Harvard Men’s Lacrosse Defeats Boston University in Triple-OT Thriller, 12-11

Nigel Andrews scored the game-winner in a triple-overtime road victory at Boston University (Photo Courtesy: Rob Butler).

BOSTON – Harvard rallied from five down and scored six unanswered goals between third and fourth quarters to earn a 12-11 triple-overtime road victory at Boston University Tuesday night. The win was the Crimson's third in four games and was made possible by Nigel Andrews, who scored with 1:45 left in the third OT.

Playing its second game in four days, Harvard (3-4) found itself trailing, 9-4, with 3:47 left in the third period after BU (6-3) scored its fifth unanswered goal. First-year Nick Loring stopped the run with his fifth goal of the season and the Crimson defense held firm the rest of the way to keep its deficit at four.

Steven Cuccurullo took over when play resumed by winning face-off after face-off in the fourth
quarter. The possessions led to a Harvard attack that kept applying pressure on the Terrier defense and produced goals at a methodical pace. Charlie Olmert built on the Loring goal and Jeremy Magno followed suit 20 seconds later to make it a 9-7 game.

Nearly two minutes passed before the Crimson sliced its deficit in half, thanks to a Myles Hamm goal. The sophomore then leveled the score with 5:25 left in regulation off a feed from Kyle Salvatore. Harvard's run continued when Loring connected with Salvatore to push the visitors to a 10-9 lead.

The drama continued as the clocked neared 0:00, as BU's James Burr knotted the game at 10-10, only to have Olmert strike once more with 29 seconds showing on the clock. Then in a bit of misfortune for Harvard, BU's Chris Gray scored one second before the horn, sending the game to OT.

The extra sessions produced more thrilling moments, starting with Hamm's shot that hit iron to open the first overtime. Later in double OT, Kyle Mullin and the Crimson defense denied a flurry of Boston University attempts in the final 20 seconds and then one last stop with 2:36 left in the third OT setting up Andrews' heroics.

Before the Andrews sequence, however, Harvard forced a big turnover near midfield and called a timeout with 1:57 left. When the action resumed, Olmert began his attack, swung a pass to Hamm, who found a cutting Andrews, who put his shot past BU goalie Joe McSorley to deliver the game-winner.

The Crimson started off slow, allowing the Terriers to score twice in the first 5:02, but settled down after that. Harvard began to control the pace and its persistence paid off, despite having a handful of shots hit the post, with a Salvatore goal with just under five minutes left in the frame.

The momentum carried over to the second period when Kyle Anderson surveyed the scene from behind the goal and fed a cutting Hamm in front of the cage to tie the score just 32 seconds in. The duo teamed again, this time up top, with Hamm connecting with Anderson, who scored from long range, moving the Crimson ahead, 3-2. BU answered with a pair of goals to retake the lead only to have Magno knot the score at 4-4 with 3:59 left. The Terriers, however, scored with two seconds remaining in the quarter, pushing them to a 5-4 lead at halftime.

BU took that final goal of the first half and turned it into the aforementioned 5-0 run after the Terriers scored the first four goals of the third period. Loring stopped the spurt setting up the dramatic final 22-plus minutes.

Harvard Highlights

• Harvard rallied from a large deficit for a second straight season. Last year, the Crimson rallied from down six in the fourth quarter to win, 19-18, in Cambridge.
• The Crimson won all nine face-offs in the fourth quarter and was 12-for-12 from the fourth quarter to the end of the game.
• Cuccurullo was 15-for-19 in face-off situations after he won a career-high 20 last season. The 15 victories marks a season best.
• Harvard had four players record at least three points. Hamm had a career-high-tying four, while Andrews, Olmert and Salvatore each had three. Andrews tied his career high after having three at Brown on Saturday. Olmert, meanwhile, established a new personal record.
• Andrews set a career high with two assists.
• Mullin was outstanding in goal, recording a game-high 19 saves for the second straight game. He has 60 stops in his last three games.

Next Up
Harvard will continue Ivy League action on Saturday when it plays at Dartmouth. Game time is set for 2 p.m., and the contest will air on ESPN+.