W. Soccer Will Face Dartmouth With Scatena

Following a 1-0 overtime loss to No. 9 UConn on Wednesday, the Harvard women’s soccer team attempts to get its season back on track against Ivy foe Dartmouth this Saturday at Ohiri Field.

Harvard (8-3, 3-1 Ivy) has lost two straight for the first time this season following an eight-game winning streak, falling from No. 10 to No. 18 in the nation in the past week. After last year’s loss to UConn, the Crimson lost its last five games of the season. There are four games—and three Ivy games—left in the schedule this year, and each proves crucial as Harvard hopes to regain a share of the Ivy lead and earn a national top-16 seed, good for home-field advantage in the first two rounds of NCAAs.

Harvard will be playing the game without its starting goalkeeper, junior Cheryl Gunther. Gunther was issued a red card in Wednesday’s loss to UConn for cutting off a Husky breakaway by slide-tackling forward Zahra Jalalian just outside the box. The controversial call—some Harvard players felt that Jalalian was offsides—removed Gunther from the game and suspended her from tomorrow’s contest.

Senior Robyn Scatena will start in goal for the Crimson tomorrow. She made the initial save on the free kick after the red card, but UConn midfielder Mary-Beth Bowie beat the Crimson defense to the rebound, putting UConn over the top 5:39 into overtime.

“We have all the confidence in the world in Robyn,” said co-captain Caitlin Costello. “She came in and took control of the box and made a fabulous save right away.”

The Harvard team has logged a lot of minutes this year, with Wednesday’s game its second straight to go into overtime and fifth overall. All three of the Crimson’s losses this year have come in overtime, but the team insists that fatigue is not a factor.

“We’re fit,” said sophomore midfielder Katie Hodel. “There are a lot of other factors in overtime, but as far as being fit, we’re in good shape. We just need to come out and play the way we know we can.”

While the Crimson defense has been consistently holding down the opposition, the offense has been stagnant, scoring only one goal in the past two games, both of which went into extra minutes.

“Our offense is as potent as it always has been,” Costello said. “Our defense has been doing well for us, and we just need to pull through and the goals will come.”

Harvard is depending on its offense to bounce back against Dartmouth, regaining the form that had it outscoring opponents 19-1 during its eight-game winning streak. In the UConn loss, Harvard failed to capitalize on seven corner kicks, five in the first half.

“We’ve been unlucky not finishing some corners and not getting some breaks in previous games that have gone our way,” Hodel said. “But we’re not doing anything drastically different.”

In contrast to the struggling Harvard squad, Dartmouth (6-3-1, 2-1-1) enters tomorrow’s game on a roll, having won three straight. The Big Green defeated Fairfield 4-1 on Wednesday night.

Leading the Dartmouth offense is junior forward Laura Ashley, who has scored four times in the last two games. The reigning Ivy League Player of the Week, Ashley recorded the eventual game-winner in the Fairfield game and both goals in the Big Green’s 2-1 overtime defeat of Ivy rival Columbia.

Three of Ashley’s team-leading five goals this year have decided the outcome of the game. She also assisted on the game-winning goal in Dartmouth’s 2-0 victory over Syracuse on Oct. 17.

Ashley’s 11 points on the season tie her for the team points lead with fellow junior forward Annie Gibson, who has four goals and three assists. Junior midfielder Mary McVeigh leads Dartmouth in the assists column with six.

The Big Green has been playing the entire season with two goalies. Sophomore Julia Shields has started seven of Dartmouth’s nine games. Shields is usually replaced in the second half by freshman Anne Marbinger.

Dartmouth’s next two games are crucial in determining its post-season chances. In addition to the Ivy matchup with Harvard, the Big Green hosts UConn, who took over the No. 1 ranking in the Northeast region from Harvard this week.

With the importance of tomorrow’s matchup for both teams, this game will test Harvard’s mettle and ability to rebound following two draining losses.

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