Project 1881
Delivering The Undefeated Experience
The landscape of college athletics and college lacrosse has shifted seismically in the last 5 years and that is challenging the Ivy League to lean on its principles but also leverage its strengths to maintain its preeminent place is developing true Student-Athletes.
The challenges, in the form of the transfer portal, NIL money, aggressive/“stacking” of financial aid, TV/ESPN contracts, etc are creating challenges (but also opportunities) that our history and legacy can take advantage of to maintain our competitive position in lacrosse while remaining true to our mission.
The depth and breadth of our alumni community, and the success and connectivity that it brings, is our avenue to move from a Top 20/NCAA caliber program to a Top 10/Final Four program. Yale, Princeton, Cornell, Brown and Penn have proven it can be done.
As we approach our 150th anniversary of the birth of Harvard Lacrosse in 1877, and our first collegiate championship in 1881, we need to reenergize and refocus our commitment to delivering an experience that reflects our championship heritage and our dedication to the student and the athlete to create an unparalleled experience on the athletic field, in the community and in the classroom.
“It is now our time. Will You Help Us Get There?”
- Coach Byrne
Quadrennial International Trip
Every 4 years the NCAA allows college teams the opportunity to take an international trip. This is quite an undertaking. This past summer, through the generosity of several alumni and parents, we traveled to Spain and crisscrossed the country with our team and staff. This trip is the capstone experience for our seniors of their 4 years at Harvard. Only a handful of programs can match the alumni engagement and support that Harvard Lacrosse has can make this trip a reality. It is one of the most memorable experiences of their time at Harvard and binds the teammates together in ways that are hard to explain. They are also critical recruiting tools that make Harvard unique.
In the summer of 2028, we are looking to our next trip with suggestions including Italy, Croatia, and Australia.
Exhibition games in Barcelona vs Netherlands and Spain Lacrosse
Team Photo before our hike of Vall de Nuria mountain on the border of Spain and France
See the video below to watch a recap of our trip to Spain.
You can support this effort and experience with a generous contribution.
Donate To The International Trip
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A gift of this size will ensure future generations of Harvard Lacrosse players will have this transformational experience. Contact Coach Byrne if you are interested in making a gift of this size.
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A gift of this size will ensure our next trip in the summer of 2028 and our current Harvard Lacrosse players will have this transformational experience. Contact Coach Byrne if you are interested in making a gift of this size.
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Almost 1/3 of the cost of an international trip is airfare. Since not all of our players are affluent we look to minimize their out of pocket cost to attend this trip. Your generous donation ensures every player can get to the destination with minimal investment.
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Almost 1/3 of the cost of an international trip is hotel costs. Since not all of our players are affluent we look to minimize their out of pocket cost to attend this trip. Your generous donation ensures every player can get to the destination with minimal investment.
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An earmarked donation (in any amount) for our international trip helps us create an experience that will never be forgotten by our student-athletes.
Annual Fall Competition, Career Networking & Community Trip
Traditionally this has meant busing to the mid-Atlantic to play a jamboree on terrible fields against opponents not of our choosing. Our vision is a bit different. We aim to make the trip an experiential one that combines the pillars of our HLX Experience: Competition, Service, Alumni Engagement/Career Networking and City Immersion (food, culture, history).
In our 5 years at Harvard we have taken trips to NYC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Washington DC to play teams such as Maryland, North Carolina, Lehigh, and Saint John’s, and this past October we traveled to Chicago to play the defending National Champions Notre Dame.
We are singular in this approach and our commitment to these experiences has differentiated us from our Ivy peers and rivals in the ACC and Big10 and has become a recruiting tool (like the International Trip) that can blunt some of the advantages of our rivals.
See two of our most recent trips to DC and Chicago in the videos below:
Donate To The Fall Competition Trip
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A gift of this size ensures the continuity of these experiences for every member of our team. Competition, career networking, service, and experiential learning are the pillars of our program and are embodied in this trip. Contact Coach Byrne if you are interested in making a gift of this size.
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A gift of this size will ensure our next trip in the fall and our current Harvard Lacrosse players will have this transformational experience. Contact Coach Byrne if you are interested in making a gift of this size.
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Almost 1/3 of the cost of a fall trip is airfare. Your generous donation ensures that is annual tradition will continue.
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Almost 1/3 of the cost of a fall trip is hotel costs. Your generous donation ensures that is annual tradition will continue.
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Our fall trip gives us the opportunity to immerse our team in our destination city: history, food, and art, are just some of the elements of the fall trip. Additionally, we will connect with our local alumni in that city to gain wisdom and insight into their professional journeys.
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An earmarked donation for our fall trip (in any amount) helps us create an experience that will never be forgotten by our student-athletes.
Nutrition, Recovery & Performance HQ in Dillon Field House
Sports Performance, in the form of wearable technology (that tracks sleep and recovery) and speed/movement, has meshed with targeted nutrition/calorie intake and recovery tools that minimize inflammation and swelling to help athletes optimize performance, minimize injury and speed up the return to play process. Long gone are the days of ice bags taped to the knee. Our rivals in the ACC and Big10 lean on the coffers of big-time football and revenue from TV contracts to build temples to the sport. As we patiently wait for an upgrade of Jordan Field we use the space we have in Dillon to house our Nutrition Station, Recovery Space, and our wearable tech Charging and Assessment Areas.
