Can't Forget That Feeling

He told them at the beginning of the year to forget about last season. Forget about the shootout victory over Yale in the first round. Forget about the 2-1 victory over Boston University in the second round. Forget about the 2-0 triumph over Hartwick in the quarterfinals.

Forget about the Duke game. Forget about the Final Four.

Last year's NCAA Tournament success didn't mean anything this year. So Harvard soccer Coach Mike Getman told his team to forget about it.

Start a new season, he said. Start from scratch. Start without the All-America forward. Start without the team captain. Start with a new goalie.

And start with a new coach.

Start. Play one game at a time. Play one goal at a time.

The Harvard soccer team is back where it was last season. Despite Getman's urgings to forget, the Crimson has remembered. And it liked what it remembered. It liked the excitement of the tournament, so it's back for another ride.

"We looked at last year as something in the past," Getman said. "We didn't want to worry about it. Mainly, we didn't want to feel pressure to repeat last year's success."

So the Crimson shoved the memory of last year's tournament appearance--in which Harvard knocked off Yale, B.U. and Hartwick before falling to Duke, 3-1, in the Final Four--into a deep chest within a dark closet inside an abandoned house. Forgotten.

One game at a time. One goal at a time.

Now the Crimson is entering that abandoned house, opening that closet door, taking the memory of last year's tournament out of the chest. The Crimson is back in the NCAAs. Same time, next year.

"It's an enormous help [to have been in the tournament before]," Getman said. "Last year, the team went into the tournament not knowing what to expect. This year, the team is confident and knows what to expect. There's a feeling among the players that this team is even better than last year's. I don't know if that's correct, but..."

The feeling is there. And maybe the feeling is all that matters.

All-America John Catliff is gone. So is former captain Paul Nicholas. Stephen Hall has replaced Chad Reilly in net. And Getman is the new coach.

But the feeling is there.

"We're all very happy to be where we are," Getman said. "We all think we have a good chance to return to the Final Four."

Usually teams take a year, sometimes two, to adapt to a new coach. When Jape Shattuck left to pursue a career in sports law, Getman brought in a new system, new ideas, a new practice routine. Everything was new. Unfamiliar.

"We had some problems in the beginning of the season," Getman said. "Against Connecticut [in late September], our defense had some problems because they didn't know how the system worked. We finished that game tied, 0-0. Now everyone's comfortable with [the system]."

Comfortable enough to play the same UConn team in the NCAA first round last week and beat it.

Harvard is back where it was last season. Forgetfulness has bred repeat success. Sunday at Ohiri Field, Harvard plays Adelphi in the quarter-finals of the NCAA Tournament.

Harvard is back. The feeling is there. And the feeling is all that matters.