M. Soccer Salvages Win on Senior Day

With nothing at stake but pride, the Harvard men's soccer team defeated Penn 4-3 on Saturday at Ohiri Field to close its 1999 season.

Junior midfielder Wells Mangrum found sophomore midfielder Nick Lenicheck on the far post in the 79th minute for the winning goal--Lenicheck's second of the match--saving the Crimson (6-9-2, 3-4 Ivy) from an upset at the hands of the young Quakers (4-11-2, 0-6-1).

Mangrum received the ball after senior forward Will Hench lost possession on the right side of the penalty box. Standing behind Hench, Mangrum stepped into the loose ball and sent a high cross to the left side of the net.

Lenicheck, who caused trouble for the Quakers all day despite looking tired in the latter part of the second half, saw Mangrum's service in the air and found energy to make a run on the far side. As the ball appeared to be sailing over the end line, Lenicheck jumped and headed the ball back across the goal mouth and into the net.

Saturday was senior day at Ohiri, and the Crimson honored forwards Hench and Armando Petruccelli, midfielder Juan Carlos Montoy and defender Ryan Keeton. Saturday was Hench's 63rd game in the Crimson kit, Petruccelli's 56th, Keeton's 50th and Montoy's 35th.

Fittingly, all four put together great games in their final matches with the Crimson, but for a while it appeared as though they would not leave Harvard soccer with a win. Lenicheck got the chance to convert the game-winner only after the Crimson blew a 2-0 lead by allowing three unanswered goals.

"Coach [John] Kerr said before the game that the team had to go out and get the win for the seniors, because they had given so much to the program," sophomore keeper Mike Meagher said. "It was great they could go out and produce the win and leave on a high note."

The Crimson went up early in the first half, after Hench converted a penalty kick in the 10th minute that rewarded a series of his fine plays.

Hench was first fouled trying to make a run into the offensive third. Junior defender Matt Edwards stepped up to take the indirect kick, and hit a short ball on the ground to Hench, who was making a hard run to the near post. The senior had clearly beaten his man and was pulled down only six yards from the net.

Hench converted the penalty to the lower left corner.

The Crimson appeared to be on the way to a rout when Lenicheck tallied his first goal in the 18th minute.

Montoy received the ball in the center of the box, 15 yards from goal. Montoy beat one man after faking a shot and dumped it off to Lenicheck on his left. The midfielder continued to move to his left, beat one man after faking a left-footed strike, put the ball back on his right foot and rocketed the ball past Quaker goalie Michael O'Connor.

Up 2-0 against a team that had lost six of its last seven games coming into Saturday's match, the Crimson should have been confident after one of their best starts all season. But in a scene familiar to Harvard soccer fans, the team hit the self-destruct button only minutes later.

In the 25th minute, the Quakers leveled the score with two goals in 24 seconds.

The first goal came when sophomore goalie Dan Mejias saved one shot from midfielder Michael McElwan, but could not grab a rebound shot by Quaker midfielder Nathan Kennedy. Mejias started the first game of his Harvard career after the Crimson's usual starting keeper, Meagher, suffered a concussion in a mid-week practice.

Stunned, the Crimson defense never regained its focus, and let up a second goal off of another Quaker cross from deep in Harvard's end. This time the centering pass came from the left side and found senior forward Reginald Veal moving across the goal mouth towards the near post. Veal flicked the ball with his left foot to the right side of the net and beat Mejias, who was moving the other way.

The Quakers, who did not have the talent in the offensive end to put constant pressure on the net, spent the rest of the half trying to find another lucky touch in Harvard's box. The Crimson appeared disoriented and could not mount an organized attack as it had at the beginning of the first period.

The Quakers completed the comeback in the first minutes of the second half, when junior midfielder Henry Chen beat Mejias on a penalty kick at 50:01.

The Crimson created a number of chances over the next few minutes, but could not find the back of the net.

Mangrum, who came in as a substitute after Penn's third goal, used his fresh legs to consistently beat his defender along the right side, but numerous centering passes found no one in the box.

As the game wound down, it looked as though Penn was going to register its first Ivy League win in two seasons, but the Crimson struck twice in the 79th minute to put the Quakers away.

Montoy was once again at the front end of the goal, after he ripped a low shot from the top of the box towards the right corner of the net. O'Connor saw the ball well and went to the ground to smother the shot, but could not hold on.

The ball rolled slowly to Petruccelli, who put the ball neatly into the back netting at 79:03.

Mangrum connected with Lenichek only 42 seconds later, saving the Crimson the embarrassment of losing.

Neither the Crimson nor the Quakers will see post-season play this year. Harvard ended the season fifth in the Ivy League, while Penn placed last for the second straight year.

Princeton (11-4-2-, 5-1-1) won the Ivy League outright when it tied Yale (12-4-1, 4-2-1) 0-0 on Saturday in Princeton. It is the Tigers' first Ivy title since 1993, and they earned a bid to the NCAA tournament with Saturday's tie.

Yale, who defeated defending national champion Indiana and powerhouses St. John's and Georgetown this season, should be the Ivy League's other representative in the tournament.