AMHERST — UMass men’s lacrosse midfielder Jeff Trainor completed a rally with 8 minutes, 53 seconds left in the fourth quarter at Garber Field.
Off a pass from Mike Tobin, Trainor hurtled the ball from outside the circle, slamming it into the back of the Harvard’s net to tie the game.
The Minutemen dug themselves out of a first-half hole, but the comeback fell short. The Crimson scored with 2:16 left to beat the 19th-ranked Minutemen, 10-9.
“Overall, we should be very disappointed in our first-half effort,” UMass coach Greg Cannella. “I don’t know if they were ready to play or not ready to play because they didn’t show it on the field. Our togetherness wasn’t there on the field. I think we got frustrated and were a little selfish in the first half, especially in the second quarter.”
The Minutemen trailed the Crimson 6-1 at halftime, with their lone goal coming from sophomore Gabriel Procyk within the first five minutes.
“We responded enough to tie up the game,” Cannella said of his halftime talk.
UMass looked like a different team in the second half.
Redshirt senior midfielder Billy Philpott struck first with a low bouncing rip shot past Harvard goalie Kyle Mullin.
Chris Connolly followed with a goal, Kevin Tobin had two and Procyk a second as UMass cut the deficit to 7-6.
UMass played more cohesively as Tobin, a junior midfielder, raised energy levels, pivoting quickly in and around Harvard players, and monopolizing the middle of the field.
“He’s definitely one of the guys who works hard Monday through Friday, so when Saturday comes around we trust him no matter what,” Philpott said of Tobin.
Harvard stretched its lead to 9-6 before Tobin, Philpott and Trainor scored to tie the game.
“I think we kind of got them to play with more intensity. I think when you’re down 6-1 and you score a couple that creates intensity for everybody,” Cannella said. “The defense did a fine job in the second half.”
Freshman Zack Hochman won 16 of the 22 faceoffs.
“Hock has been really good since the get-go, his first three games here,” Cannella said. “We just hope that he can continue to grow and develop. ... For a freshman to go out there and win the draws like that and get the ground balls and play tough and show his teammates he’s ready to go, kudos to him.”
UMass outshot Harvard 42-29, with 23 of those shots occurring in the second half.
The Minutemen will take on UMass-Lowell on Tuesday.
“UMass Lowell is a great team,” Philpott said. “We have to travel there on Tuesday, Tuesdays are tough, and they’ve been good all year so we gotta be ready to go.”