W. Soccer Splits Opening Matches

Only one week into September, the Harvard women's soccer team has already experienced the opposite extremes of winning and losing.

Depleted by injuries to several key players, the Crimson was blown out 3-0 in its opener to No. 11 Texas A&M (3-1) on Sept. 3rd. Five days later, Harvard (1-1) found itself on the other side of a lopsided decision, coasting to a 7-1 victory over Vermont (1-4).

Harvard 7, Vermont 1

After being shutout in its season opener, the Crimson did not take long--just two minutes and 24 seconds, in fact--to rediscover its scoring touch.

That's all the time it took for sophomore forward Joey Yenne to get Harvard on the board Friday, as she unleashed a shot from the right side off a pass from freshman midfielder Katie Westfall for the Crimson's first goal of the season.

The strike set the tone for the rest of the contest, as Harvard's aggressiveness up front produced constant pressure on the Vermont defense and allowed the Catamounts only a handful of scoring opportunities. Harvard goalkeepers Robyn Scatena and Mollie Durkin were forced to make a total of just two saves, a paltry sum compared to the 33 shots fired on net by the Crimson.

Six of those attempts came off the foot of Yenne, who notched her first career hat trick in the game. Ferguson, for her part, finished with a goal and two assists.

For Harvard Coach Tim Wheaton, the tenacity that generated the Crimson's offensive outburst was a happy change from the tentativeness he saw in the team's opener against the Aggies.

"More than being disappointed with the score against Texas A&M, we weren't really happy at all with how we played in terms of the level of intensity," Harvard coach Wheaton said. "We set it as a goal for us today to come out hard and set our own standard."

By halftime, the Crimson owned a 3-0 lead, as sophomore midfielder Orly Ripmaster and junior forward Caitlin Costello each followed up on Yenne's opening score with goals of their own.

Harvard then went up 4-0 in the opening minute of the second half, as Westfall emerged from a scramble in front of the Vermont net and blasted the ball into the back of the net.

Less than a minute later, Vermont managed a retaliatory goal, as forward Megan Mercier sailed a shot past the outstretched arms of Scatena and into the top left corner of the net.

But Harvard responded just as quickly, as Yenne netted her second and third goals, both unassisted, in the span of less than three minutes.

Freshman back Kathleen Ferguson added a goal in the 76th minute for the Crimson's tally.

In all, eight Crimson players, including three rookies, figured into the scoring.

"We saw some great things from different people," Wheaton said. "It was nice to be able to sub through the whole roster, and not have it show on the field."

Though the fate of the game was never in doubt, the spiritedness of Harvard's play, even in the waning stages of the match, ensured a healthy margin of victory.

"Regardless of the score, we wanted to play ninety minutes of good soccer," Wheaton said. "I think we did that today."

Texas A&M 3, Harvard 0

The Crimson's season opener against Texas A&M was essentially lost well before the teams ever took the field. Too much went wrong for Harvard immediately preceding the game, and the soccer itself wasn't any better.

The game-ready Aggies--who had already played a seven-game European tour, plus No. 7 Hartford and No. 1 North Carolina, before arriving at Ohiri Field--had no trouble exploiting the Crimson's early season rust and inexperience.

Texas A&M struck just eight minutes into the game. The crisp passing of forwards Juli Goin and Heather Ragsdale allowed the Aggies to weave straight through the Harvard defense. After beating the final defender, Ragsdale took an open shot at point-blank range and drilled the ball past the freshman keeper Durkin.

"[Our problem was] defensive stuff, putting pressure on the ball," Wheaton said. "We were a little timid outside."

Ragsdale put the game away in the 33rd minute, driving home a corner kick from midfielder Amber Childers.

"I don't think our defense was so bad, we just got beat to the ball," Wheaton said. "We needed to work on being more physical, and staying tight."

The Aggies added a final insult to the day with a third goal in the 89th minute. Ragsdale again was the catalyst, sending a perfectly placed corner kick to the head of midfielder Kristin Strutz, who was stationed at the far post.

Although Harvard got blown out, the result was hardly indicative of the best the Crimson had to offer. Already a young team, Harvard's inexperience was made even worse by key injuries to a trio of sophomores.

Last year's leading scorer Beth Totman and goalkeeping sensation Cheryl Gunther were both out recovering from damages incurred during the summer club season, and tragically, forward Caitlin Butler suffered a likely season-ending ACL tear just a day before the opener.

With Durkin in net, the Crimson found itself with a freshman starter in goal for a second year in row. Although the result this time was not as favorable, Gunther never had to face an opponent at the level of Texas A&M so early in the season.

The defense looked out of sync early on, nearly giving up the ball on a pass back to Durkin in the early minutes. But sophomore Katie Urbanic and captains Lauren Corkery and Brooke McCarthy had many better moments, as each won tough one-on-one battles with Goin and Ragsdale throughout the day.

Harvard scoring opportunities were few and far between. The sudden reduction in forward depth left the Crimson playing a 4-4-2, with junior Colleen Moore and Yenne up front for most of the day. Moore and Yenne each had some long-shot scoring opportunities on the day, but a virtually mistake-free Aggie defense kept them from getting any closer.

Ripmaster had many of the best Crimson scoring chances. Early in the game she took a shot from the 18 that just went wide of the net. Minutes later she received a long pass deep into the box, leaving her with only one defender to beat. But the Aggie player took her down, and the referee held his whistle, so the chance went for naught.

The most encouraging news was the play of the freshman midfielders, Westfall and Caitlin Fisher. Westfall especially was superb at times, frequently managing to eschew defenders and chip the ball into open territory. At one point she won a loose ball away from a rush of three Aggie players. Still a young player, she drew more criticism from the sidelines than anyone else, which means she is only going to get better.

With the loss to Texas A&M, the Crimson dropped out of the top 20 of all the major collegiate polls. Harvard failed to stay close to one of the nation's best on its first try, but the team won't have to wait long for another chance to prove itself. In the coming weeks Harvard will play top-ten caliber Hartford, Penn State, and UConn. By then, the Crimson should be healthier and wiser.