Old Eli Outduels M. Soccer in OT

The atmosphere surrounding Saturday's men's soccer contest was nothing short of excitement, but no one was prepared for the drama that would unfold on that warm, sunny afternoon at Ohiri Field.

The game had all the components of a classic: it was the 1000th game in Harvard's illustrious men's soccer history, it featured a youthful and exciting Harvard team and it pitted the Crimson against the hated Yale Bulldogs. YALE  5 HARVARD  4

The score see-sawed back and forth before the Bulldogs finally prevailed with a thrilling yet heartbreaking goal with just over three minutes remaining in the second overtime. It was Yale's first defeat of Harvard since 1993.

"We were unlucky [on Saturday]," said Coach Steve Locker. "But we did shoot ourselves in the foot a couple of times."

Harvard (0-4-1, 0-2-0 Ivy) entered the game fresh off of disappointing losses against Columbia and Providence, and prepared to do whatever it took to put a victory on the board. The visiting Bulldogs (3-2-1, 1-0-0) were hoping to get their Ivy League season underway with a victory against their arch-rivals.

Yale came in riding the ability of junior Jac Gould, who in only five games had already amassed three goals. Harvard, meanwhile, came in with a very balanced attack headed by captain Andrew Lundquist and junior Armando Petruccelli, along with a talented array of freshmen and others.

Early action saw both teams fighting to establish the tempo, alternating between aggressive offensive attacks and cut-throat defense. Harvard countered Yale's scoring attack with James Hutcherson, an athletic freshman starting in his first game for the Crimson. Hutcherson consistently outleaped even the athletic Gould, who seemed frustrated with Harvard's swarming defensive presence.

It was clear that the score would not remain even long, and finally Yale broke through in the 12th minute. A Harvard foul set up a free kick just outside of the keeper's box, and junior Hiro Suzuki's cross found its target in sophomore Kurt Ahlstrand, who beat senior keeper Jordan Dupuis to give Yale a 1-0 lead.

The Crimson was not fazed, however, and responded within a minute with a goal of its own. A steal and subsequentstealthy attack by Lundquist, who managed to eludeseveral Yale defenders, yielded a cross to ArmandoPetrocelli, who beat a defender himself and thenbeat Yale junior keeper David Boehmer to even thescore.

Yale responded 13 minutes later in the 26thminute with an attack that culminated in juniorNeill Guilbert lofting a soft shot over Dupuis,who was charging to try and smother a possible lowshot. The ball rolled, untouched by the Crimsondefense, into the goal to give Yale a 2-1 lead.

The Crimson, in its "never-say-die" spirit thatwas the staple of Saturday's battle, respondedagain just under five minutes later. An inspiredattack by the freshman "Croatian Sensation" MarkoSoldo led to a Harvard corner kick from the rightside. The Crimson capitalized, as sophomore RyanKelly, demonstrating textbook cranialcoordination, beat the Yale keeper with a headerto the upper right corner.

The half ended with the score deadlocked at2-2. Forty-five minutes of grueling back-and-forthaction had done nothing but reaffirm that thiscontest would become a classic.

The second half started a bit slower, but soonbecame even more exciting than the first. Yalescored in the 13th minute, and the Crimson facedanother deficit.

Then, with only 16 minutes remaining, thingsappeared to get worse. Lundquist, who in the firsthalf had been given a yellow card, receivedanother and was forced to retire, leaving theCrimson with only 10 men to Yale's 11, and mostimportantly without a leader on the field.

But the Crimson, who easily could have givenup, responded with what Locker would later call "avery gutsy performance." Harvard stormed back toscore two quick goals, the second coming with onlyeight minutes left, to take a 4-3 lead. The goalswere scored on line drive blasts, first byPetruccelli--his second of the game--and then bysenior Lee Williams.

Despite Harvard's incredible momentum, Yalemanaged to draw a penalty kick with only twominutes remaining. On the ensuing kick, juniorNeill Guilbert beat Dupuis to the top left corner,tying the game and stunning the previouslyexuberant crowd.

Even with Yale's last-second goal, the spiritstill seemed to be with the Crimson who, despitebeing a man down for the last 46 minutes of thegame, consistently outhustled the Bulldogs. Thefirst overtime saw a golden opportunity for theCrimson, as Williams lofted a perfect cross to anopen Hutcherson, who lofted the ball over the Yalekeeper and watched it roll within inches of thegoal line before being knocked away by a Yaledefender.

"I thought it was all over," Hutcherson said."I thought it was in the net--the defender justcame out of nowhere."

There were no other significant chances in thefirst overtime for either team, as both playedvery cautious defense.

In the second and final overtime period, theCrimson had a chance with four minutes remaining.Soldo stormed past two Yale defenders, but wasunable to get off a shot before the Yale keeperdove on the ball. Only 45 seconds later, with 3:17remaining, Gould, previously unheard from, took across and beat Dupuis to the left to win the gamefor the Bulldogs.

The loss is devastating to Harvard, who iswithout a victory in three overtime contests.

"The kids played their hearts out," Lockersaid. "To play down a man for nearly 60 minutesthe way we played, you have to feel good aboutthat."

"We have a young team that is improving withevery game; I felt that we finally broke outoffensively today," he added.

The team will try to get into the victorycolumn tomorrow against Boston University atMiddlesex High School.

"Time is running out, we need to start puttingsome victories on the board," Soldo said.

