1996

Sports Statistics

Record: 16-2, 7-1 Ivy

Ivy Finish: First

Coach: Steve Locker

Key Players: Seniors Wil Kohler, Kevin Silva; Junior Tom McLaughlin; Sophomore Jordan Dupuis

1997

It was the ultimate rebound.

Cornell, last season's Ivy League co-champion, rocked the 1996 Harvard men's soccer team with three goals in less than 20 minutes in the Crimson's season opener. The Big Red seemed poised to cruise through another season, as the victory extended Cornell's regular-season winning streak to 14 games.

Harvard, meanwhile, could not score against goalie Hermant Sharma until the 89th minute of the game, on a penalty kick.

"I was nervous," said senior Rich Wilmot. "I thought [the '95 season, when Harvard went 6-8-3] was just starting again."

On a sunny Saturday against Columbia, however, Harvard made the first step in a dramatic ascent--a climb which would lead to two school records, an Ivy League championship and a thrilling NCAA tournament postseason.

Initially though, the challenge seemed just as dramatic. Before they faced the Crimson, the Lions had allowed just one goal in their last 786 minutes.

Harvard rendered that statistic mute at 27:09, when Wilmot scored to give the Crimson its first lead of the season. Wilmot added another goal and senior John Vrionis and junior Tom McLaughlin, playing his first year at forward after making the switch from defense, also scored against the Lions in the 4-1 win.

"That game started the ball rolling," Vrionis said. "It was good to get our confidence back."

Further boosting the team's morale, Harvard defeated No. 12 Boston University, 2-1, on Sept. 25.

"B.U. was ranked, and to beat them gave us confidence," Wilmot said. "We started to believe that maybe we did have a good team."

Sophomore Jordan Dupuis made nine saves in the win and the strength of the senior corps (eight returnees from 1995) was manifest. Senior Kevin Silva's goal broke a 1-0 Terrier lead in the second half, and Wilmot scored the game-winner with 1:08 remaining.

A solid core of freshmen emerged to complement the veteran senior pool.

"The freshmen were very important to the team," Silva said. "They're a talented class--they'll be good for years to come."

Goaltending wizardry carried the Crimson to three shutouts in its next three games, a feat last accomplished in 1987 when the team went 14-1-3 and reached the NCAA semifinals. This season Central Connecticut, Lafayette and Penn all fell to Harvard which, at 6-1, was off to its best start in a decade.

In the team's first seven games, McLaughlin had three goals--including two game-winners--and six assists for 12 points. He would finish the season with 41, fourth-most in New England.

"Tommy had a great individual season," Silva said. "It's a tribute to his own personal abilities as well as to the team. Everyone knew all along he had it in him."

Harvard dispatched Boston College, 4-1, on Oct. 9, with captain Wil Kohler recording a hat trick. Loyola, however, proved stiffer opposition. The Crimson weathered a scoreless first half before goals by Wilmot and McLaughlin pushed the team to victory, 2-0.

"We made winning a habit," Silva said. "We were confident in every game. We were never really a cocky team, just a confident one."

Three days after the Loyola victory, encouraging news came from Ithaca. Penn had shutout Cornell, dropping the Big Red from first to third in the league.

Cornell rebounded to stave off Dartmouth but Harvard (4-1 in the league) leaped ahead of the Big Red (3-1-1) in the Ivy standings by defeating Princeton, 2-0, on Oct. 26. The men's soccer team paralleled its football counterparts, as both shut out the Tigers on the same day.

McLaughlin, who notched a hat trick in a 5-1 trouncing of Maine on Oct. 15, tallied the game-winner against Princeton off a corner kick by Kohler.

Next up was a home game against Dartmouth. Kohler scored the winning goal when he rebounded McLaughlin's shot from off the post and drilled it into the net with just 5:29 into the game.

With the 2-0 victory the Crimson clinched at least a tie for the league crown.

"We put everything else aside this year," Wilmot said. "All we wanted to do was win."

