Tie with Princeton Leaves Crimson Winless in October

The Harvard and Princeton men’s soccer teams both stepped onto the field Saturday hoping to end their identical winless Octobers. Surely, someone expected to break that spell.

Not so, as the Crimson and the Tigers notched a 1-1 tie and remain without a “W” on their scorecards for October as a result of Saturday’s game.

Looking to be a little more consistent and confident after five straight losses, Harvard (4-6-2, 0-3-1 Ivy) opened the game with solid defense. But with the day’s freezing temperatures came cold feet at the goal in the first half.

Princeton (3-6-2, 0-2-1), who until today’s game had yet to score a goal in an Ivy League game, kept the ball on the offensive, but Harvard’s defense maintained control for most of the first half. In that frame, the Tigers won of most of their fifty-fifty chances and connected on most of their passes, but couldn’t capitalize. The Crimson defense wouldn’t let them get a decent shot off on Harvard goalie Ryan Johnson.

When Princeton did take a shot at the goal from point-blank range with 31 minutes to go in the first half, Harvard answered quickly, bringing the ball downfield. Senior Anthony Tornaritis nearly scored when his hard shot bounced off the shoulder of a Princeton defender and ricocheted just wide of the post.

Just minutes into the second half, Tornaritis got a second chance after his twin brother Nicholas brought the ball down the field in a breakaway and crossed to sophomore Jeremy Tchou, who assisted Tornaritis for the first goal of the game.

“When the second half started, we knew we had to pick up the intensity,” Tornaritis said. “We really felt the need to score. We had good pressure in the first half, but it wasn’t enough.”

With the Crimson finally putting together series of plays instead of headers that turned into dead balls on the field, the bench stood up and the crowd loudly rallied behind a team that look like it might reverse its recent losing streak. But Princeton captain Darren Spicer quieted the bleachers with a header past Johnson to tie the game, 1-1.

“If we had gotten the second goal it would be been in our favor, but they got one chance and used it,” Harvard coach John Kerr said.

Still, the Crimson had turned around from a very quiet first half with energy and a spark that Kerr must have ignited during his half-time speech to the players.

“The difference between the first half and the second half was that [we] had more confidence,” Kerr said. “We were resilient and we haven’t been recently when we had been under duress in other games.”

Going into overtime, both the Crimson and the Tigers played with more gusto than the winds that swept across the field, but neither team could connect the ball with the net, much to the players’ dismay.

“I wasn’t happy with the tie, and there were too many defensive errors,” Tornaritis said. “We should have scored more.”

But despite the draw, Kerr was pleased with the changes he saw in his team’s play.

“The tie result was a fair one,” he said. “The team played with good pressure and they kept it up the whole time.”

With Harvard likely out of playoff contention, Kerr and his players agreed that the remaining games won’t be easy. Seniors began to acknowledge a bittersweet end to their careers.

“Every game left this season, we’re just going to go out there and have fun,” Tornaritis said.

The Crimson face Providence (4-3-7, 2-3-4) away tomorrow at Glay Field, with hopes of coming home with an elusive win.

—Staff writer Bari M. Schwartz can be reached at bschwart@fas.harvard.edu.