YALE, 5-4, 2OTat Ohiri FieldYale  2  2  0  1  --  4Harvard  2  2  0  0  --  0

ScoringYale--Ahlstrand (Suzuki)11:47.Har--Petruccelli (Lundquist)12:25.Yale--Guilbert (unassisted) 25:12.Har--Kelly (Lenichek) 29:55.Yale--Bassman (unassisted) 57:20.Har--Petruccelli (Oslowski, Cantagallo) 78:16.Har--Williams (unassisted) 81:55.Yale--Guilbert (PK) 87:53.Yale--Gould (unassisted), 116:43.Saves: Yale--Boehmer 3; Har--Dupuis 7.

CrimsonSeth H. PerlmanALL'S WELL THAT STARTS WELLS:Sophomore back WELLS MANGRUM (3) handles theball during Saturday's loss.

Yale responded 13 minutes later in the 26thminute with an attack that culminated in juniorNeill Guilbert lofting a soft shot over Dupuis,who was charging to try and smother a possible lowshot. The ball rolled, untouched by the Crimsondefense, into the goal to give Yale a 2-1 lead.

The Crimson, in its "never-say-die" spirit thatwas the staple of Saturday's battle, respondedagain just under five minutes later. An inspiredattack by the freshman "Croatian Sensation" MarkoSoldo led to a Harvard corner kick from the rightside. The Crimson capitalized, as sophomore RyanKelly, demonstrating textbook cranialcoordination, beat the Yale keeper with a headerto the upper right corner.

The half ended with the score deadlocked at2-2. Forty-five minutes of grueling back-and-forthaction had done nothing but reaffirm that thiscontest would become a classic.

The second half started a bit slower, but soonbecame even more exciting than the first. Yalescored in the 13th minute, and the Crimson facedanother deficit.

Then, with only 16 minutes remaining, thingsappeared to get worse. Lundquist, who in the firsthalf had been given a yellow card, receivedanother and was forced to retire, leaving theCrimson with only 10 men to Yale's 11, and mostimportantly without a leader on the field.

But the Crimson, who easily could have givenup, responded with what Locker would later call "avery gutsy performance." Harvard stormed back toscore two quick goals, the second coming with onlyeight minutes left, to take a 4-3 lead. The goalswere scored on line drive blasts, first byPetruccelli--his second of the game--and then bysenior Lee Williams.

Despite Harvard's incredible momentum, Yalemanaged to draw a penalty kick with only twominutes remaining. On the ensuing kick, juniorNeill Guilbert beat Dupuis to the top left corner,tying the game and stunning the previouslyexuberant crowd.

Even with Yale's last-second goal, the spiritstill seemed to be with the Crimson who, despitebeing a man down for the last 46 minutes of thegame, consistently outhustled the Bulldogs. Thefirst overtime saw a golden opportunity for theCrimson, as Williams lofted a perfect cross to anopen Hutcherson, who lofted the ball over the Yalekeeper and watched it roll within inches of thegoal line before being knocked away by a Yaledefender.

"I thought it was all over," Hutcherson said."I thought it was in the net--the defender justcame out of nowhere."

There were no other significant chances in thefirst overtime for either team, as both playedvery cautious defense.

In the second and final overtime period, theCrimson had a chance with four minutes remaining.Soldo stormed past two Yale defenders, but wasunable to get off a shot before the Yale keeperdove on the ball. Only 45 seconds later, with 3:17remaining, Gould, previously unheard from, took across and beat Dupuis to the left to win the gamefor the Bulldogs.

The loss is devastating to Harvard, who iswithout a victory in three overtime contests.

"The kids played their hearts out," Lockersaid. "To play down a man for nearly 60 minutesthe way we played, you have to feel good aboutthat."

"We have a young team that is improving withevery game; I felt that we finally broke outoffensively today," he added.

The team will try to get into the victorycolumn tomorrow against Boston University atMiddlesex High School.

"Time is running out, we need to start puttingsome victories on the board," Soldo said.

YALE, 5-4, 2OTat Ohiri FieldYale  2  2  0  1  --  4Harvard  2  2  0  0  --  0

ScoringYale--Ahlstrand (Suzuki)11:47.Har--Petruccelli (Lundquist)12:25.Yale--Guilbert (unassisted) 25:12.Har--Kelly (Lenichek) 29:55.Yale--Bassman (unassisted) 57:20.Har--Petruccelli (Oslowski, Cantagallo) 78:16.Har--Williams (unassisted) 81:55.Yale--Guilbert (PK) 87:53.Yale--Gould (unassisted), 116:43.Saves: Yale--Boehmer 3; Har--Dupuis 7.

CrimsonSeth H. PerlmanALL'S WELL THAT STARTS WELLS:Sophomore back WELLS MANGRUM (3) handles theball during Saturday's loss.

ScoringYale--Ahlstrand (Suzuki)11:47.Har--Petruccelli (Lundquist)12:25.Yale--Guilbert (unassisted) 25:12.Har--Kelly (Lenichek) 29:55.Yale--Bassman (unassisted) 57:20.Har--Petruccelli (Oslowski, Cantagallo) 78:16.Har--Williams (unassisted) 81:55.Yale--Guilbert (PK) 87:53.Yale--Gould (unassisted), 116:43.Saves: Yale--Boehmer 3; Har--Dupuis 7.

CrimsonSeth H. PerlmanALL'S WELL THAT STARTS WELLS:Sophomore back WELLS MANGRUM (3) handles theball during Saturday's loss.

CrimsonSeth H. PerlmanALL'S WELL THAT STARTS WELLS:Sophomore back WELLS MANGRUM (3) handles theball during Saturday's loss.