M. Soccer Notebook: M. Soccer Offense Keeps Clicking

Although the cast of characters keeps changing, the Harvard men’s soccer team continues to find ways to score goals and win games.

Coach John Kerr shook up his starting line-up for the second consecutive game in the Crimson’s 4-1 defeat of Dartmouth on Saturday.

Senior Grayson Sugarman—who has been injured for much of the season—and freshman Tom Stapleton both began the game at midfield.

Absent was sophomore forward Brian Charnock, who has emerged as one of Harvard’s top scoring threats this season. Charnock had been sick earlier in the week and had missed a few practices, making Kerr wary of using him against the Big Green.

“The good thing for us is that we have so much depth this year,” Kerr said. “If we have little injuries or sicknesses, I have confidence in whoever steps in.”

In Charnock’s place, Kerr started senior Ladd Fritz, who missed time early in the season with a knee injury.

“Ladd’s been dying to play, and he played well today,” Kerr said.

The defense, meanwhile, seems to have solidified, with freshman David Williams and senior Andrew Nechtem establishing their places alongside captain Andrew Old and sophomore Will Craig.

The Curse of the Keepers

The Crimson endured a scary moment when sophomore Ryan Johnson—the lone healthy goalkeeper of the three who began the season on Harvard’s roster—was involved in a collision early in the second half.

Johnson left the net to play a cross over the middle and was hit hard by a Dartmouth forward.

“I came out, one of their forwards came in and I got a forehead to my jaw,” Johnson said.

With the ball still in play, Johnson struggled to return to position. Clearly dazed, he held his hands to his head and stumbled in the mouth of the net.

When play finally stopped, he crumpled to his knees and laid his head on the ground.

Trainers rushed to attend to him. After a few moments, play continued with Johnson still in the net.

“I don’t think I have a concussion,” Johnson said. “I think I might have a dislocated jaw. I felt pretty dizzy. I’ve still got a headache—it hurts.”

Johnson was finally replaced in the 79th minute by senior Russ Mosier, a new addition to the Crimson. Mosier, who was one of the men’s volleyball team’s tri-captains last season, was added to the Harvard soccer roster after juniors Jamie Roth and Conrad Jones both went down with season-ending injuries.

In his first appearance of the season, Mosier made one save.

Sorting Through the Wreckage

Dartmouth has now dropped eight games in a row. Once ranked as high as 25th in the nation, the Big Green have fallen precipitously after opening the season 4-0-2. After scoring six goals in their last win—over St. Bonaventure on September 28th—Dartmouth has scored a total of five times in its last 8 games and has just two goals in its last six contests.

By defeating the Big Green, the Crimson ran its record at home to an impressive 6-1-1 and moved into a four-way tie for third place in the Ivies.

With Brown cementing its grip on first place with its defeat of Penn Saturday, the Ivy League title is now officially out of the Crimson’s reach. But Harvard’s overall record still gives it a chance of having some sort of postseason—at least if it wins its last three contests.

If the Crimson manages to win out, it will have reached the crucial ten-win mark, which was good enough for Harvard to receive an invite to the NCAA Tournament in the 2001 season. But that year, the Crimson also finished second in the Ivy League, a benchmark which will be difficult to achieve this time around.

“Our goal is to finish off our last three games strong,” Kerr said. “Then, if we can’t win a share of the Ivy title, we’ll be in a position for an at-large bid [to the NCAA tournament].”

—Staff writer James Sigel can be reached at sigel@fas.harvard.edu.