Film Review: How Syracuse blew 2nd-half lead in upset loss to Harvard
Syracuse's defense faltered late in SU's 13-12 upset defeat to Harvard Saturday, allowing three unanswered goals to the Crimson. Jacob Halsema | Staff Photographer
Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox. Subscribe to our sports newsletter here.
Syracuse was sitting pretty when Joey Spallina scored his second goal against Harvard with six minutes remaining Saturday. The Orange turned a three-goal third-quarter deficit into a two-goal advantage. A five-goal run set them on course toward a 4-0 record for the first time since 2016.
But, instead of seeing out the win, Syracuse collapsed. It wasn’t as calamitous as Harvard’s fourth-quarter crumble in last year’s NCAA Tournament First Round, where SU scored five goals in 1:39 to force overtime. Though for a team with expectations like Syracuse — especially after defeating then-No. 1 Maryland the week prior — its defensive showing in the second half left much to be desired.
SU’s defense was a strong point in its first three games, holding opponents to 5.66 goals on average. That was thrown out the window in Cambridge, when Harvard dumped 13 goals past the Orange to complete its first-ever win over a No. 1 team.
Here’s a breakdown of four key plays that contributed to No. 6 Syracuse’s (3-1, Atlantic Coast) downfall against No. 4 Harvard (3-0, Ivy):
Nathan Cobery caps off a 4-0 Harvard run
This is when the upset started to become reality. Syracuse trailed 6-4 at halftime but scored the first three goals of the third quarter, all of which came in an 80-second span. Harvard answered with four straight, including this close-range strike from Nathan Cobery.
This sequence started when Owen Guest picked up a ground ball in traffic off a faceoff scramble. Jack Speidell controlled the ball on the far sideline and waited for Harvard’s subs to get on the field. The ball was swung to Logan Ip, who played a give-and-go with Andrew Perry.
As the ball got swung back to Perry, SU’s freshman long pole Joe Filardi pressed up on the senior midfielder. Perry used a quick split dodge to get a step on Filardi, who tripped. With Filardi down, Riley Figueiras slid to ensure Perry didn’t have an open look on goal. Figueiras left Teddy Malone — Harvard’s top goal scorer — for a split second, and Ryder Ochoa provided help.
Perry fed the ball to Speidell at X, which spelled trouble for Syracuse. Ochoa’s help defense meant his man, John Aurandt IV, was wide open on the wing. Speidell dished to Aurandt, who was face-to-face with Ochoa when he received the ball.
Ochoa’s feet weren’t set. Aurandt used Ochoa’s momentum against him and dodged inside, leaving the short-stick defensive midfielder in a heap on the ground. Chuck Kuczynski tried to make a last-second closeout to Aurandt, whose shot was saved by McCool. However, Cobery — who Kuczynski was previously guarding — scooped up the rebound and dumped it into an empty net.
Aurandt kickstarts Harvard’s comeback
At this point, Syracuse was fully in control. A couple more stops, and the Orange would’ve escaped Cambridge with a gritty win. Instead, disaster struck.
Malone nearly scored as he wrapped around the cage from X, but his attempt hit the post. McCool chased after the ricochet, yet Aurandt beat him to it. SU’s goalie was in no man’s land, allowing Aurandt an apparent clear shot on goal.
Amid the scramble, Figueiras slid, which forced Aurandt to pass to Francisco Cortes at the point of attack. Cortes, guarded by Dante Bowen, circled the wing and fired a feed to Speidell at X. A speed dodge around the goal freed him of Billy Dwan III, though his shot was too high.
Off the restart, Harvard isolated Aurandt against Ochoa on the wing. This was one of many instances when Ochoa was picked on. Ip could’ve set a screen, but Aurandt went to work. Another split dodge let him breeze past Ochoa. Worried about Ip getting free from distance, Bowen slid over.
Aurandt switched to his right hand and looked ready to rip a shot as Bowen approached. A slight hesitation from Aurandt allowed him to get on Bowen’s inside as he squared up for a hit. From there, Harvard’s attackman had another easy finish past McCool, cutting Syracuse’s lead to one.
Sean Jordan goes virtually untouched for a pole goal
In lacrosse, when a two-goal lead is cut in half, the worst thing you can do is concede right away. That’s exactly what happened to Syracuse.
Owen Umansky won the initial clamp against Drew Angelo at the faceoff dot. A John Mullen violation on the previous attempt put Angelo in his place. After Harvard’s disastrous faceoff performance in the two meetings with Syracuse last season — where it won 8-of-53 faceoffs — the Crimson battled Mullen all afternoon, holding him to 54%.
Umansky came away with a clean ground ball and ran toward his own goal. He dumped it off to Charlie Muller, which led to an easy clearing pass to Sean Jordan at midfield. Filardi was the first defender to meet Muller in transition.
Up to this point, Syracuse had been passive and often let Harvard’s poles meander upfield with little pressure. The Crimson’s defenders hadn’t used the opportunity to go to goal until Jordan took it upon himself. He took a couple of glances before bursting forward.
His acceleration allowed him to get inside Filardi. Jordan bounced off Filardi’s check attempt, and he continued towards the goal. Filardi made a last-ditch attempt to knock the ball free but didn’t come close.
With no slides from the wings, Jordan bounced one home to level the game with 4:46 left.
Cobery wins it in the last minute
After an empty Syracuse offensive possession, its defense got a key stop. Though when Dwan crossed midfield, SU was offside. Cobery initially pushed the pace, but Syracuse had numbers back to prevent a quick strike.
Cobery fired a pass to Speidell, and the attack recycled the ball to Aurandt on the wing as Harvard slowed down. Aurandt waited about 15 seconds before making his move on short-stick defensive midfielder Jayden Kittelberger.
The Crimson made a habit of initiating their offense with players guarded by short-stick midfielders. This time was no different. Aurandt used a slight hesitation and tried to beat Kittelberger infield, but the sophomore recovered.
Aurandt was forced to switch to his left hand and go down the alley. While this happened, Speidell curled around from X and cleared out space for Aurandt to dodge across the left side. It forced Dwan to follow him. Consequently, instead of being there for a potential slide, Kittelberger was left on an island.
As Aurandt angled upfield, Kittelberger failed to initiate contact and whiffed on a last-second check. Aurandt had a tough-angled look. It looked like he was about to try to place a shot past McCool, but SU’s goaltender closed down the angle. Kuczynski was also there to provide help at the last second.
That caused Aurandt to hold onto the ball, but he maneuvered his stick from high, low, back up to high as he went behind the goal. In one motion, Aurandt tossed a perfect feed to Cobery on the crease, who was initially marked by Kuczynski.
Nobody recovered, and Cobery had a crease dunk to complete Harvard’s comeback.
