Quakers Pose Threat To Women's Soccer

The Harvard women’s soccer team knows that history-making events don’t always end with a celebration.

Last year, for the first time in school history, the Crimson fell to Penn in a 3-1 contest that was one of Harvard’s most devastating losses of the season.

The win propelled Penn up in the Ivy ranks and the Quakers went on to win a share of the Ivy title along with Princeton and Dartmouth. Meanwhile, the Crimson fell to fourth in the Ivies and lost a chance to receive home-field advantage in the NCAA tournament.

With this past in mind, revenge will naturally be a motivating factor in tomorrow’s game against the host Quakers at Rhodes Field.

“They got the best of us last year and [this year] it’s going to be a battle to the end,” junior midfielder Kate Westfall said.

But post-season survival may be more of a priority for the Crimson (5-4, 1-0 Ivy) than revenge.

The results of Ivy League play become increasingly crucial after recent struggles, including four consecutive nonconference losses for the first time since 1989.

Despite Harvard’s fourth-place finish in the Ivy League, the Crimson’s tough nonconference schedule helped the team win an at-large tournament bid last year.

With this year’s losses, the safety net of nonconference play may not guarantee the Crimson a path to its seventh consecutive NCAA berth. Harvard would have to defeat all of the remaining nonconference foes—BC, BU and UConn—to have a chance at another at-large bid. It doesn’t help that the Crimson’s all-time record against UConn is 3-21-1.

An automatic bid waits only at the top of the Ivy ladder, where the Crimson hasn’t stood since 1999.

“This game is especially important because we’ve been struggling as of late and we realize the surest way to make it into the tournament is to win the Ivy League,” said junior co-captain Katie Hodel, who scored Harvard’s only goal against Penn last season .

Harvard has already proved successful in Ivy League competition this season with a 1-0 victory over Brown last Saturday, in which the Crimson outshot the Bears 19-6.

Against Penn, however, the Crimson will have to face the prolific scoring of Penn’s sophomore forward Katy Cross.

Cross finished her freshmen campaign leading the Ivy League with 12 goals, 10 assists and 34 points. Named Ivy League Rookie of the Year and to the All-Ivy First Team, it was Cross’ hat trick that put away the Crimson last November.

The outcome of tomorrow’s game will be closely linked to whether Harvard can contain the productivity of Cross.

“With a player like that you always need to be aware of where she is,” coach Tim Wheaton said.

Despite talk of last year’s history-making match-up and the crucial nature of every Ivy battle to come, the Crimson enters tomorrow’s game with the focus and drive to execute the task at foot.

“We’re just focusing on setting our standard of play from the opening whistle and keeping the intensity up for the entire game,” Hodel said.