Crimson Falls to Brown, Still Winless in Ivies

It was a rough day in all senses of the word when the Harvard men’s soccer team took on Brown yesterday at Ohiri Field.

With 25-30 mph winds blowing hard, the conditions were far from being ideal and the Crimson was unable to make the best of a bad situation.

After a tough game Harvard (4-6-1, 0-3-0 Ivy) fell 3-0 to Brown (8-3-1, 3-0-0) extending its losing streak to five games—a streak the Crimson hasn’t seen since the 2000 season.

“[The Bears] are very strong,” Harvard coach John Kerr said. “They are a handful, you have to deal with them.”

Harvard played strong for the first 30 minutes of the game, making Brown work for every possession. The Crimson even managed to get two free kicks just outside of the penalty box in the beginning of play, but both opportunities proved fruitless as Harvard was unable to convert.

“We did get some good opportunities,” said senior captain and defender Will Craig. “That final touch, we just didn’t seem to have that today.”

The Bears’ winning goal came at 17:39 in the first half during a scramble at the goal. Senior goalie Ryan Johnson jumped for a high shot from far right but was only able to get his fingertips on the ball and ended up tipping it to his left. Brown freshman Scott Geppert was then able to tap the ball through another Crimson defender’s legs and into the goal.

“That kind of a thing is frustrating as a coaching staff and a team,” Kerr said. “I thought we played really well in the first half and then they go one trip down the field and they score and it takes the wind out of your sails.”

With only one goal against, Harvard was still playing well, hoping to get back into the game.

Johnson was able to stop a rocket that was shot at him from the near left and then immediately save another ball as the Bears were able to get another shot off of the rebound. For the game, Johnson registered five saves.

But Johnson was outshone by his Brown counterpart, Jarrett Leech, who put up six saves as well as the shutout for the Bears. Leech came into the game holding the number two rank for saves, and is now tied for first—with the other Brown goalie David Semenza—for shutouts with two apiece.

“They lost some very good senior players from last year’s team but this year they are more even throughout their team,” Craig said. “I think that this year they are better than last year.”

But even though Johnson, Craig, and the Harvard defense played well, they were not able to hold off the strong offensive leaders of the Bears, who came in and scored another two goals to clinch the win.

“You just get frustrated when that happens,” Kerr said. “When they had a soft goal and then when another one goes in you know it’s almost lights out.”

At 73:58 in the game Brown was able to get another goal out of a scramble. Johnson dove for the save but wasn’t able to get a full hand on the ball, allowing Brown’s Andrew Daniels to take it around him to the right and score.

The Crimson seemed to be fazed by this goal and sudden change of momentum as Brown’s last and third goal came less than four minutes later.

It was an easy goal as Ben Brackett was able to put the ball right between Johnson’s legs to hit the back of the net.

“The guy was just standing open on the top of the box,” Craig said. “It’s a problem we have been having the last couple games. It’s something that we need to work out, as far as our blocking the box.”

Harvard will have to work quickly as its next Ivy League game is just around the corner. Princeton comes to Ohiri Field this Saturday at 11 a.m.

—Staff writer Abigail M. Baird can be reached at ambaird@fas.harvard.edu.