No. 15 Fairfield Foils M. Soccer, 2-1

Despite controlling the game for the entire first half and much of the second, the Harvard men's soccer team could not maintain a 1-0 lead in a tough 2-1 loss to regional opponent Fairfield yesterday at Ohiri Field.

The loss virtually ends Harvard's (7-5-1, 1-3 Ivy) chances for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. A victory against No. 15 Fairfield (12-2-2), ranked second in the region and unbeaten in its last ten contests, would have helped the Crimson to catch the eye of the tournament selection committee.

"Out of all our games against top teams this year, this was our best chance to pull an upset," sophomore midfielder Marc Buan said. "We definitely stayed with them throughout the whole game. The way the game went was not indicative of the score."

In the early going, Harvard indeed appeared on the verge of an upset. Despite the absence of last week's Ivy League Rookie of the Week Grayson Sugarman, who sustained an injury this weekend at Princeton, the Crimson played aggressively on offense and held Fairfield to relatively few scoring opportunities during the first 30 minutes of play.

"We were winning all the 50-50 balls," freshman back Andrew Nechtem said. "We also moved the ball really well. We were ready to play right from the outset and I don't think they were."

Then, freshman forward Spencer George received a pass from Buan, beat a Fairfield defender and found the back of the net, giving the Crimson a 1-0 lead in the 32nd minute.

"It was a counterattack play and we had numbers going the other way," George said. "Buan played a brilliant ball and I was able to control it and get around the defender. Fortunately I got their goalie leaning the wrong way and I shot it to the near post."

Harvard remained on the attack for the rest of the half but could not extend its lead. Fairfield came out with a little more fire to start the second half, and while the Crimson defense had been able to hold Fairfield's efforts in check early on, the game began to shift.

"They started putting more pressure on us," junior goaltender Dan Mejias said. "We fell back into defensive mode a little bit."

As the game heated up, it became more physical. Senior captain Ryan Kelly received one of the game's five yellow cards in the 70th minute.

Soon after, in the 71st minute, Fairfield's David Mancini sent what looked like an errant shot into the box. However, teammate Ryan Moisek managed to meet the ball with the back of his head and sent it just out of the reach of Mejias.

"Their guy took a shot that looked like it was going way out wide for a throw-in, but one of them managed to get a head on it," Mejias said.

The unfortunate goal changed the flow of the game for the Crimson.

"It gave them some momentum, and we lost a little confidence," Nechtem said. "It was just such a lucky goal [that] we felt like asking, 'What else could happen to us now?'"

Once Fairfield tied the game, Harvard never quite regained its stride. Only ten minutes after tying the game, Fairfield took the lead when sophomore Adam Braz sent a pass ahead to junior Rob BeFaveri who streaked past the Crimson defense and put a low shot past Mejias.

"It should have been saved, somehow it just squeaked by me," Mejias said.

After playing a highly ranked Fairfield team tough for most of the game, the Crimson saw its lead become a deficit seemingly in no time.

"We stuck to our game plan," Buan said. "We had them on the ropes for 70 minutes, and then they got a lucky break at our end. Then they got another goal ten minutes later and that killed us."

Harvard failed to even the score in the game's final minutes, as it watched both the match, and, in all likelihood, its tournament hopes slip through its fingers.

The Crimson endured a 3-0 loss this weekend at Princeton, giving the team its third loss in the Ivy League effectively putting an end to any hopes of an Ivy League title. The team saw the Fairfield game as an opportunity to knock off a regional power and hopefully catch enough attention to gain a fairly good chance at one of the at-large tournament bids.

"We had a chance to raise some eyebrows today, but we just didn't do it," Buan said.

Instead Harvard finds itself in the difficult position of having to win the remainder of its games and receive help from other teams if it is to even have a small chance at making the tournament.

"We really needed to win this game," Mejias said. "This almost ends our chances for the tournament. We'd have to win the rest of our games and get lucky with other teams losing to even have a shot at it."

Nechtem expressed his regret for the seniors on the team.

"It was a tough loss, but it was especially unfortunate for the older guys because this was one of our last shots at making the tournament."

Harvard will try to end its two game slide this weekend in a game at Ivy foe Dartmouth.

"We have about four games left," Nechtem said. "I think we should take them one at a time and finish as strong as possible. We really want the seniors to leave on a good note."