W. Soccer, Penn Set for Ivy Opener

As the old adage goes, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” The athletic equivalent of this, of course, is, “Don’t judge a team by its record.”

Rarely is this truer than in this Sunday’s women’s soccer match between Harvard and Penn in Philadelphia.

The Crimson heads into its Ivy League opener against the Quakers with a record of 2-3-2—numbers hardly indicative of a high-caliber team. But as one delves deeper into these wins, losses and ties, one can see that there is more to this Harvard team than its record would indicate.

“We get enough respect from the teams that we play, but nationally—or even with students around campus—people cringe when they hear your record,” said captain back Liza Barber. “You don’t want to have to explain yourself.”

The Crimson began its season by playing competitively with both Portland and Penn State—squads ranked No. 6 and No. 4, respectively—and lost by just a single goal in each of the games.

On Wednesday, the Crimson was once again unable to eke out a win when it battled Boston University to a scoreless tie—impressive, however, given the Terriers’ status as the No. 2 team in the Northeast, just behind Yale.

“[The tie with Boston University] is a good sign, starting Ivy League this weekend,” said junior goalkeeper Katie Shields. “We’re really fit, and I think we’re ready to start the Ivies.”

Already this season, Harvard has also lost to William and Mary on a goal in the 87th minute as well as tied Northeastern despite outshooting the Huskies 22-10.

“It’s nice to be starting over with Ivy League play,” Barber said. “Our record is blank.”

If it’s any consolation to the Harvard players, their Penn counterparts must surely feel their pain. Clearly another team not to be judged just by its record, the Quakers are now 1-4-1.

In their opening weekend, the Quakers lost a tough game to then-No. 5 Texas A&M, 3-2. The next weekend, Penn dropped an overtime heartbreaker to Villanova, then ranked No. 22. The team also had to travel to California and take on then-No. 14 Cal, falling by a score of 2-0.

“Penn is always a good team,” said Shields.

Revenge will also be in the cards on Sunday. Last season, the teams opened Ivy League play against each other, and the Crimson took home a 2-1 decision on the strength of goals by then-junior Alisha Moran and Alisa Sato ’04 and strong goaltending by then-sophomore Shields.

The loss snapped the Quakers’ 10-game unbeaten streak that had dated back to Oct. 16th of 2002.

Of course, the Harvard players know that what happened last year is in the past. The Crimson must prepare itself for Penn once again, and any preparation when dealing with the Quakers must begin with forward Katy Cross.

Cross owns numerous Penn scoring records, including points in a game (9), goals in a game (4), points in a season (38), goals in a season (16), points in a career (113), goals in a career (45) and—most recently—assists in a career (23).

In short, Cross is as unstoppable as any player that the Ivy League can boast.

As a freshman, she tallied a hat trick in the Quakers’ 3-1 win over Harvard. In the last two seasons, however, the Crimson have experienced more success against Cross, as Harvard allowed her just a single shot in a 0-0 tie in 2002.

In last year’s 2-1 Crimson victory—a game in which Cross had a perfect opportunity to tie the game in the 71st minute but was stopped by Shields—Harvard held her to a lone assist.

“Cross is good on the ball,” said Barber. “She’s a great player. We talked about [neutralizing her] a bit in practice. We just need to get to the ball first, and she’ll get frustrated in the first 20 minutes of the game.”

Meanwhile, senior forward Emily Colvin leads the way for Harvard with two goals and an assist. Freshman midfielder Jamie Greenwald boasts two goals on just two shots, while junior forward Sara Sedgwick, sophomore midfielder Katie Johnston and Moran—the team’s leading scorer last season—have each contributed a goal.

Shields has seen most of the action in goal, while Barber anchors the backs in front of her goalkeeper. While Cross and her teammates will surely be a test, Harvard is confident that it will kick off its Ivy League schedule on a positive note.

“We’re going to come away with a win at Penn,” said Moran. “We know what we need to do now, so I think we’ll have the result we’re looking for.”

—Staff writer Jonathan P. Hay can be reached at hay@fas.harvard.edu.