W. Soccer Regains Lead in Ivy Race

PRINCETON, N.J.--The Harvard women's soccer team, after a month-long hiatus, is finally back on top of the Ivy League standings.

An outstanding performance in net by sophomore Cheryl Gunther and scores by sophomore forward Joey Yenne in the 34th minute and freshman midfielder Katie Westfall in the 79th minute led Harvard (10-3, 4-1 Ivy) to a 2-0 win that knocked Princeton (10-4, 4-1) from the ranks of the Ivy unbeaten.

Yesterday, Gunther nearly posted another shutout, but No. 6 Penn State (16-2-1) stuck on a direct kick in the 76th minute to defeat the Crimson, 1-0.

The Harvard victory over Princeton creates a logjam atop the Ivy standings. The Crimson and Tigers are now tied for first, while both Brown (11-2, 3-1) and Dartmouth (10-3, 3-1) are even with the two leaders in the loss column.

Harvard will be back in action at Ohiri Field on Wednesday afternoon against traditional powerhouse Connecticut, before heading over to Dartmouth for a crucial Ivy matchup on Sunday.

Penn State 1, Harvard 0

After watching the Crimson come oh-so-close to scoring on three occasions in the first fifteen minutes, the Nittany Lions settled down and took control.

During the middle 30 minutes of the game, Penn State barely ever let Harvard get the ball out of its own end, yet the Crimson defense never let the Lions get a good look at the goal. Gunther's aggressive play in net shut down any shut down any Penn State attempts at free balls in the box.

But then just when it looked like the Penn State attack had slowed down, the Lions took the lead with under 15 minutes remaining.

Penn State midfielder Colleen Kaufold was taken down just outside the 18, setting up a dangerous direct kick. Junior striker Bonnie Young's shot curved perfectly around Harvard wall and broke just inside the post for the game's only goal.

The Crimson, who had been unable to mount any sustained attack since the opening minutes, never seriously threatened the Lions' lead. Harvard did manage to earn a corner in the game's final seconds, but the kick was shanked.

"Two shots off the post and a ball played off the bar, you have to finish those plays," Harvard Coach Tim Wheaton said. "I thought we played well enough to win. Penn State is a great team."

The Lions were helpless to defend against the Harvard attack in the opening minutes, and it was only the frame of the goal the saved them.

On Harvard's first corner kick of the day, the Crimson sent a header off the crossbar.

Then after the third Crimson corner kick a few minutes later, the Lions failed to clear, and a Harvard shot deflected off the post, after a tip by Penn State All-American keeper Emily Oleksiuk.

Fifteen minutes into the game, sophomore midfielder Amy Cooper just missed on a bid for her first collegiate goal. Once again, the nemesis was the right post.

The loss certainly was a missed opportunity for Harvard, as Penn State was vulnerable with Olympic alternate Christie Welch out with a foot injury and No. 2 scorer Heidi Drummond unable to play after a violent collision with Gunther in the game's opening minute.

That collision was part of a ugly start to the game, in which sophomore midfielder Orly Ripmaster also went down in a collision. She would return three minutes later, however.

While Harvard's chance to win national prominence went by the wayside this weekend, the Crimson will get another to chance to prove itself against a Top-10 team when it takes on No. 9 Hartford in a make-up game on Halloween.

Harvard 2, Princeton 0

Friday night's showdown at Princeton was the epitome of high stakes Ivy League soccer. The high level of intensity was obvious as the two teams battled with their respective championship hopes on the line.

"This is the best kind of rivalry," Wheaton said. "[The Tigers] are such a good team and they get better and better every year. There's lot's of respect on both sides, and hard, fair play--just good soccer. That was a great soccer game to watch."

The lights, the hostile crowd and the soggy field conditions created a atmosphere full of tenacity, which only ripened in the first thirty minutes as each team had its share of hard strikes, blocked shots and violent fouls.

Amidst the early chaos, Harvard began to take charge of the game. The Crimson's defensive pressure forced the Tigers into making bad passes, and Harvard maintained control of the ball at length whenever it took possession.