Harvard captured its eighth outright Ivy title by defeating Brown, 2-1, on Nov. 9.

Bears goalie Patrick Rea made 13 saves, but Kohler broke his heart on a fake, notching the gamewinner. Brown senior Eric Block scored on a pass from freshman Ryan Smith, but Harvard snuffed out the rally and Dupuis won his 11th consecutive game.

Harvard closed out the regular season by winning its 15th consecutive game, a 4-1 defeat of Hartwick. The 15 victories broke the team records for most single-season wins (14, in 1969 and 1984) and longest win streak (also 14 in 1969).

The 1996 team, however, had one more chapter to write in the annals of Harvard soccer.

On a wet, chilly Sunday in the first round of the NCAA tournament against B.U. (10-6-3), Harvard's hopes seemed as gloomy as the afternoon. Terrier forward Nick Bone scored on a cross pass from back Dean Smith in the first 52 seconds.

Twelve minutes later, midfielder Sigurd Dalen scored for a 2-0 Terrier lead--the same score by which B.U. had defeated Harvard two years ago in the first round of the NCAAs. Meanwhile, Terrier goalie Bryan Murphy shut out Harvard in the first half despite 16 Crimson shots.

Senior Peter Albers, however, was equally flawless in goal in the second half, Meanwhile the offense stormed back.

"We were just dominating [B.U.] in the second half," Silva said. "All we needed was a goal."

In the 70th minute, Silva provided just that. Felled by a Terrier defender in the box on a breakaway, Silva was awarded a penalty kick which he subsequently shot into the lower left corner of the net.

"After that goal, the floodgates opened," Silva said.

One minute later, McLaughlin, who led the league in scoring during the regular season with 11 goals and 13 assists, tallied the equalizer on a Kohler assist.

McLaughlin teamed up with Vrionis in the 88th minute to cap the rally. McLaughlin trapped the ball off a corner kick opportunity and tapped it to Vrionis, who headed it into the net for his second career goal and Harvard's school-record 16th win.

"It was awesome to be a senior, to be on the favored team," Vrionis said. "The tournament was great--it's what I'll remember about college soccer. I still get chills when I think about it."

"That second half was probably the most exciting half I've ever been involved in," Silva said. "It's the win we'll remember forever."

Hartford ended Harvard's stellar season with a 3-2 overtime defeat of the Crimson on Dec. 1.

Harvard performed some final heroics. Kohler assisted on sophomore Lee Williams' goal, which tied the game after Rob Jachym had scored for Hartford.

However, the Crimson had to play short a man for 19 minutes, as sophomore Andrew Lundquist received a red card for pulling down a Hartford attacker on a clear breakaway in the 72nd minute.

Jachym scored two more goals in overtime. Harvard pulled within one when freshman Alan Bengtzen scored with two minutes remaining. The Crimson brought Dupuis out of net into and into the field for the final seconds in a desperate charge to the Hartford net, but it was to no avail.

Harvard finished 16-2 overall in 1996 and was ranked ninth in the final coaches' poll. The team's 16 victories eclipsed Harvard's win total in 1995 and 1994 combined (11).

Dupuis (11-1) emerged to as a force in front of the net. The sophomore finished the season with a sparkling 0.78 goals-against average (GAA), including 0.56 in league play. Albers also finished strongly with a 5-1 record and 1.06 GAA.

Kohler, who tallied nine goals and ten assists, was named Ivy League Player of the Year, the first time a Harvard player had earned that honor. Kohler was also named to the Division I All-New England First Team for the fourth consecutive year.

Kohler's Harvard career was capped in style as the New York/New Jersey Metro Stars made him their second-round draft pick.

Kohler, McLaughlin and Dupuis all garnered first team All-Ivy status. Williams, Vrionis, Wilmot and junior Ricky Le all earned second team All-Ivy honors.

"The final loss was kind of bitter," Wilmot said, remembering the season. "It would've been nice to go to the Final Four. But I couldn't ask for anything else as a senior.