Michigan Lacrosse was picked apart in the first half against Harvard and could not come away with the victory despite summiting a five-goal deficit:
The Michigan Wolverines (4-3) faced off with the No. 12 Harvard Crimson (4-1) for the fourth consecutive season in a budding non-conference rivalry. This time, it was a windy date in Cambridge between a top-five defense (Michigan) and a top-five offense (Harvard).
Unfortunately for head coach Kevin Conry, offense ruled the day.
The Wolverines trailed by as many as five goals before a furious second-half rally tied the game in the fourth quarter. The Michigan man-up squandered three late opportunities and ultimately fell short in a 14-11 loss.
This will be a tough pill to swallow.
The Wolverines’ vaunted defense played its worst first half of the 2025 campaign. The Crimson continuously hit off-ball shooters and found wide-open looks around Hunter Taylor’s crease. The on-ball defending was fine, but time and time again Harvard feeders picked apart the defense.
Pace Billings was matched up with one of the best attackmen in the nation, Sam King, who exploded for six goals, including an empty-netter which all but sealed the deal.
Mason Whitney had several takeaways, but a costly turnover on the clear gave the ball back to the Crimson, who were able to run out the clock.
The defensive midfield trio of Carson Billig, Justin Ennis and Jack Marlow had perhaps their worst performance of the season so far as they struggled in the slide game and off-ball help. However, they did have some solid one-on-one coverage.
They — along with the rest of the unit — were much stronger in the second half, but after allowing nine goals in the opening 30 minutes, Michigan was forced to play catch up.
Lukas Stanat led the offensive output with four goals and an assist and was by far the most successful dodger on the day. He was mostly matched up with short sticks and used his towering frame to blow by them. Stanat’s left-handed release was also invaluable, as he had a couple of outside tallies and a sweet, contorting finish down the wing.
Nick Roode once again feasted on the crease and had a hat trick to go with an assist. Aidan Mulholland had a few nice wing dodges and recorded two goals. But the lead man, Ryan Cohen, struggled to beat his defenders all day and while he had two assists, it was far from his best outing.
Other key producers like Jack Jenkins, Bo Lockwood and John Morgan were held in check as they combined for a meager one goal and one assist.
Coming out of halftime, trailing 9-5, there was not much to be proud of. The offense looked shaky and the defense looked lost. However, whatever Conry said at half fired them up because the Wolverines dominated the third quarter to the tune of a 5-2 advantage.
There were more transition opportunities, a fiercer ride and Taylor stood on his head (12 saves) on numerous occasions. Yes, he allowed 14 goals, but two of those came when he was out of the net, blitzing with under 90 seconds remaining.
Michigan has now suffered another crushing road defeat as it enters arguably the most difficult stretch of what has already been a difficult schedule.
The next three contests will be against three top-ten opponents in No. 2 Notre Dame , No. 1 Maryland and No. 7 Johns Hopkins. Conry had mentioned before the season how his team needed to be more consistent in the regular season to avoid relying on Big Ten heroics to reach the NCAA Tournament.
However, with this most recent loss to Harvard, it appears the Wolverines will need to get hot at the right time once again.