The Harvard men's soccer team opened its season yesterday with a boom...but ended the day with a bust.

Harvard (0-1) held the lead for approximately 71 out of the game's 91 minutes. At the end, however, the scoreboard showed the visiting Providence Friars (2-0-1) on top of the Crimson by a score of 3-2 thanks to two quick goals late in the contest.

"We played very well today," Harvard coach John Kerr said, "we controlled most of the game. We were just punished for some slack defense at the end."

The Crimson stormed out of the gate in its season opener, immediately attacking the Friars' defense. After some early pressure, Harvard was able to break through just 1:27 into the contest.

The scoring play began with a Crimson corner kick. The corner kick was headed at the net but saved by Providence goalie Mike Cardenas. The rebound, however, hit the crossbar and was promptly headed back into the net by sophomore forward Jon Oslowski to give Harvard a 1-0 lead.

The Crimson did not stop there, as it continued to apply pressure on Providence over the next few minutes. Only the Friar's tough defensive play kept the Crimson out of the net.

And after surviving the early onslaught, Providence was able to counter with some pressure of its own.

Sophomore goalie Mike Meagher was able to keep the ball out of the net for Harvard in the early going, diving and sprawling in all directions to jump on dangerous balls. Providence, however, soon seized a golden opportunity on a Harvard attack gone wrong.

With most of the Crimson players on the attack, a Friar midfielder intercepted a pass and charged in the other direction. After beating Harvard's last defender with some fancy ball handling, he was taken down hard in from behind in the box by a charging Crimson defender. Surprisingly, no card was given, but the damage was done as Providence was awarded a penalty kick. Captain Mike Eisenhut promptly beat Meagher low to the right to knot the game at one.