The Descent Continues: Penn Shocks M. Booters

Going into this weekend, the Harvard men's soccer team led the Ivy League with an undefeated record in league games.

Unfortunately, that lead evaporated very, very quickly.

Losses to Princeton on Friday night and to Pennsylvania yesterday afternoon knocked Harvard way down in the league standings and have darkened the team's prospects for the rest of the season.

Harvard's unexpected 3-2 loss to Penn yesterday in Philadelphia was especially tough to swallow. Despite controlling the ball for long stretches in the second half, the Crimson never gained the lead against the traditionally-weak Quakers.

Harvard's loss comes in the midst of a prolonged team slump. After starting the season 4-0-1 and rising as high as second in the East, the squad has now fallen to 5-5-1 overall. It now possesses a mediocre 2-2-1 record in Ancient Eight play, making a league title and subsequent NCAA berth unlikely.

Against Penn, a disastrous start put Harvard in a deep hole from which it could never emerge.

At 7:31 of the first half, Penn's Patrick Larco opened the scoring with a strong shot from the right side.

A short while later, a bizarre incident involving Harvard senior goalie Scott Salisbury led to a second Penn goal. With the Quakers threatening to score, Crimson Salisbury lept out of the box to stop a Quaker forward.

In a move that deprived Harvard football fans would probably appreciate, Salisbury essentially tackled the Penn attacker, stopping the goal but incurring a penalty in the process.

Penn's Joe Ponte capitalized on the penalty kick for the 2-0 lead, and an irritated Harvard Coach Steve Locker pulled Salisbury from the game.

Harvard rallied in the last 15 minutes of the first half, however. At 31:41, Captain Jason Luzak scored on an assist from fellow senior Juan Betancourt. Streaking down the left side, Luzak slipped between two Penn defenders for the goal.

With only three minutes left in the half, Harvard senior J.D. Kosakowski tied the game with an unusual touch shot over the Penn goalie's head.

Any hopes that the Crimson harbored coming out of halftime, however, were doused almost immediately.

Two minutes into the second half, Penn forward Chris Eidem took a corner kick from a teammate and headed the ball past the outstretched arms of Harvard's freshman netminder, Ned Carrlson.

Eidem's goal capped the scoring for the afternoon. Despite repeated attacks by Harvard, including one potentially dangerous scramble by Luzak at the 20 minute mark, the score stood at 3-2 until the final whistle.

With the loss, Harvard faces a serious uphill battle to win the Ivy League. Because it now possesses two losses, the Crimson has to hope that the league leaders will stumble in the season's closing weeks.

Dartmouth, with a 4-1-0 league record, and Princeton, at 3-1-1, hold the inside track in the race for the crown.

Although Penn Assistant Coach Brian Kammersgaard said yesterday that "It's still a wide open race," Harvard soccer fans are left pondering a weekend of couldas, shouldas, wouldas.

PENNSYLVANIA, 3-2 at Franklin Field Harvard  2  0  --  2 Pennsylvania  2  1  --  3

G: Harvard--J. Luzak, J.D. Kosakowski; Penn--P. Larco; J. Ponte; C. Eidem, A: Harvard--J. Betancourt; T. Sly; Penn--Halak; Gomez; Exelbert S: Harvard--S. Salisbury O, N. Carrlson 3; Penn--A. Kralik 5.