When it rains, it pours, especially for the Harvard men's soccer team.

On a cold, wet day at Ohiri Field, the Crimson dropped a lackluster 3-2 contest to the Northeastern Huskies. The loss snapped the Crimson's three-game winning streak and dropped its record to 3-5-1, 2-2-0 Ivy. HARVARD  2 NORTHEASTERN  3

The game was not as close as the final score might indicate, as Harvard scored twice in the final four minutes.

"We came out flat," freshman forward Joey Smolen said. "We weren't getting good touches, and we weren't playing with enough intensity. In the second half, we were more into the game, but I don't think it was until we scored the first goal that we realized this was a team we should be beating. And after that, it was too late to get back into the game."

Harvard's style worked against them in the inclement weather. The Crimson plays an Italian-style finesse game, which depends on crisp passes and good timing. Both are hard to come by on a wet field.

Northeastern, however, plays a less aesthetic, but yesterday more effective, "kick and rush" style, which mostly plays off of the oppositions' mistakes. And the Crimson made enough mistakes to give the Huskies the chances they needed.

The Crimson suffered a huge blow at the beginning of the game as freshman midfielder Nick Lenicheck, who has been integral to the team's success over the last two weeks, was hit in the head going up for a ball. He left the field with a mild concussion, and his status for the Holy Cross game on Saturday is still unknown.

Soon after, the Huskies broke through the Harvard defense for their first goal.

After a corner kick, the Crimson failed to clear the ball from the box. Almir Dhurdjevic, a sophomore forward from Sarajevo, Bosnia, collected the ball and fired it past Harvard senior goalie Jordan Dupuis.

The rest of the first half was marked by moments of strong Harvard defensive play and contention between the two coaching staffs and the referees.

Junior midfielder Paul Cantagallo and sophomore midfielder Ryan Kelly both drew cheers from the small but enthusiastic Harvard crowd with breathtaking stops on defense.

Coach Steve Locker was shown a yellow card in the 37th minute for vocalizing his dissatisfaction with some uncalled fouls.

In the second half, the situation appeared to brighten for the Crimson. Its superior midfield play kept the ball at the Huskies' end of the field for a majority of the half. Unfortunately, Harvard was not able to turn these opportunities into goals. Although the Crimson out-shot Northeastern 15-7, it did not force Northeastern's goalie to make many difficult saves.

Northeastern struck again 17 minutes into the second half. Senior forward Ross Hainsworth sent a long pass to Dhurdjevic, who knocked the ball past Dupuis for his second goal of the game, and increased his league-leading total to five goals.

Five minutes later, the Huskies almost scored again. Sophomore fullback Wells Magnum, caught in a one-on-one, made a great effort to knock away a strong Northeastern shot.

The Crimson had another great opportunity in the 71st minute. Junior Chinezi Chijoke took a pass five feet from the goal, but his ensuing shot went high, keeping Harvard off the scoreboard.

The Huskies capitalized again with 10 minutes left in the game. Freshman midfielder Mike Donnelly took a corner kick from fellow freshman Ben Collins, and scored Northeastern's third goal, which would turn out to be the game-winner.

Even down 3-0, Harvard showed no signs of giving up or giving in. The Crimson countered with its first goal four minutes later on a beautifully executed offensive sequence. Freshman forward Marco Soldo got the ball on the left side of the goal and tapped it to Smolen. Smolen expertly slipped the ball back to Soldo, who blasted it past Husky goalie Alan Lewis.

"It was certainly a big relief for me, because I hadn't scored yet this year," Soldo said. "This was the moment I waited for. But, to score a goal at 0-3 with only four minutes left is almost worthless, so it was not as good as a first goal could have been."

Harvard, although obviously inspired, did not have enough time to tie the game.

But it would score once more. After a handball in the box, junior midfielder Armando Petruccelli converted the penalty kick with 16 seconds remaining on the clock. Petruccelli, with four goals and an assist, is the Crimson's leading scorer.

"This was a key game that would have brought us back to .500 overall," Soldo said. "This ended our three-game winning streak, and the talk of ending the season with 11 straight wins. We'll have to get back on track if we want to make it to the NCAAs...One good thing was that some of the freshmen who haven't played all year made it onto the field and made a solid contribution to the team. It was great that Dan [Cantagallo] and Yoshi [Kaneko] got to play."

Harvard will go to Holy Cross this weekend for a non-league game. The next league match will be at Princeton, October 24. The Crimson return home October 28 to play Fairfield. Northeastern, 3-2 at Ohiri Field Northeastern  1  2  --  3 Harvard  0  2  --  2

Scoring N.E.--Djurdjevic 1 (unassisted) 22:26. N.E.--Djurdjevic 2 (Hainsworth) 61:26. N.E.--Donnelly 1 (Collins) 81:13. Har--Soldo 1 (Smolen) 86:11. Har--Petruccelli 1 (penalty kick) 89:44. Saves: Har--Dupuis 4; N.E.--Lewis 10.