W. Soccer Achieves Redemption Through Domination

The veterans of the Harvard womens soccer team came into Saturdays game against Brown hoping to prove that last years 2-0 defeat under the lights at Providence was merely a fluke.

Their effort could not have been more convincing.

The Crimsons play was marked by elegant finishes and gutsy defensive decisions in its 4-0 thrashing of the Bears. Browns game was typified by uninspired attacks and reckless backfield fouls.

[Brown is] a good team, but we felt we didnt give our best effort on the field last year, said Harvard Coach Tim Wheaton. We were really focused on doing that today.

Co-captain Caitlin Costello led the Crimson in scoring with two goals, giving her four for the seasonalready eclipsing her junior year total. Fellow starting forwards Beth Totman and Joey Yenne, reunited in Ivy play for the first time since their freshman seasons two years ago, each had multi-point games as well.

Costello led off Harvards scoring in the 13th minute off a corner kick from sophomore forward Katie Westfall. Westfall placed the kick up for grabs over a crowd on the 18-yard line. There Totman and freshman fullback Liza Barber each managed to get a head on the ball to set up Costello, who had room to work deep inside the box. Showing poise and patience in mild traffic, Costello touched the ball to her right for a clear look at the net and then placidly finished.

[Costello] has got a great knack for putting it away, Wheaton said. [Her shots] arent rockets, but theyre just hard enough to beat the keeper. In any sport, someone who can [finish like Costello] is just so valuable.

Yenne set up Harvards second goal by drawing a foul after meandering through the Brown defense on the right corner of the box. On the restart, Westfall permitted Yenne to finish what she started.

Giving nothing away on her approach, Westfall caught the Brown defense off guard by placing a flat pass square through the box. There Yenne met the ball, turned on it, and then drilled it into the left corner of the net past Brown senior goalkeeper Mary Jo Markle.

The Westfall-to-Yenne free kick combination was so flawlessly executed that it looked like it had been practiced to the point of perfection, but it was not so.

That [goal] was sweet, Wheaton said. Its not a specific play that we worked on, but we put players like Katie on the ball because they have great vision and great understanding of the different options, and she found one.

Once Harvard went up 2-0, instead of falling apart as in its 5-4 opening loss to Colorado College, the Crimson stepped up, kept the ball out of its end, and eliminated the few careless scoring opportunities it had allowed early on.

Junior midfielder Orly Ripmaster set up the game-breaking third Crimson goal early in the second half by sending a long through ball to Yenne, who touched the ball to Costello just inside the box. Costello had just enough space to dribble through a pair of defenders and finish.

Its easy [to score] when youve got good teammates around you, playing you easy balls, Costello said. They do all the hard work for me.

Just 31 seconds later, the Crimson scored for a fourth time. Costello and Yenne rushed at will through the bewildered Brown defense after spoiling the Bear kickoff. Costello set up Yenne for a shot which was stopped by Brown second-half goalkeeper, sophomore Sarah Gervais, but the ball bounced right towards Totman, who tapped it into the net for the finish.

Browns everyday tandem in net of Gervais and Jo Markle had never given up more than two goals in one game before running into the current line of Crimson strikers. Gervais had never faced Totman, as the Crimsons leading scorer as a freshman had lost her sophomore season to injury.

Its so nice to have everyone back, Costello said. Joey and Totty together are such a force. And we have such depth on the forward line too. I dont think it gets much better than the talent we have.

On the other side of the field, junior Crimson goalkeeper Cheryl Gunther was looking for redemption against Brown, having given up a soft goal in the opening minutes of the game last season. Other than a few scary moments early in the first half, she was rarely tested, but she held on to the few hard shots Brown drilled straight at her.

Its a huge win personally because I made a couple mistakes last year, Gunther said. It was huge to come back and beat them.

The Crimson has now produced two straight shutouts after giving up five goals in its opener.

It wasnt really any dramatic changes, it was just kind of tweaking it and getting the confidence back, Wheaton said. Its not just the defendersand theyve done an amazing jobits also the midfielders and forwards tracking back to defend.

Early in the first half, Brown twice had success getting the ball through the defense to senior forward Allison Schwerdt. But the defense quickly made up for its mistakes. On one sequence where Schwerdt had everyone beaten by a step, Barber caught up, took the ball out from under her, and sent her tumbling.

One of the best defenders Ive played with is the freshman Liza Barber, Gunther said.

On another break from Schwerdt, sophomore fullback Lauren Cozzolino managed to distract her just enough to force an uninspired shot high into Gunthers hands. Gunther had heavy praise for her defense, elevating it above the Crimson defense of two years ago that gave up just three goals in all of Ivy play.

We just need to get used to playing with each other, our chemistry, Gunther said. Its the best defense Ive played with in my three years here.

For the afternoon, Harvard outshot Brown, 19-4, and took 13 corners to Browns one. The Crimson earned no yellow cards to Browns two, one coming from junior fullback Kim Insalaco, who is also a Bear ice hockey forward.

Insalaco earned her card when she took down Westfall from behind with a display of recklessness that would have been worthy of a five-minute major in her winter sport.

The Crimson will have a full week to reflect on its dominating performance as it resumes its Ivy schedule at Yale next Saturday. Harvard has claimed a share of the Ivy title in every odd-numbered year since 1995.

We always want to make it as far as possible, but our first priority is the Ivy League, Costello said. Today I think we proved to everyone that that is our goal. We do want to wear that Ivy crown and win those rings.