W. Soccer Drops Holy Cross, 4-0

If the Harvard women's soccer team keeps this up, it'll own Disneyland.

The Crimson (4-0, 0-0 Ivy) defeated the Crusaders of Holy Cross yesterday at Ohiri Field, 4-0, and the game was as much of a bludgeoning as Harvard's other three wins this season. The team has outscored its opponents 19-0 so far this season, totals that make it hard to lose anything.

And there certainly wasn't much chance that Harvard was going to lose this one. The fact that Holy Cross came in with a 1-4-1 record didn't earn it much respect before the game, and when a team only has three shots--none on goal--it's rather difficult to pull off the upset.

If it wanted to, the Crimson could have easily mailed in the win. Unluckily for Holy Cross goalkeeper Meagan Bacharach, that didn't happen.

Harvard blasted 30 shots on the day, forcing Bacharach to make 22 saves. There were volleys and blasts, hard and soft, high and low.

Put it this way--half the times a Crusader kicked a ball, it would be for a clear.

At first, however, these shots weren't going in. Over the first 30 minutes of the game, the Crimson took plenty of shots, but most would fly over the crossbar or be within Bacharach's range.

The drought did not last, however.

Junior Dana Tenser found sophomore Emily Stauffer open on the right side mid-way through the first half, and Stauffer promptly lofted a crossing pass right over the goalbox. Freshman Naomi Miller's head was in the right place--literally--as she used her cranium to direct the ball into the net.

A little over eight minutes later, Miller was at it again. Co-captain Sara Noonan broke free of the defense and went for the score, but Bacharach blocked her shot. However, the rebound went in Miller's direction, and the freshman--who turned 18 yesterday--easily scored her second goal over the prone netminder.

After the game, Miller said that the Crimson's shot selection became better as the game went on.

"At the beginning we were shooting a lot," Miller said, "but we were shooting [for the sake of shooting]."

Miller's two goals, obviously, were both well selected shots.

"Naomi Miller had a great day," Harvard coach Tim Wheaton said. "Four goals in four games as a freshman is pretty amazing."

Meanwhile, the Harvard defense was doing a commendable job of stopping any threat of a Crusader attack. Sophomore Jessica Henderson headed numerous balls going downfield, and junior Meg Kassakain, freshman Jaime Chu and Noonan teamed up to keep the ball in the Holy Cross end for the whole game.

In the second half, the only difference was that Harvard scored quicker. It was only 5:15 into the second stanza when Stauffer, sophomore Keren Gudeman and sophomore Lindsay Minkys found themselves in a 3-2 break. The Crusader defense left Stauffer open, and she promptly scored.

About 20 minutes later, Wheaton decided enough was enough and lined up seven substitutions at the scorer's table to go in. The problem was the players had to wait for a corner kick or a goal kick to undertake such a massive migration.

Or a goal itself.

Co-captain Susie DeLellis put the nail in the coffin at the 74:15 point, off a feed from Stauffer, and the rest of the game was given to hone the bench.

The subs, though not as dominating as the starters, maintained control of the game, a fact that Wheaton found heartening.

"We made wholesale substitutions and didn't fall oft," he said. "It's hard when you're sitting on the bench [for the whole game]."

In the end, it was a familiar scenario for Harvard--it destroyed an inferior team. From a cynical perspective, the Crimson's schedule so far has been the equivalent of taking four Gen Eds, and there's a pre-med track on the horizon.

On Friday Harvard takes on Columbia, an up-and-coming squad that tied Harvard last year and prevented the Crimson from winning the Ivy League title. Two games after that, Harvard battles with Monmouth, currently the second-highest scoring team in Division I (Harvard is fourth).

"The real tests are ahead of us," Wheaton admits.

Who knows? Maybe Harvard will treat all of these teams like Holy Cross. It's a small world, after all. HARVARD, 4-0 at Ohiri Field Holy Cross  0  0  --  0 Harvard  2  2  --  4

Scoring

Har--Miller 3 (Stauffer, Tenser) 31:12.

Har--Miller 4 39:24.

Har--Stauffer 3 (Gudeman, Minkus) 50:15.

Har--DeLellis 1 (Stauffer) 74:15.

Saves: HC--Bacharach 22; Har--Burney 0. Holy Cross  0 Harvard  4

Scoring

Har--Miller 3 (Stauffer, Tenser) 31:12.

Har--Miller 4 39:24.

Har--Stauffer 3 (Gudeman, Minkus) 50:15.

Har--DeLellis 1 (Stauffer) 74:15.

Saves: HC--Bacharach 22; Har--Burney 0. Holy Cross  0 Harvard  4