Fucito Ignites Harvard In Two Big Wins

Most Ivy League players don’t produce these results over the course of an entire season.

Some don’t even produce this much in a career.

And yet, sophomore Mike Fucito sliced and diced his way to two goals and assisted on three other ones in leading the Harvard to a stunning 6-2 romp over No. 14 Brown on Saturday.

“Today, [Fucito] showed that he wanted it defensively and is always a threat,” said Harvard head coach John Kerr after the win over the Bears.

Don’t forget, he also provided the game-winning goal on Monday night with just 43 seconds left to fell another ranked team—No. 19 Fairfield.

Fucito finished with three goals and three assists on the week and earned honors as the Ivy League Player of the Week.

But Fucito’s outburst did not come out of nowhere. As captain Charles Altchek noted earlier in the season, his sophomore teammate is a “proven entity in the league.”

Fucito was the Ancient Eight’s Rookie of the Year in 2004 and was slated from the start to play an important role in this season’s march toward the ever-elusive Ivy title.

With his effort this past week, Fucito has vaulted himself into the discussion for Ivy League Player of the Year. He is now second in the league in points per game and second in goals scored—trailing only teammates in both categories.

The stunning week began eight days ago when Fucito finally found the back of the net for the Crimson after it had been around the Stags’ net all night. His score that finally beat Fairfield’s Jon Paul Francini—who boasted a 0.97 goals against average entering the game—in overtime earned the three points for Harvard and kept its winning streak alive.

Just days later, Fucito played even better, making sure the important Ivy League contest against Brown would last only 90 minutes.

With the game tied at 1-1 in the 30th minute, Fucito came all the way out to the right flank to chase down a ball that the Brown defender assumed would be easily within his control and then threaded a cross to junior Matt Hoff streaking down the middle for Hoff to bury in the net.

Once the second half began, Fucito took further control of the game as he assisted on two goals to Altchek—one of which came on a beautiful cross from the far left of the field that perfectly connected with the captain at the far goal post.

“[Fucito] just worked really hard,” captain Charles Altchek said after the game. “He was all over the place, very difficult for their defense, pressuring them. We got goals off of him pressuring their defenders and giving us the ball. He was pretty much unstoppable yesterday.”

To add the cherry to his sundae, Fucito put in two goals of his own.

When he notched the second one, giving the Crimson a 6-1 lead in the 67th minute, the Brown faithful could only sit and stare in amazement as the Bears’ starting goalie was removed from the game.