The slight advantage on the field finally showed up on the scoreboard when Yenne struck in the 34th minute. The scoring play developed from the left midfield as sophomore Caitlin Fisher passed the ball straight ahead to Westfall, who cut ahead of the Tiger defenders.

Yenne, who had been trailing behind Westfall, cut across to the center of the field unmarked. Westfall, streaking downfield, crossed the ball just outside the 18 to Yenne, who one-timed the ball into the right corner of the net for her Ivy-best ninth goal of the year.

"I saw Katie Westfall get a step on the defenders, and I knew she was going to get around them, so I cut to the center and let her know I was coming with her," Yenne said. "I think we were on the exact same page cause she saw me, and slipped one through. I just one-timed it, and it was awesome."

It took tremendous skill for Yenne to direct the ball with such accuracy.

"She first-timed a great goal," Wheaton said. "That's a tough shot to hit and she did a great job with it."

While Harvard had the edge in the first half, Princeton came out on fire and turned the game around in the second half. The Tigers could not tolerate losing to the Crimson for the eighth year in a row.

"They're a good team and they really took it to us at the beginning of the second half," Wheaton said.

The Tigers sudden team-wide increase in adrenaline and aggression allowed them to beat Harvard on the majority loose balls and cut downfield a step faster. For the first time this season, Gunther faced an offense capable of sustaining heavy pressure on the Harvard net.

She came through with the biggest clutch effort of the season. Not only did she break up every serve into the box and stop every routine strike, she reached the shots that appeared to be unreachable.

"You need that sometimes in a game like this, for someone to come up big," said Wheaton in reference to Gunther's performance.

The first major Princeton scoring chance came off the foot of Alex Fiore. From just a few yards to the left out of the goal, she tried to shoot right past Gunther, but the goalie dove right and stopped the ball dead.

Gunther would not get any rest. She had five more touches on the ball in the following minutes. The most harrowing was when she came out of the net and took a crossed ball right out from under the feet of Theresa Sherry, the Tiger's leading scorer. On the subsequent play she secured a loose bouncing ball in the box.

Then came the biggest save of the season.

Sherry, from inside the 18 on the left, drilled a ball marked for the upper right corner of the net. Gunther, 5'10, leapt high and to the right and tipped the ball over the crossbar.

"Our keeper today made one of the best saves I've seen all year," Wheaton said.

In the 79th minute, Westfall and co-captain Brooke McCarthy teamed up to finally give the Crimson some breathing room. On a free kick from midfield, McCarthy lofted the ball deep downfield, and it lay loose three yards out and to the right the net.

"[Brooke] did a great job clearing the ball--a fantastic job," Wheaton said.

As Westfall approached the ball to her right, Princeton keeper Jordan Rettig was in perfect position, leaving only the far left post open. She forced Westfall to make the most difficult shot possible.

But Westfall was capable of making that shot. On the approach from the left, she swung her foot around to the right side of the ball and struck it in the opposite direction of her trajectory.

Having put full force behind the ball, she fell over backwards. But as she hit the dirt, the ball hit the net just inside the left post. When Westfall stood up, her feet left the ground again, but this time she was leaping up and down in celebration.

Westfall gave the Crimson the insurance goal it had searched for all half. The shot silenced the previously rowdy crowd, and Harvard's two-goal lead was never threatened.

"It was a very good game," Gunther said. "I sort of found it amusing, all the hecklers in the back. The defense played awesome today, under a lot of pressure. This is such a big win. Now we're first in the Ivies. We were really pumped for this game. And luckily I came up big."

Besides the crowd, a dog running on to the field early in the first half contributed to a circus-like atmosphere. The referees allowed play to continue for a full minute before carting the dog off the field.

[The dog exhibited a fearless, magnet-ball style of play. It came close to stealing the ball from Fisher as she dribbled the ball up the left sideline, but she took a shot from 30 yards out to avoid the canine.]

Whether it was the crowd, the pets or Princeton's high level of play, the Crimson overcame every adverse situation it had to deal with on Friday, triumphing in its first night game since the loss to Brown in late September.

"We were young [back then],' Wheaton said. "We knew we were going to be young this year. We graduated a ton and we've had injuries. But each day we try to pick it up a level. We really came together as a team today and I'm proud of them."