He may not yet be Landon Donovan, but Brian Rogers certainly had a flair for the dramatic Saturday night.

In a goal reminiscent of the USA soccer star’s own against Algeria, the Harvard sophomore scored the go-ahead tally in the 80th minute to send the No. 10 Crimson men’s soccer team to a thrilling 2-1 victory against No. 13 Stanford.

After getting past two Cardinal defenders and kicking the ball past sliding Stanford goalie Jason Dodson, Rogers pulled his shirt over his head, then ran to the nearest corner arc to celebrate with his teammates—much like Donovan did after his game-winner.

It was a fitting climax to a game that had a World Cup-like atmosphere throughout, with over 3,000 fans packing into the brand-new Soldiers Field Soccer Stadium and making persistent noise.

“I think tonight we captured a small piece of the excitement of big time college soccer in this country,” Harvard coach Carl Junot said.

“We couldn’t stop talking about it,” added senior defenseman Robert Millock. “We really fed off [the fans’] energy. It was pretty special.”

A FRESH START

Before the season began, Coach Junot said he was unsure of how much playing time the seven members of his freshman class would get, indicating that a few of them may be able to contribute immediately while others would have to work their way into his rotation.

Yet on Saturday night, not only did Junot’s freshman play, they played a lot.

Five of seven members of the class of 2014 saw major action against Stanford, led by midfielder Kevin Harrington, who played a full 90 minutes.

Defender Ross Friedman, midfielders Obiajulu Agha and Kyle Henderson, and forward Connor McCarthy each also saw at least 33 minutes of action in their first collegiate games.

“It was a little intimidating,” Friedman said. “I wasn’t sure how I would match up to the speed of play, to the physicality. I think I immediately adjusted and did everything to help my team as much as I could.”

The five players weren’t the only first-timers out on the field for the Crimson. It was also Junot’s first game as a collegiate head coach.

DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS

While much talk coming into the 2010 season surrounded the departure of a good deal of the team’s 2009 offensive firepower–Andre Akpan ’10, Adam Rousmanierre ’10, and Desmond Mitchell ’10 accounted for half the team’s scoring last year–no one was too concerned about the stability the team would have on the defensive end of the field.