M. Soccer Suffers Heartbreaking Loss

On Monday, the Harvard men's soccer team's opponent was just a bit too Husky.

The Crimson (1-0 Ivy, 1-1 overall) lost its first game of the season two days ago on Ohiri Field to the University of Connecticut by the score of 5-3.

Harvard, after falling down 2-0 early in the first half, scored three unanswered goals to give itself a 3-2 lead with 20 minutes left to play.

But the nationally-ranked Huskies would not go away that easily. With only five minutes left in regulation and the Crimson playing defensively, a Husky forward beat his man and punched a shot past sophomore Crimson goaltender Peter Albers to send the game into overtime.

"Their third goal was a result that we packed [the defense] in," sophomore forward Will Kohler (one goal) said. "It works sometimes, and sometimes it doesn't. It was a combination of the heat, and we wanted to get over with the game."

UConn did not waste much time to regain the lead.

Taking the initiative in the first period of overtime, a UConn pass just slipped by the Harvard defenders, allowing a quick goal to make the game 4-3.

But this is not the NFL, and there is no sudden death. Harvard still had about 20 minutes to catch up yet again, so coach Stephen Locker let the offense loose.

Living by the sword, however, also means dying by the sword. A smart Husky counterattack worked to perfection, and the lead was again two goals with only 15 minutes left.

That just seemed to make Harvard angrier. UConn played defensively, just as the Crimson had done before.

But all the attack produced was a goose egg.

"In the second half of overtime they were kind of sitting back," sophomore midfielder T.J. Carella (one goal, one assist) said. "We had countless opportunities but we got unlucky.

"We played hard, we created a lot--unfortunately we missed a few shots we should have made."

All in all, Harvard played a decent, but disappointing, game.

"It was the kind of game where everyone tried their hardest," sophomore goaltender Peter Albers said. "But [their] hardest wasn't enough to win the game."

The Crimson looked its best at the end of the first half. Down by two goals with 10 minutes left before intermission, the offense quickly sorted things out.

Carella made a nice run down the right wing and kicked a crossing pass towards Kohler, who was waiting in the box.

Kohler set his crosshairs on the bottom of the far post, and shot the ball right there, 2-1, UConn.

Five minutes later, sophomore Kevin Silva drew a foul in the box, and the referee gave Harvard a penalty shot. Carella got the shot, but the Husky goalie didn't get the ball. And the game was tied at two.

Then, in the second half, the Crimson completed the comeback as sophomore Carlos Ortiz dished a pass to freshman Ricky Lee, who banged a goal in off the crossbar.

However, it was all for naught. The loss wasn't the fault of the offense, or the defense, or Albers. It was a mix of the three, with some bad luck thrown in.

"We played a good game overall," captain Pepper Brill said, "but it should have never gone into overtime."

"I'd love to play them again," Albers said. "We've lost to them two years in a row--yeah, I'd love to play them again, right now, at nine o'clock [Thursday night]. As a goalie, when you give up five goals, you want to play them again."