Hoff's Golden Goal Tops Central Conn.

As the final minutes ticked away in the first half of the Harvard men’s soccer team’s game against Central Connecticut yesterday, the offense seemed frantic to score. After netting six goals in wins over Maine and Duke, the prolific Crimson offense had been held scoreless for 232 minutes.

But once again freshman forward Matt Hoff came to the rescue for the Crimson (4-3-2, 0-1 Ivy), scoring the lone goal in a 1-0 victory over the Blue Devils (5-2-2). It was Hoff’s third game-winning goal of the season.

Toward the end of the first half, sophomore Anthony Tornaritis raced up the right side of the field and fired a shot at Central Connecticut goalie Andrew Sierman. Sierman made a diving save, but his defense left the opposite side of the goal unprotected as it collapsed on the shot.

That allowed senior midfielder Kevin Ara to collect the rebound and find a wide-open Hoff—now the team leader in points and goals with nine and four, respectively—who knocked the shot into the back of the net.

Though the Crimson struck first, Central Connecticut was the team that found itself with the first near-perfect opportunity on a free kick well within scoring range. But Peter Howe’s shot was stopped by sophomore goalie Ryan Johnson, one of seven saves Johnson made en route to his second shutout of the season. Johnson now has a .99 goals against average.

“I’m not worried back there with him,” Harvard coach John Kerr said.

Johnson has control of the Crimson goal because juniors Jamie Roth and Conrad Jones are sidelined with injuries. Though Roth has just begun light training, Jones remains inactive.

But the injury bug is not isolated to the goalkeeper position. Junior back Jason Anderson has been out since the Sept. 26 game against Duke because of a bad ankle. It remains uncertain as to when he will return.

Meanwhile, junior midfielder Zach Chandis’ bad knee may sideline him for Saturday’s contest against Cornell.

“They bring a lot of energy to the team,” Kerr said. “We miss them when they’re not on the field.”

On the offensive side of the field, sophomore Brian Charnock had to leave the game early with a groin injury. His situation is also day-to-day and Kerr is skeptical as to whether he will be ready to play in this weekend’s contest.

“We missed his guile in the second half,” Kerr said.

Despite the personnel issues, Harvard was still able to outshoot the Blue Devils 14-9.

Central Connecticut had trouble transferring the ball from the defense to the forwards, and its weak midfield allowed Harvard to put pressure on the goal by moving more offensive players into attacking positions. The Crimson had several great chances to score early in the first half but failed to execute.

“So long as we move the ball quick, we can play with anybody,” Ara said.

The win is especially sweet for Harvard, as it ended a two-game skid for the Crimson and spoiled a five-game unbeaten streak for the Blue Devils.

Harvard’s next challenge will come Saturday night when it travels to Ithaca, N.Y. to take on Cornell (4-3, 1-0) in the second Ivy contest of the season for both schools. The Big Red is coming off a 1-0 victory at Penn last weekend.