If the first three games of the season are any indication, the Harvard men's soccer team seems intent on proving that last year's Ivy League title and NCAA berth were no joke.
While the early results may not be overly impressive, the Crimson (1-1-1, 0-0 Ivy) has clearly shown that it can compete with tougher, non-Ivy league foes. Coming off an 0-8-1 non-Ivy season, that is no small feat.
But make no mistake, Harvard is not satisfied with just being competitive.
"This is no longer a young team," junior Will Kohler said. "There are no excuses for not putting away chances and winning games."
After an 8-0 trouncing of Fairfield to open the season, the Crimson traveled to Chapel Hill, N.C. this past weekend to compete in the Adidas/Carolina Classic.
In addition to facing some tough competition, Harvard had to play the tournament without all of its freshmen, who were participating in Orientation Week back in Cambridge. In the Fairfield game, freshmen Andrew Lundquist, Armando Petruccelli and Zach Viders all saw a good deal of action for the Crimson.
As a result, Harvard headed into Friday night's match against No. 7 North Carolina, which scored 11 goals in its first weekend of action, with a mere two substitutes available.
This game was no blowout, however. Behind sophomore goalkeeper Peter Albers, Harvard and North Carolina (4-1-0) were scoreless through most of the first half.
With three seconds remaining, however, Tar Heel Jamie Clark took a shot from 35 yards out that deflected off Albers and into the left corner of the net.
North Carolina then scored on a direct kick just 10:47 into the second half to take a 2-0 lead, the result of a miscommunication between Albers and his wall of teammates in front of the goal.
"It's a shame, because we out-played them," Kohler said. "For the first 30 minutes we dominated the game, and the defense played very well. We missed several chances."
Indeed, despite the Crimson's scoring difficulties, the game was remarkably even. Both teams took 11 shots and three corner kicks.
Harvard displayed similar tenacity in Sunday afternoon's finale against the College of Charleston (2-3-1).
In this game, the Crimson's ranks were even further depleted, as junior Rich Wilmot was hobbled by a groin injury and saw limited duty.
Harvard again found itself trailing 1-0 at the half. However, just 1:05 later, junior John Vrionis and Wilmot headed a ball in front of the net that sophomore Toure McCluskey drilled home.
After the Cougars regained the lead nine minutes later, Kohler evened the scoring with less than 14 minutes to go by blasting junior T.J. Carella's pass into the right corner of the net.
From that point on the Crimson again dominated the action, but could not come up with the game-winner to show for it.
Vrionis at one point knocked in a shot that appeared to cross the goal line, but it was waved off by the referee, despite Harvard's protests.
"We played really well," said junior Kevin Silva. "We showed we could play with anyone in the nation. [Not winning] is always upsetting, but you take away what you can."
Kohler feels all the team needs is more time to gell as a unit.
"We need to work on our overall movement as a team, because we hardly get the amount of practice time [as other teams]," he said. "When we do, we will get stronger together."
Harvard opens its Ivy League season on Saturday at home against Columbia, the league's top-ranked team. National powerhouse Boston University, which eliminated the Crimson from last year's NCAA tournament, will invade Ohiri field the following Wednesday. Scoring UNC--Clark 44:57. UNC--Zavegnin 55:47. Saves: Har--Albers 4; UNC--Drouln 7. Scoring CC--Sllick (Ottskey) 13:41. Har--McClushey 3 (Vrionis) 46:05 CC--Richvalsky (Ottskey, Heley) 55:10. Har--Kohler 1 (Carolin) 76:09. Saves: Her-Albers 7: Cha--Cherry 9.
Read more in Sports
ON DECK