We currently use our WHOOP bands and technology to track sleep, recovery, HR, stress, etc, as well as our CATAPULT GPS in practice to track speed, COD/COS, overall load, and acceleration. We use Hyperice/Hypervolt for injury recovery and massage and yoga sessions to help heal and prevent recurring injuries. Before and after practice we fuel using Nutribullets and Vita-Mixes with specific pre-practice and post-practice shakes along with healthy grains and snacks that latch on to their full meals eaten before and after practice to help us maintain weight and protein intake.
Maintaining weight and strength AND injury prevention/recovery are two critical elements for any team. Due to their busy schedules, we look to provide supplemental nutrition to our athletes that allows them to bring energy and focus to the field and weight room as well as tools that allow us to track their development and recovery.
Donate To Our Nutrition Station & Performance Technology
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Game prep, practice prep, film, performance analysis and review, caloric intake, etc. are all elements of the calculus of our potential success. A gift of this size lays the foundation for our success on the field and off. Contact Coach Byrne if you are interested in making a gift of this size.
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Whoop provides insight on sleep, recovery, and strain and assists our staff in developing strength and conditioning and practice protocols that our custom and personal.
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Catapult devices and software tracks our player’s metrics of speed, distance, and workload, providing data insights to improve performance, optimize training, and reduce injury risk.
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Each year we need to replace and repair the devices we use to recover from injury and competition. Normatecs, HyerIce/HyperVolt, and Game Ready are some of the technologies we use to recover.
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Providing supplemental nutrition for 50+ young men is a challenging task especially on days were we have double session film and lift. From August to May we look to stock our nutrition area with healthy food to help with focus performance and recovery.
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Outside of our sponsorship with Nike, Cascade, and Maverick, we have training and teaching tools on the field to expedite our player development.
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An earmarked donation for our nutrition station and performance technology (in any amount ) helps us create an experience that will never be forgotten by our student-athletes.
Spring Competition Trip to Play ACC & Big 10 Opponents
Due to our desire to constantly challenge our team, we look to build home-and-home relationships with other Top 20 teams. The athletic department funds travel and games within our Ivy League footprint but frankly, there are very few perennial Top 20 teams in our geography. This leads us to need alumni support for flights/hotel/food to travel to play ACC and Big10 schools as part of our non-Ivy schedule to help raise our SOS and our RPI.
Watch The Highlights of our win over #3 Syracuse in February 2025 in the JMA Dome
Watch Our Highlights vs Michigan 2024.
#2 Joey Graham dodging vs Virginia defenseman 2023
Donate To The Spring Competition Trip
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A gift of this size ensures the continuity of these experiences for every member of our team. Competing against the top teams in the nation elevates our program and players each year. Contact Coach Byrne if you are interested in making a gift of this size.
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A gift of this size will ensure our next trip in the fall and our current Harvard Lacrosse players will have this transformational experience. Contact Coach Byrne if you are interested in making a gift of this size.
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Almost 1/3 of the cost of a spring competition trip is airfare. Your generous donation ensures that is annual tradition will continue.
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Almost 1/3 of the cost of a spring competition trip is hotel costs. Your generous donation ensures that is annual tradition will continue.
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Our spring competition trip gives us the opportunity to immerse our team in our destination city’s food. Fueling the team with healthy and nutritious food, while playing the top teams in the country is a key to success.
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An earmarked donation (in any amount) for our spring competition trip in any amount helps us create an experience that will never be forgotten by our student-athletes.
Annual NYC Gala Sponsorship
This event, held annually at The Metropolitan Club in Manhattan, is essential in bringing our community together to hear about the prospects for the season, the challenges we are facing and how the alumni community can help us leverage our strengths to build a championship program.
Donate To The Annual NYC Gala
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A gift of this size ensures this event in perpetuity, creating an opportunity for alumni and staff to connect in NYC prior to each season. Contact Coach Byrne if you are interested in making a gift of this size.
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A gift of this size will ensure our next NYC Gala will continue to be an important event for our alumni and current staff. Contact Coach Byrne if you are interested in making a gift of this size.
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This is one of the largest expenses for this event by giving toward this you ensure the attendees have a tremendous experience.
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Each attendee receives Harvard apparel that they can wear proudly throughout the year.
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Reconnect with your graduating class at your sponsored table.
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An earmarked donation for the annual NYC Gala (in any amount) helps us create an experience that will never be forgotten by our alumni.
Annual Career Networking Event/Trips
Several times per year we host, both in Cambridge and in our travels for away events, Career Networking/Alumni Engagement Events. These events, which have been held in NYC (several times), Cambridge, Baltimore, Washington DC, Philly, and Chicago often require travel (bus), room rental/reservation, AV Support, and food & beverage.
These events allow us to connect our current student-athletes and former players in an informal environment where the alums can answer questions, share wisdom, teach networking skills, share their journey, and more. We are at the forefront of these efforts in D1 Lacrosse and has helped us support our athletes in internship placement, interview prep, job placement, and more. We would like to expand these experiences to other cities with your help and generosity.
