Totman, Westfall Lead W. Soccer

NEW HAVEN, Conn.—After 110 minutes of scoreless deadlock at Yale’s Soccer-Lacrosse Stadium on Saturday afternoon, it came to the surprise of no one on the Crimson bench that it took the innate playmaking ability of sophomore midfielder Katie Westfall and the finishing touch of junior forward Beth Totman to finally send the Harvard women’s soccer team home with a 1-0 double overtime victory.

With just under 10 minutes separating Harvard from an unwanted scoreless tie against Yale, junior forward Joey Yenne drew a foul inside the penalty arc. As Yale goalkeeper Lindsay Sabel was organizing a several-player wall inside the box, Westfall rushed the restart and softly lobbed the free kick over the Eli defenders. Totman won the ensuing race to the ball and pushed it past Sabel for the game-winner.

“All the credit to Yale,” said a relieved Harvard Coach Tim Wheaton after the game. “They created some good chances. They defended like crazy. And it took an incredible word-class goal to beat them. The mind and the guts behind a goal like that are amazing.”

Westfall’s instinctive decision came with no hesitation.

“I saw Totty just kind of lingering there,” Westfall said. “Actually, I wasn’t thinking so I just flipped it. If I had thought about it I probably wouldn’t have done it.”

Totman had to react quickly to the extraordinary ball, but Westfall had no doubt that Totman was capable of making the most of the situation.

“It was great, Beth Totman, huge bravery,” Wheaton said. “Great goal from Beth Totman to sneak it behind.”

Despite dominating the flow of the game after halftime and outshooting Yale 19-9, the Crimson could not convert any of its scoring chances up until the climactic free kick. Those missed opportunities inspired Westfall to try something unique.

“In practice we take our free kicks as fast as possible before the defense is ready,” Westfall said. “The keeper was setting up the wall, and the way things were going with our shots on goal, I figured I might as well give it a shot.”

It was the second consecutive weekend that Westfall had baffled an opposing Ivy defense on a set piece. Against Brown last Saturday, she evaded a three-player wall by setting up Yenne for a Harvard score from the opposite side of the box.

“We put [Westfall] on the ball on free kicks because she’s creative, and she sees things,” Wheaton said. “She saw the opportunity and put it there.”

As in any game decided by a free kick, the officiating was a subject of some controversy. Strong words had been imparted towards the officials on both sides of the field throughout the day. The critical foul was drawn as junior midfielder Orly Ripmaster placed the ball to an empty space in front of Yenne inside the arc where Yenne was entangled by an Eli defender. Yale players weren’t far removed from agonizing over the call as Westfall made her kick.

The Crimson had several scoring opportunities leading up to the game-winner. Minutes before, Westfall had threaded a pass through the Yale defense to co-captain Caitlin Costello. But Sabel made the save as Costello drilled the ball straight at her.

Outside of a few breaks in the opening 15 minutes from last year’s Ivy scoring leader Chandra King, Harvard reduced the Yale attack to the point where the home crowd began considering a possession in Harvard territory that lasted longer than a few seconds a moral victory.

“We didn’t play well in the first half,” Wheaton said. “I was really proud of our team this time because we came out and didn’t play well and we solved it. I thought we played great in the second half and in the overtime.”

The same formation that limited the Eli offense naturally allowed Yale to keep the backfield crowded. Despite consistently maintaining possession of the ball for most of the second half, Harvard still struggled to mount a consistent attack.

“I think they realized we didn’t play with an outside midfielder to start off with,” Westfall said. “They put in a 4-4-2 and spread it out really wide. So it was hard for us in the middle to come in and receive it. Tactically they were set for us, so I gave them a lot of credit.”

The victory allowed the Crimson to keep pace with undefeated Princeton atop the Ivy Standings. A tie would have been a significant black mark on Harvard’s Ivy title hopes. Now Harvard will hope for the Elis to disrupt the other league frontrunners.

“[A tie] would have been disappointing since it wasn’t the outcome that we wanted,” Westfall said. “They’re going to be tough to beat. I give them a lot of credit.”

Harvard’s next challenge is the season’s first nationally-ranked opponent, No. 25 Massachusetts (4-1). The ranking disparity exists despite the teams’ similar records and the Crimson’s superior recent NCAA performances. Harvard will get the chance to prove itself Tuesday at 3 p.m. on Ohiri Field.