Women’s Soccer Drops 3-2 Battle To Brown

Saturday afternoon, the women’s soccer team battled Brown in an intense contest at Ohiri Field, but fell 3-2 on an 86th minute goal by Brown’s Kathryn Moos.

The Bears’ Meghan Schreck scored past the outstretched hands of Harvard sophomore goalkeeper Katie Shields in the seventh minute of the contest, beginning a game of catch-up that lasted the entire match.

Crimson junior and leading scorer Alisha Moran answered three minutes later, taking a long ball from sophomore Sara Sedgwick in the left corner, cutting back inside and bending a shot from outside the penalty area into the top right corner of the goal.

Moran’s equalizer seemed to energize Harvard, which began putting much more pressure on the Brown goal than it had in the game’s early minutes.

In the 21st minute, senior midfielder Katie Westfall found junior back Liza Barber, whose shot was cleared off the line. Co-captain Katie Hodel had a chance at the rebound, but her left-footed volley went just wide.

Two minutes later, Westfall played a one-two with junior forward Emily Colvin and found herself alone with the keeper, but she missed wide.

Brown finally broke the deadlock when Moos scored her first of two goals on the day off of a flip throw by Jill Mansfield.

Harvard had a few opportunities to even the score off of corner kicks, but Brown managed to clear the ball, leaving the Crimson trailing 2-1 at halftime.

Harvard coach Tim Wheaton gave his team some technical advice during the half but also told his players just to remain confident.

When the Crimson came out for the second half, Wheaton made his customary goaltender switch, replacing Shields with sophomore Maja Agustsdottir. Four minutes later, looking for more speed, he replaced junior left back Falyne Chave with freshman Laura Odorczyk.

In the 20th minute of the second half, Moran put the Crimson back on even ground. She one-touched the ball into the goal off an assist by senior Katie Westfall, posting her 10th goal of the season.

After the goal, neither team seemed content to settle for the tie. Instead, both took on an increased urgency to win.

But it was Brown’s Moos who pulled her team ahead for the final time when she headed the ball in off a corner kick with less than five minutes remaining in the match.

After the game, the Crimson was visibly disappointed with the result, which leaves it needing help to get back into the Ivy League race. But Harvard is confident it put together a strong performance despite a few key mistakes.

“In a word, it was frustrating,” Wheaton said. “We played well. We did a good job of shooting and we hadn’t been that strong there. But we still gave up three goals on set pieces. This might change our stature in the league but not how we approach anything.”

The Bears’ three set-play goals included two off of flip throws, which have been valuable weapons for Brown all season.

“Last year we had a similar loss to Yale, but we were able to come back and beat Princeton,” Barber added. “We will just focus on our next game.”

The Crimson plans to put the loss behind it as it prepares to take down the Tigers, who are currently second in the Ivy League, at home next Saturday.

“When we play, we can with anyone,” Wheaton said.

“We have more games to play” Moran added. “We’re just glad the season doesn’t end now.”