Men's Soccer Defeats Maine Despite Lackluster Showing

The Harvard men's soccer team (3-5-1 overall, 1-1-1 Ivy) has its first two-game winning streak, but Coach Stephen Locker isn't going to Disney world.

"I thought we were poor," Locker said, referring to his team's 2-1 win over a less-talented Maine squad (4-5-1) yesterday afternoon at Ohiri Field.

The win was made possible only because of one superior play by two substitutes. Junior Derek Swaim intercepted a goal-kick and crossed the ball over to freshman David Bonita, who lofted it into the net over the head of the Maine goalie, who was caught at the top of the penalty box.

"The goal-kick was weak, but Dave did all the work," said Swaim, who was nursing a sore quadricep muscle.

The game featured another perplexing performance by the Jeckyl and Hyde Crimson. Harvard completely dominated the first 15 minutes of the game, but it managed only one official goal. Sophomore Chris Wojcik took freshman T.J. Carella's pass, blew by a Maine defender and shot the ball past the helpless goalie.

Harvard thought it had created a two-goal cushion when freshman Kevin Silva deposited the ball into net after three textbook passes from captain Joe Bradley, freshman Will Kohler and sophomore Taadeh Sheriff.

But an offsides call killed both the goal and Harvard's momentum. The Crimson wasted this and 14 other scoring opportunities in the first half.

Only a couple minutes after the offsides, the Black Bears got their first penetration deep inside Harvard territory and converted their first corner kick of the game to knot the score at one at 18:34 of the half.

"We played the way we are capable of for the first 15 minutes," Locker said. "But [afterwards] we had a lack of intensity as a team."

Harvard amassed 28 shots to Maine's nine, but the Crimson came up empty again and again.

The final play of the game epitomized the team's frustration and, to some extent, lack of luck. Silva had the ball with the Maine goalie out of the net, but his shot towards the empty mesh was stopped by a Maine defender who had just drifted into the play.

"We were definitely the better team out there," Bradley said. "Unfortunately we didn't get the best goal differential."

Carlson Hurt, Albers In

Sophomore goalie Ned Carlson aggravated a back problem near the end of the first half. Carlson leapt high into the air to make a save, but he was upended by a Maine attacker during the play.

Carlson got up and finished the half, but Locker inserted freshman Peter Albers at goal to start the second half. Maine didn't manage much offense in the latter 45 minutes, but the Black Bears tested Albers with a tough shot barely two minutes into the period. The rookie, seeing his first action of the season, made a nice save to keep the Crimson even on the scoreboard.

"I was really excited to play," Albers said. "That save I made helped me gain my focus and build my confidence."