Junior back MIKE LOBACH (2) brings the ball up field during Friday’s NCAA Tournament game in Storrs, Conn. against Rutgers as captain NICK LENICHECK (4) looks on.

STORRS, Conn.—When Coach John Kerr and the seniors of the Harvard men’s soccer team came out of Connecticut’s Morrone Stadium following their 1-0 loss to Rutgers on Friday, their hopes of advancing deep into the NCAA Tournament were dashed. But their pride in having led Harvard to its first tournament appearance in five years was still strong.

“It was just an unbelievable season overall,” said co-captain Nick Lenicheck. “Last year we were last place in the Ivies, we lost our last six games of the season. To come out of that, and go 5-2 in the Ivies, then make the tournament and give Rutgers a really great game. I think if a couple of bounces went our way we could have won it.”

The game had remained scoreless until the 81st minute, when Big East Player of the Year Dennis Ludwig netted the game-winner for Rutgers. The No. 16 Scarlet Knights (14-6-3) advanced to the second round of NCAAs to face No. 9 Connecticut yesterday, while No. 20 Harvard (10-5-1) was left looking ahead to next season.

“We’ve come a long way in a few years and the future looks bright,” Kerr said. “I’m sorry for the seniors—they had a great season. But I’m very happy the way things are going.”

The victory capped a highly successful fall season for Harvard Athletics.

While national attention was focused on the football team’s first undefeated season since 1968, the men’s soccer team made history of its own during the regular season by matching a school record of six consecutive shutouts that was set in 1969. Only three times before in school history had both Harvard soccer teams made NCAAs. The women’s soccer team had beaten Hartford in quadruple overtime in its first-round NCAA game at Storrs on Nov. 15 before falling to UConn on Nov. 17.

With Kerr losing just four of the 29 players from Friday’s roster to graduation, he is optimistic that a Harvard NCAA berth will be an annual occurrence.

“The experience [the underclassmen] got tonight is going to take them a long way, and I think they want more of it,” Kerr said.

BF:Rutgers 1, Harvard 0

The Crimson kept the First Team All-Big East duo of Ludwig and sophomore Sherif El Bialy out of the net for the first 80 minutes, but the two came through for Rutgers in the end.

Rutgers senior midfielder Dustin Sheppard iniated the game winning attack. After controlling a Knight throw-in deep in Harvard territory, he served the ball to El Bialy wide of the right post. El Bialy sent the ball across the goal line but out of any Harvard player’s reach. Ludwig, who had been rushing towards the goal, one-timed the ball softly into the left corner of the net as senior goalkeeper Dan Mejias was on the right post.

Harvard kept the pressure on in the final five minutes in its last-ditch effort to tie the game.

The Crimson earned a corner kick with 44 seconds left, and sophomore Spencer George—a late substitution—placed the ball well towards the far post, but Rutgers junior goalkeeper Ricky Zinter won the battle in the air. The Scarlet Knights cleared the ball twice in the final seconds to end any hope of a Harvard comeback.

The Crimson played a more defensive game from the outset. Harvard kept Rutgers from getting scoring chances in the first half, but the Crimson itself was rarely able to connect with its forwards.

“We had a game plan going in the first half—we were low pressure,” Kerr said. “We tried to hit them on the counterattack. We had one or two opportunities but we didn’t really fully take advantage of those.”