Fire Engines, Disco and Camptown Races

"O-leee, ole, ole, oleee...Har-vaaard, Harvaaard..."

To anyone who has attended a Harvard women's soccer game, the song is as recognizable as the Memorial Church bells that signal the change of classes in the Yard everyday.

The Crimson's most popular and most frequent cheer--adopted from a popular Brazilian soccer chant--can be heard during matches, echoing from the Harvard bench

But there is so much more to hear.

Harvard's reserves and coaches are an extremely vocal group, far more exciting than their counterparts on any team they have faced this season. And in a sport with as few substitutions as soccer, a supportive and inspirational group on the sidelines can be a definite advantage.

By now most people should know just how talented the Harvard women's soccer team is. Sporting an undefeated conference record and a No. 24 national ranking, the three-time defending Ivy League champs are well on their way to a fourth consecutive League title and yet another berth in the NCAA Tournament.

The Crimson has an All-American, Ivy Players of the Year and an under-20 national-team member. Yes, what this team does on the pitch is impressive and exciting, but equally as entertaining is what they do from the fringes.

It all starts with the march to Ohiri Field for the home games. Harvard will break into its "Ol" chant or into a rendition of a popular '70s song as it marches onto its home turf.

Following the opening whistle, the real fun begins. Aside from the usual yelling and screaming you have in all sports, Harvard's distinctive cheers are the ones that are most enjoyable.

One such cheer, developed by co-captain Emily Stauffer and Kristen Bowes '98, begins with a player repeating the sound of a fire engine siren three times. The rest of the bench then chimes in with, "Fire, fire, fire!"

Another catchy tune--but much harder to convey in writing--is one in which the players simply spell out Harvard or Crimson in a specific rhythm as follows: "C, r, i-m-s, o-n, C-r-i-m. s, o, n-C-r, i-m-s-o-n." It's better if you just hear it.

Also from the Stauffer-Bowes collection--and developed during Harvard hockey games--are any chants sung to the tune of Camptown Races. One example, popular when facing Yale, is: "Blue's the color of mold on cheese, do-da, do-da..."

These cheers are typically led by upperclassmen, but the most vocal member of the group is undoubtedly senior goalkeeper Meredith Bagley. Bagley's voice has become an unmistakable staple of Harvard soccer, and when it comes to pumping up her teammates, few do it better.

Bagley is a two-sport athlete at Harvard and probably one of the best all-around athletes on campus. In the spring you can catch her playing third base for the Ivy League-champion Harvard softball team, flashing the glove that earned her First Team All-Ivy honors last year.

Playing a sport like softball, where musical cheers from the dugout are practically expected, Bagley has learned how to be a vocal leader on and off the field. And when she is not in season, you can catch her in the stands at hockey games supporting her fellow Harvard athletes.

In fact, Bagley has adapted the Stauffer-Bowes Camptown Races cheer for a hockeyspecific situation. Whenever Harvard is on a power play, Bagley leads the crowd in yelling: "We have one more player than you, do-da, do-da. We have one more player than you, all the do-da day."

On the soccer team, Bagley is the third goalkeeper. But that does not stop her from enthusiastically backing her squad and doing whatever it takes to pump up her teammates and the crowd.

"It just so happens that I'm third on the depth chart, so I don't get in all that much," Bagley says. "If I can contribute by yelling and screaming and getting people excited then that's what I'll do, and I'll revel in it."

If any voice is more prominent than Bagley's on the Harvard sideline, it is that of Coach Tim Wheaton. The architect of the Crimson's soccer juggernaut, Wheaton has a more complicated task than his players do.

Wheaton's job is threefold: instruct his players, encourage his players and work the referee for calls. He accomplishes each task brilliantly, but only the final one provides the fans with as much entertainment as do Harvard's cheers.

Wheaton's ongoing banter with the referee and the linesmen is carried out with well-calculated expertise. The coach knows he needs to keep the ref aware of how the opposition is illegally stonewalling Harvard, but he also knows how to stay out of trouble--barely.

Unlike Penn Coach Patrick Baker, who earned a yellow card last Saturday for asking the referee if he was blind and dumb, Wheaton has not been issued a card this year. He has, however, made some choice comments to officials.

In Harvard's 1-1 tie with Boston University last week, the referee changed a call after conferring with one of the linesmen. A visibly upset Wheaton shouted at the ref, "He only makes half as much money as you do; you make the call."

Sometimes Wheaton is more direct. During Harvard's 2-1 victory over Yale, he simply said, "Referee, you are awful!"

But Wheaton knows how to talk to the refs, and he also knows the rules of soccer--usually better than the refs do. In the Yale match, the referee took a direct kick away from Harvard after Stauffer faked a touch on the ball. The ball was never played by the Crimson, thus possession should not have changed, but the referee could have issued Stauffer a yellow card.

Wheaton informed the referee of this rule violation immediately, but play continued. After the match, though, the ref admitted to Wheaton that he had erred.

"Tim knows all the rules; I think he memorizes the rule book," Bagley says. "He's more forceful when he knows he can go to the facts."

But when Wheaton is not yelling at the refs and demonstrating his superior knowledge of the rules, even he gets into the cheering. During last year's NCAA Tournament games against UMass and George Mason, both of which were home victories for Harvard, Wheaton turned toward the crowd several times and called for vocal support by waving his arms up and down.

If you have not been to a women's soccer game yet, you're missing out on a good deal of entertainment. Harvard's play is superb; its cheers might be even better.

There is still time, however. Harvard has six home games remaining this season, starting with Cornell on Saturday at 11 a.m.

My only warning is that these tunes are catchy; I often hum them to myself unknowingly--sometimes knowingly--and I know several others who do the same.

So next time you are at a Harvard women's soccer game watching the Crimson beat up on some inferior opponent, take a look and a listen toward the Harvard bench. There you will see Wheaton, Bagley and crew doing their part to spur the Crimson to victory.

And you just might find yourself clapping and singing along...

"O-leee, ole, ole, oleee...Har-vaaard, Har-vaaard..."