These events are critical pieces of our recruiting pitch to HS athletes and parents.
2024 Networking Event during Chicago trip
See the video below from the alumni networking breakfast in Philadelphia 2023
2023 Alumni Weekend Networking Event
Donate To The Annual Career Networking Event Schedule
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We will connect with our alumni throughout the year to gain wisdom and insight into their professional journeys. A gift of this size ensures the continuity of these experiences for every member of our team. Contact Coach Byrne if you are interested in making a gift of this size.
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A gift of this size will ensure each career networking event is possible and our current Harvard Lacrosse players will have this professional experience. Contact Coach Byrne if you are interested in making a gift of this size
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An earmarked donation (in any amount) for our annual career networking event schedule in any amount helps us create an experience that will never be forgotten by our student-athletes.
Annual Lake Placid Tournament
Event Sponsorship
This event in upstate NY is an annual pilgrimage for current HS, College, and alumni of hundreds of teams. We now have 4 teams registered to compete in this event: an Open Team (current college and recent grads), a 30+ team, a 50+ team, and a 60+ team. We now match Syracuse with having the most alumni teams at this event. This weekend has become a hallmark of our alumni community building as we have surpassed over 100 players across the 4 teams, We are looking for a handful of alums that can support this effort to offset the registration fees, group meal, apparel, and jersey costs.
This support will allow us to add additional teams and assist us in bringing more alums together to celebrate the Harvard Lacrosse Community.
The 30+ team from Lake Placid
The 60+ team from Lake Placid
Donate To The Annual Lake Placid Tournament
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We have quickly gone from one team to four teams (for 2025) covering four different age groups (Open, 30+, 50+, 60+). This event, in one of the most beautiful parts of the country, has become a hallmark event in the HLX community. Your gift ensures that there will be a destination for players and alumni to meet each summer and cover all registration, social, and apparel costs.
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A gift of this size will ensure our next Lake Placid Tournament will continue to be an important event for our alumni. Contact Coach Byrne if you are interested in making a gift of this size.
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Andrew Barnard ‘87, has generously hosted this event at his home in Lake Placid. Supporting this event ensures a wonderful evening of community and camaraderie for our Lake Placid tournament attendees and their families.
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Help us outfit our four teams in Lake Placid with uniforms and apparel that identifies and proudly announces our connection to Harvard Lacrosse.
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Help ensure our place and participation at the Lake Placid tournament.
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An earmarked donation for our Lake Placid tournament (in any amount) helps us create an experience that will never be forgotten by our alumni.
Annual Service & Community Engagement Sponsorship
Each year our team works tirelessly with 3 unique organizations. We have created a One Love Chapter at Harvard to promote healthy relationships. We have Team Impact, that supports our Burrito Bowl. Team Impact connects college athletes and teams with children with physical disabilities. That event blossomed into Team Impact Day with Harvard Athletics. Lastly, we work with Harlem Lacrosse of Boston and the McKay School to help with tutoring, attendance, and lacrosse skill development.
The investment in these organizations often takes us off of campus OR welcomes a group to campus leading to expenses like buses, meals, entry fees for events, and more. Financial support for these initiatives allows us to meet these athletes more easily and provide experiences and memories that will stay with them forever.
See two of our most recent community/service days with Team Impact and Harlem Lacrosse in the videos below:
2025 Team Impact Burrito Bowl
2024 Team Impact Burrito Bowl
Donate To Our Community Service Efforts
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A gift of this size ensures that our team is building relationships and giving back to the communities we work with. Service is one of the pillars of our program and is embodied in these service efforts. Contact Coach Byrne if you are interested in making a gift of this size.
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Help to continue to work with One Love, Team Impact, and Harlem Lacrosse.
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An earmarked donation for our community service efforts (in any amount) helps us create an experience that will never be forgotten by our student-athletes.
National Recruiting Travel Fund
Every day, 365 days a year, our staff emails, texts, flies, drives and does outbound messaging in person and via technology to find the next generation of Crimson student-athletes. This takes time, money, technology and strategy to enable our staff to be at the 50+ events we attend each fall, summer and spring. Your support provides us with the ability to be targeted and nimble to be where we need to be at the drop of a hat.
Donate To Our National Recruiting Fund
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A gift of this size ensures our staff the ability to travel across the country to find the best recruits. Contact Coach Byrne if you are interested in making a gift of this size.
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An earmarked donation for our national recruiting fund (in any amount) helps us find the future student-athletes of Harvard Lacrosse.
MISCELLANEOUS SUPPORT OPPORTUNITIES
Donate To The Event/Opportunity of Your Choice
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An investment in office technology assist us in film break down, sport science analysis and opponent prep.
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An investment in camera technology assist us in film break down, sport science analysis and opponent prep.
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Injury prevention and post game recovery are key elements to ensure our players are prepared and available to compete. These specialist help get our players ready several times a week.
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Our training off the field is as important as what we do in the weight room and on Jordan Field. Providing resources to develop as people and players is essential to their becoming impactful graduates of Harvard.