M. Soccer Goes For Four in a Row

Fresh off a win over Maine on Tuesday, the Harvard men’s soccer team will try to extend its winning streak to four when it takes on conference rival Brown tomorrow afternoon in Providence.

But the task will not be easy. Coming off a 5-1 victory over Vanderbilt last Sunday, Brown will look to continue its winning ways. In fact, since its 5-0 loss to defending national champion North Carolina, the Bears (2-1-1) have earned convincing successive victories, outscoring their opponents 8-2 during that span.

Led by junior forward Adom Crew, the reigning Ivy League player of the week after scoring five goals in two games, the Bears pose a serious challenge to the Harvard defense. The Crimson cannot afford to focus its efforts on just one man.

“We know who he [Adom Crew] is and we will keep an eye on him,” said junior forward Kevin Ara. “But they have a lot of good players and we can’t forget that.”

Crew is complemented on Brown’s offense by Ibrahim Diane, a dangerous freshman forward who played a crucial role in lending a goal and two assists in Brown’s victory over Vanderbilt.

After winning at Maine, the Crimson (4-1) enters the young season’s first meaningful game on a hot streak. After surrendering goals early in each of the last two matches, Harvard has come roaring back, seemingly scoring at will in the second half.

The Crimson erased 2-0 and 3-0 deficits during its last two games on clutch performances from a collection of different players, most notably Ara and senior midfielder Marc Buan, in securing come-from-behind victories. Both scored two goals against Hartford to clinch the victory.

But staking its hopes on late-game heroics may not be effective against a team like Brown.

“We have had some poor, poor starts this season and needed to be bailed out in the second half,” said senior back Joe Steffa. “We can’t let that happen.”

The first Ivy contest of the season will have an intriguing backdrop since Brown dashed the Crimson’s hopes of an Ivy League title last year. In a game that Harvard needed only a tie to clinch the championship, Brown instead shut Harvard out, 3-0. So it is hard to fault the Crimson if it has any carried-over incentive to avenge for last year’s loss.

“They stole the championship from us last year,” Steffa said. “They really kicked our ass. We haven’t been able to beat them all of the last three years. There is a push to win, especially for us seniors.”

But the team is not letting that extra desire negatively affect its preparation.

“We will approach it like any other game,” Ara said. “We know how they like to play and they know how we like to play. You just can’t change for one team.”

Harvard knows the results of this game will set the tone for the rest of the Ivy League schedule. It is as important a game as there can be this early in the season.

“We have to come out of the gates flying. We can’t let a good team like Brown get ahead, as we saw what happened [in the 3-0 loss] last year,” Ara said. “We have to play from the frst minute to the last minute.”