HARVARD 2, FAIRFIELD 1

In the lead-up to its important contest versus UMass, Harvard had big fish to fry at home first.

Altchek’s prowess and quick strikes provided the offense the Crimson needed to beat Fairfield 2-1 on Friday. The Stags entered the contest eighth in the NSCAA New England rankings.

Both of Altchek’s scores—number five and six on the young season for the standout forward—came with a quick and smart decision in order to surprise Fairfield’s goalie, Andrew Frankel. Frankel had been named the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Week three times so far this season, but Altchek beat him with surprise tactics.

With just over 20 minutes left in the opening half, senior Brian Charnock played the ball up into the Stags’ penalty box. Altchek used his shoulder to knock it down—a play that led to a number of Fairfield players pleading for a handball call—and then on the bounce, struck the ball out of the air and into the back of the net.

“Not giving up the lead like we did against Furman is very important,” Altchek said, “For the team mentally and for everyone”

Nine minutes later, Altchek used a strikingly different tactic when he ran down a pass from Nicholas Tornaritis. Rather than trying to pound the ball in, he surprised everyone—from the fans down to Frankel—by easily lobbing it into the air. Frankel did not even react as the ball arced perfectly over his head for a two-goal lead.

From there, all aspects of the game seemed to go downhill for Harvard. With all of the momentum and seemingly ready to just overrun the Stags, the Crimson had a few mental lapses down the stretch that almost cost it the victory.

In the 34th minute, Fairfield clawed back into the contest when its leading goalscorer, Vasilis Androutsos, controlled a pass on the right side of the goal and one-timed the ball past Johnson.

In the second half, the Stags were not able to muster much offense themselves, but nearly tied the game because of Harvard’s lapses in concentration.

“Their first goal changed our momentum and kept them within a chance of tying the game for sure,” Harvard coach John Kerr said. “They did have some opportunities to equalize, but we fell asleep in that moment and paid the price.”

One of the closest of these chances came on a pass into the left side of the box. With momentary miscommunication, Fairfield’s Taylor Warwick was all alone as a lob found him on the left side of the goal, but his one-timer sailed high over the crossbar.

“It’s something we are working on, to be honest,” Kerr said. “That is, to keep a focus throughout the 90 minutes and understanding that [a mental lapse] can happen to us.”

Nevertheless, the goal Harvard gave up to Fairfield was only the second that Johnson and the defense have allowed the entire season.

—Staff writer Gabriel M. Velez can be reached at gmvelez@fas.harvard.edu.