Merritt's Goal Pushes W. Soccer Past No. 24 UConn

There’s no messing around in a must-win game, and the Harvard women’s soccer team (7-5-2) answered the call on Wednesday against No. 24 Connecticut.

With an at-large NCAA tournament bid on the line, freshman midfielder Megan Merritt played like a veteran again for the Crimson, netting the contest’s only goal in the 68th minute. Now Harvard’s leading scorer on the season (four goals), Merritt broke up a group of defenders in the box with a gentle header over the defense and charging UConn goalkeeper Megan Jessee. The ball trickled into the center of an empty net.

Merritt’s goal sealed the shutout win for the Crimson, lifting Harvard to a sorely needed victory, its first over UConn since 1999.

“We knew that this was an opportunity to play a top-20 team,” Harvard coach Tim Wheaton said. “We’ve had a lot of games like that and been unlucky in a lot of them, and we knew that we’d have to give our best today, and we did.”

Despite surrendering 16 shots to the Huskies, Harvard’s speedy defense frustrated any UConn attempt for a direct shot on goal. And when the Huskies found the open field, they met Harvard junior goalkeeper Katie Shields.

Shields recorded eight saves for the game, but none was bigger than a diving deflection one minute into the second half that preserved the 0-0 tie.

Shields came up big throughout the second half, pressuring the charging UConn forwards beyond the 18-yard box and cutting off several late breakaways. When the Huskies looked to even the score late in the second half, Shields made two solid saves with under three minutes left in the game.

“I’m kind of known for playing off my line,” Shields said of her play outside the box. “I like to get to the ball before them—it makes my job a lot easier.”

That job got harder when starting freshman left back Michelle Hull went down with an ankle injury just minutes into the second half. Hull, who had played every minute for the Crimson defense prior to her fall, limped off the field before a crucial corner kick for the Huskies.

The defense, however, would not let up in Hull’s absence. Another freshman—Danielle Mirabal—emerged from the bench and shut down the Huskies’ forwards, who spent much of the second half watching as the ball moved up the field for the Crimson.

Harvard took advantage of the defensive effort, turning Shields’ saves into six second-half shots.

Near the 10 minute mark in the second half, freshman forward Jamie Greenwald used three straight breakways to fire on Jessee. That offensive pressure gave the Crimson three post-intermission corner kicks, keeping the ball away from the Harvard net after Merritt’s goal.

Then when UConn rallied late, Harvard pulled back into a defensive set, sending only two forwards and packing the middle.

“When you get a one-goal lead on a team like that, it’s a big deal,” Shields said. “The more you pack it in, the harder it is for them to get the ball through.”

Harvard was happy to play it cautious in the waning minutes of the game, and a diving save by Shields with seven minutes to go encapsulated the all-around effort put forth by the young Crimson squad.

“We don’t need to be heroes. We don’t need to step up and do something exceptional,” Wheaton said. “They just played, and when they do that, they can play with anyone.”

UConn learned that the hard way, as the Crimson snapped the Huskies’ nine-game winning streak in route to an impressive non-conference victory. The visiting Huskies had beaten the Crimson in the teams’ last four meetings, and UConn came into the game ranked second in New England.

That kind of win keeps talk of an at-large NCAA tournament bid alive for the Harvard squad, provided that the Crimson wins its remaining two games against Ivy doormats Dartmouth and Columbia.

“We’ve talked about staying in control of our own destiny and we knew that we had to take care of today to do it,” Wheaton said. “They wanted it. You could see it.”