Streaking Crimson Takes Command of League Destiny

On Saturday afternoon, the Harvard women’s soccer team trounced the Bears 3-0 in a decisive victory at Stevenson Field in Providence.

“We knew with this game that our destiny was in our hands, because we have four more Ivy teams to play,” junior Christina Hagner said. “If we win all our games, we will be in really good position to win Ivies.”

With this victory over the Bears (5-5-4, 1-2-1 Ivy), the Crimson (7-3-3, 3-1) extended its winning streak to four games.

“Our junior class has never [beaten] Brown. We tied them before, we’ve never [beaten] them,” captain Nicole Rhodes said. “So we were definitely coming into today’s game with a lot of intensity and emotion.”

This intensity was apparent on the field, as Harvard came out strong with the first goal and never relinquished the lead.

In the 18th minute, Hagner scored the game’s initial goal with an effectively placed shot that bounced over the head of the Bears’ goalie into the bottom left corner of the net. The score marked the fourth game in a row in which the junior has notched a goal, providing a solid contribution to Harvard’s win streak.

“I think that the first goal set the tone [for] the rest [of the] game,” Hagner said. “You start the game 0-0. Scoring the first goal is critical. It takes a lot of pressure off your back.”

The only real threat to the Crimson came with four minutes remaining in the first half. The Bears had an opportunity to break the shutout, put their team on the board, and tie the game. But two of the Brown players fouled Harvard goalkeeper and junior Laura Dale, consequently negating the goal scored on the same play.

“Brown is a big team,” Rhodes said. “They are really physical and fast. We knew that about them, so we just had to try to beat it.”

The Crimson was without junior goalkeeper Lauren Mann, who has started a majority of the conference games since her freshman year. Mann suffered a concussion earlier in the week, scratching her from Harvard coach Ray Leone’s lineup.

The Crimson has depended heavily on junior Laura Dale to step between the goal posts, and she has not disappointed. In her second straight shutout Saturday, Dale had seven saves.

“We all trust Laura Dale so much,” Hagner said. “She has done awesome in the net. She did amazing today. Any chance that Brown got, she was on top of it.”

Dale did not deliver the only outstanding defensive performance in Saturday’s game. Senior Erin Wiley, sophomore Katherine Kuzma, and freshman Lindsey Kowal stepped up on the defensive end in the winning effort.

Neither team dominated the opening minutes of the second half, but Wiley’s free kick in the 69th minute shifted the momentum in Harvard’s favor. Her ball was deflected to junior Lizzy Nichols, who fired a shot into the net for her first goal of the season.

The Crimson wasn’t done scoring yet. With just 4:24 remaining in the game, sophomore forward Katherine Sheeleigh took the ball down the right side of the field and passed it to freshman Melanie Baskind, who launched a shot past Bears goalkeeper Brenna Houge into the net. Baskind leads the team in goals scored with six.

“We never let up. I think that is what was so significant about this team,” Hagner said. “We just kept putting pressure on them the whole time.”

“This was definitely a game that took everyone to win,” Rhodes said. “In the Ivy League, all the teams are pretty much the same, so it’s more about grit and heart, and we showed a lot of that today.”