W. Soccer Boots Into NCAAs

Seven minutes.

That was how close the Harvard women's soccer team came to winning the Ivy League title this past season. The Crimson had taken a 3-1 lead on defending Ivy league champion Brown in the second half of the regular-season finale at Ohiri Field on November 5, 1994.

However, Brown cut the lead to 3-2 and then delivered the crushing blow with seven minutes left. Freshman goalie Dana Krein was forced to trip up a Brown forward on a breakaway, and the referee called for a penalty kick. The Bears scored, and the game ended up a 3-3 tie.

It was heart-wrenching to say the least.

However, good fate intervened and gave the Crimson one more game in the 1994 season--an NCAA Tournament game, Harvard's first since 1984.

Although the University of Massachusetts won the contest, 3-0, eliminating Harvard from the tourney, the 1994 campaign was anything but a disappointment for the Crimson (9-4-3 overall, 5-0-2 Ivy).

"A tie and a loss isn't the way you want to go out, but this is the best way to finish four years," senior co-captain Genevieve Chelius said. "Playing for an Ivy championship and getting an opportunity to play in the NCAA championship are two special things."

While a season-opening 2-2 tie at Columbia was the game that eventually prevented Harvard from clinching a portion of the Ivy title, the Crimson turned it up a notch the following weekend and the rest of the season.

The team took a trip down to the Virginia Tournament and defeated Davidson in the opening round, 1-0. Harvard then took perennial national powerhouse Virginia to overtime before falling, 2-0.

But perhaps the one play that set the tone for the season occurred the following weekend at the Harvard Invitational. The Crimson was facing Cornell, a team that had given it trouble the past few seasons. Senior co-captain Beth Morgan drilled a shot into the net from 40 yards out to give Harvard a 1-0 lead en route to a 2-0 win.

The Crimson also pulled out a pair of fantastic finishes, both involving freshman Keren Gudeman. At Princeton, the rookie scored the game-winner with just over one minute left on the clock. One week later she deftly dribbled up Ohiri Field and sent a perfect centering pass to junior Sara Noonan, who deposited the ball past the Dartmouth goalie with exactly 60 ticks left for the game-winner against the then-No. 11 Big Green.

Three's Company

Michigan may have had the Fab Five, but the Harvard women's soccer team had its own top-notch freshman trio.

For starters, there was Emily Stauffer. She won the Ivy League Rookie of the Year award and was the team's leading scorer with six goals, six assists. Much of that total came despite a broken arm that she suffered in a 4-2 victory over Yale.

Gudeman (five, six) and Kristen Bowes (four, two) were second and third on the Harvard scoring list. Gudeman made the All-Ivy second team, and she scored two of the three goals in the Brown game to give Harvard its lead (senior Sara Simmons had the third).

Not that those three were the only solid freshmen. In goal, Krein saw almost all of the action, and she came through with a 9-4-3 record and 1.18 goals against average. Rebe Glass and Jessica Henderson also had solid years at fullback.

Not Outclassed

It wasn't only the freshmen who excelled. Morgan and Chelius were rocks with their defensive play. Both earned second-team All-Ivy status.

Noonan and sophomore defender Meg Kassakian also made the All-Ivy second team. (For those of you scoring at home, five of the 11 spots went to the Crimson.)

And next year should be even better. Although the Crimson will lose Chelius, Morgan, Simmons, Libby Eynon and Caroline Schreiber to graduation, a strong core of players are returning. Those players will have a huge appetite that nothing less than an Ivy League title will satisfy.

"We came here, we kicked ass, we should have been Ivy League champs--that in itself is a big step," Simmons said. "It was a fantastic season, and we were a fantastic team."

"Definitely we have a lot of young talent, and definitely we'll have a good future," Glass said. "We have a lot to look forward to in the long run."