W. Soccer Loses 1-0 Match to Ivy Rival

With a faltering offense unable to score for the second game in a row, the Harvard women’s soccer team fell to Ivy rival Dartmouth, 1-0, on Saturday afternoon at Ohiri Field. Big Green junior midfielder Mary McVeigh scored the lone tally on a direct kick just 5:52 into the game.

The No. 18 Crimson (8-4, 3-2 Ivy) has now lost three straight following an eight-game winning streak while the Big Green (7-3-1, 3-1-1) has won four in a row and moved to third place in the Ivy standings.

Following a foul called on Harvard less than six minutes into the game, McVeigh lined up the penalty kick, arching a shot into the upper right corner of the net, past Harvard senior goalkeeper Robyn Scatena.

Scatena was playing in place of usual Crimson starting junior goalie Cheryl Gunther, who was suspended from Saturday’s game following a red card in Wednesday’s loss to UConn. Scatena made two saves on the day, including a diving stop on a Big Green breakaway counterattack following a Harvard free kick in the first half to keep the Crimson within one.

The game was marked by physical play, with one yellow card and several penalty free kicks awarded to each team. Harvard Coach Tim Wheaton insists that the rough style of play was irrelevant in terms of the final outcome.

“The physicality of the game was not a factor,” Wheaton said. “We’re strong athletes.”

Dartmouth used its two-goalie system, with sophomore Julia Sheilds playing the first half, making one save. She was then replaced by freshman Anne Marbinger, who kept the Big Green’s shutout with five saves of her own.

The Crimson offense was unable to respond to the early goal, despite several promising attacks on net.

One of the best scoring opportunities for Harvard came in the second half, when sophomore midfielder Katie Westfall dribbled past several defenders, then passed the ball out wide to co-captain Caitlin Costello. Costello passed across the goal to junior forward Beth Totman, who pulled her shot left of the goal.

“Our possession in the final third wasn’t as good as we wanted it today,” Westfall said. “We dominated through the back and possession in the midfield, but once the ball got to our forwards, there was too big of a gap between our forwards and our midfield.”

Dartmouth had 11 shots on goal on Saturday, with seven coming in the first half alone. Dartmouth had seven corner kicks while the Crimson had just three.

“We need to play together as a team,” Westfall said

The Crimson had 11 shots in the second half alone but was unable to finish off its attacks on goal.

“I thought we had a good second half,” Wheaton said, “but I think we didn’t come out hard. They beat us to balls in the first half, and we did not play them the way we know how to play.”

Having fallen to fourth in the Ivy League standings, Harvard hopes to regroup against No. 25 Hartford on Wednesday.

“We just have to play consistently in the way that we expect of ourselves,” Wheaton said.