Late Red Card Costs W. Soccer

STORRS, Conn.—It took an overtime session and a controversial scoring play to do it, but No. 9 Connecticut eventually put down the No. 18 Harvard women’s soccer team last night in a battle of the Northeast’s top two teams.

Five minutes into the overtime, Harvard junior goalkeeper Cheryl Gunther was called for a red-card penalty after coming outside the box to challenge a Husky breakaway. On the ensuing free kick, Crimson backup goalkeeper Robyn Scatena made the initial save, but UConn midfielder Mary-Beth Bowie found the rebound and drilled it home to give the Huskies the 1-0 victory.

“It was a rotten way to end it,” Gunther said. “We were really picking it up [in the overtime].”

Right before Bowie struck off the free kick, UConn forward Zahra Jalalian had broken free of the Harvard defense as she chased down a pass into the box. Seeing Jalalian break in alone, Gunther raced out to cut her off and brought her down in the process.

The play drew the ire of the official, but in the minds of some Harvard players, Jalalian was too far ahead of the play anyway.

“A lot of people thought she was offsides,” Gunther said. “I thought I could slide-tackle her. But I barely started to slide-tackle her and she fell over my legs. Because I was the last defender, they gave me the red card.”

The goal then came off a defensive lapse by Harvard. Scatena valiantly turned away the free-kick shot by UConn back Casey Zimny, but Bowie beat the Crimson backs to the rebound.

“[Robyn] made a great save and we didn’t clear the ball out in front of her,” Harvard Coach Tim Wheaton said. “She did her job. [The goal] didn’t have anything to do with Robyn.”

Last night’s showdown was the first game for both teams since UConn (13-4) supplanted Harvard (8-3, 3-1 Ivy) as the No. 1 team in the Northeast. The Huskies earned the region’s top spot after stunning then-No. 4 Notre Dame last Sunday.

The Crimson had also lost to Princeton, 2-1, last weekend.

Harvard—whose three losses this season have all come in overtime—had staved off a persistent Huskie attack late in regulation last night to force the extra session. UConn outshot Harvard 8-3 in the second half.

The Crimson also had its chances. Harvard opened up each of the periods well. Its best, longest stretch came at the beginning of the game.

In the first half, the Crimson earned five corner kicks and reeled off five shots on net. The hardest shot came in the 15th minute off a set kick by sophomore Katie Westfall. The blast would have found the back of the net if not foor a diving save by UConn goaltender Shanna Caldwell.

Harvard’s up-tempo play thoroughly confused UConn in the earlygoing. Despite their speed and athleticism, the Huskies struggled to string together consecutive passes or make any advances across midfield.

But midway through the first half, the Huskies were able to find Jalalian, midfielder Lauren Naida and others along the sidelines. After that, it was off to the races—by spreading out, the Huskies found a way to finally move the ball upfield.

“[Harvard has] a lot of numbers in the middle,” Bowie said. “Our objective tonight was to get it out wide. In the second half we were getting a lot of scoring chances, and we were getting them wide.”

While the strategy did enable UConn to make a push, the Harvard backline—and especially Gunther’s heads-up goaltending—kept the Huskies from getting on the board.

“The way we play, people feel like they have the sidelines,” Wheaton said. “But they only have it through the midfield and they don’t get at our back that way.”

In the second half, Harvard had two solid scoring chances on back-to-back corner kicks by midfielder Orly Ripmaster in the 51st minute. Weed managed a shot off the first kick, but Caldwell made the save, and even when the rebound squirted loose, Crimson forward Caitlin Costello was too tightly marked to do anything about it.

Ripmaster’s second service found sophomore midfielder Caitlin Fisher, but Fisher’s header attempt sailed high.

“We need to finish those,” Wheaton said. “That’s the difference in a game like this.”

Gunther finished with seven saves. After having her three-game scoreless streak snapped in the 2-1 loss to Princeton, Gunther had vowed to be more aggresive. Last night she was, right up until the game’s final play.

Because of the red card she received, Gunther will have to sit out Harvard’s next game on Saturday against Dartmouth.

“I don’t know what else I could have done,” Gunther said of the play that drew the ejection. “If I let [Jalalian] touch it, she would have slammed it up.”

The Crimson now finds itself at a crossroads, much like it did last season. Then, as is the case now, UConn handed the Crimson its second straight loss coming off an eight-game winning streak. Last year, Harvard was unable to recover after the UConn loss and the Crimson dropped its last five games of the season.

With four games left on the Crimson’s schedule, Gunther says Harvard will make sure history doesn’t repeat itself.

“We’ve played better the last two games [than during the losing streak last year],” Gunther said. “We’ve just had trouble finishing. Today was a tough break.”

After last night’s game, the team gathered on the far sideline for a players-only meeting. The Crimson will have its chance to turn things around against the Big Green Saturday.

“The question for ourselves is how do we react to this,” Wheaton said. “I think we have the character to come back and play. I’m counting on that.”

While the strategy did enable UConn to make a push, the Harvard backline—and especially Gunther’s heads-up goaltending—kept the Huskies from getting on the board.

“The way we play, people feel like they have the sidelines,” Wheaton said. “But they only have it through the midfield and they don’t get at our back that way.”

In the second half, Harvard had two solid scoring chances on back-to-back corner kicks by midfielder Orly Ripmaster in the 51st minute. Weed managed a shot off the first kick, but Caldwell made the save, and even when the rebound squirted loose, Crimson forward Caitlin Costello was too tightly marked to do anything about it.

Ripmaster’s second service found sophomore midfielder Caitlin Fisher, but Fisher’s header attempt sailed high.

“We need to finish those,” Wheaton said. “That’s the difference in a game like this.”

Gunther finished with seven saves. After having her three-game scoreless streak snapped in the 2-1 loss to Princeton, Gunther had vowed to be more aggresive. Last night she was, right up until the game’s final play.

Because of the red card she received, Gunther will have to sit out Harvard’s next game on Saturday against Dartmouth.

“I don’t know what else I could have done,” Gunther said of the play that drew the ejection. “If I let [Jalalian] touch it, she would have slammed it up.”

The Crimson now finds itself at a crossroads, much like it did last season. Then, as is the case now, UConn handed the Crimson its second straight loss coming off an eight-game winning streak. Last year, Harvard was unable to recover after the UConn loss and the Crimson dropped its last five games of the season.

With four games left on the Crimson’s schedule, Gunther says Harvard will make sure history doesn’t repeat itself.

“We’ve played better the last two games [than during the losing streak last year],” Gunther said. “We’ve just had trouble finishing. Today was a tough break.”

After last night’s game, the team gathered on the far sideline for a players-only meeting. The Crimson will have its chance to turn things around against the Big Green Saturday.