The Ivy Race Goes on and on

The fat lady ain't singing yet.

The Ivy League men's soccer race is far from over. Harvard (5-6 overall, 2-2 Ivy) helped its own cause by defeating Cornell (2-4-3, 0-2-1), 1-0, last Saturday night in Ithaca, N.Y.

But it was Princeton (7-1, 3-1) who salvaged the race by knocking off nationally-ranked Columbia (6-3, 3-1) in dramatic fashion last weekend. Down, 3-1, at the half, the Tigers scored three second-half goals for a 4-3 victory.

After losing to Yale, 1-0, last Thursday, Harvard's prospects for the title looked bleak. However, the race seems to be tightening up. The Crimson still must face Princeton, Dartmouth and Brown. Coach Mike Getman and his squad will need to capture all three games to have any chance. Even three wins would probably require help from around the league.

"We have to hope everyone else loses two games," Getman said after the Yale. "Before the Boston University game [which Harvard won, 2-0], we decided that we were starting a ground zero. We're 1-1 now. Hopefully, we can go 6-1 to end the season."

Stranger things have happened.

Women's Update: After blanking the Big Red, 1-0, last Saturday in Ithaca, the Harvard women's soccer team will host nationally-ranked UMass (9-2-2) today at Ohiri Field for a 3 p.m. showdown.

The Crimson (3-5-1 overall, 2-1 Ivy) still has a chance to capture the Ivy title only if Brown loses a league game. Harvard hosts Dartmouth Friday in its next Ivy contest.

Robin Johnston (5 goals, 1 assist, 11 points) still leads the Crimson in scoring. The Harvard offense, however, hasn't been lighting up the board since its 6-0 win over Columbia on September 16. After the season-opener against the Lions, the Crimson has scored only five times in eight games.

Goalie Beth Reilly has been enjoying a fine season for the Crimson, especially in Ivy play. In three league games, Reilly has posted a .920 save percentage and 0.72 goals-against average, and has chalked up two shutouts.

Big D: They say defense wins championships. This certainly has been the case in the Ivy League this season. The Harvard men's team has played four Ivy games this season. All of them ended in 1-0 outcomes.

Yale won two games last week by 1-0 counts, blanking Harvard and the Big Green. It was the fifth and sixth time in nine games that the Elis have captured 1-0 games.

Harvard's defense has been solid since its 7-2 loss at Indiana three weeks ago. The Crimson's two netminders, sophomores Scott Salisbury and Jamie Reilly, rank first and second, respectively, in Ivy play.

Lending support to their keepers are senior Nick Gates, junior John Shue and sophomores Josh Morris and Brian Enge. This quartet--with help from the halfbacks and forwards--limited Cornell to few decent offensive opportunities. The Big Red took only six shots in the game.

Player of the Week: At least one Ivy player has been doing his best to dispel the notion that defense dominates the Ancient Eight. Princeton's Andrew Dechet earned Ivy Player of the Week honors for the second straight week.

Last week, the junior tallied two goals and an assist to lead the Tigers over Columbia. Dechet scored the game-winner on a penalty kick with less than three minutes to play in Princeton's 4-3 victory.

Dechet, an All-Ivy selection last year, led the league in scoring last season. He threatens to repeat that feat this year, as he currently tops the league in scoring (4 goals, 3 assists, 11 points). The next closest scorer is Yale's David Goldblatt (2-3--7).

Scoring Chart: Senior forwards Nick D'Onofrio and Derek Mills continue to lead the Crimson in scoring. Both nailed a goal against B.U. to raise their point totals to nine. Sophomore Jeremy Amen, however, has been the only Harvard player to score in an Ivy game this season.

Amen scored the game-winner late in the second half to lift the Crimson over Penn. Saturday, his penalty kick against Cornell late in the first half was the game's lone tally.

Big Green Visit: Dartmouth travels to Cambridge on Saturday for an 11 a.m. game with the Crimson. Whoever losses this weekend would probably be eliminated from the Ivy race.

Harvard is finally taking a break from action before the game against the Green. Beginning with Hartwick two weeks ago, the Crimson played four games in eight days.