.
Smith led the Crimson with five ground balls, while Billy Geist snared four. Christian Oberbeck won seven face-offs, helping Harvard win a total of 10-of-19 on the day. Harvard owned the final count in shots, 38-24, and ground balls, 28-11.
The Crimson concludes its three-game home stand by hosting Yale Saturday, April 25 at 1 p.m. The game against the Bulldogs will also serve as Senior Day for Kirk Bansak, Max Gottschall, Max Motschwiller, Conor O'Brien, Joe Pike, Eric Posner, Nick Sapia, Sam Slaughter, Nick Smith, Matt Vitous, Jeff Wannop and Sean Whitsitt.
