Double-OT Thriller Sends Harvard to NCAAs

With the Ivy title on the line, the game tied 1-1 in double overtime, and nine seconds left, the Crimson needed a miracle. It got a penalty shot.

After Harvard freshman striker Melanie Baskind was fouled inside the box, junior Lizzy Nichols stepped into the box and lined up for the shot. Charging towards the ball, she slammed the ball into the upper left corner of the net, sealing the win over Columbia (11-4-2, 4-2-1 Ivy), the defending conference champions. With its 2-1 victory, Harvard (10-3-4, 5-1-1) is the Ivy League champion for the first time since 1999.

“I think it was tough, and I give a lot of credit to [Nichols] for being able to focus and shut everything out and just focus on the ball, because that’s tough,” Harvard coach Ray Leone said.

In the first overtime, the Crimson’s offense had five shots on goal compared with none for the Lions in a dominating frame. Unfortunately for the Crimson, the ball never found the back of the net.

“We were knocking at the door,” co-captain Allison Keeley said. “It was coming, and we just knew that; we just kept on playing away.”

The Crimson entered the second overtime determined to finally capitalize on the offensive end.

With the second overtime winding down, the Crimson, despite its four shots on goal to Columbia’s two, had yet to score.

At 105:58, freshman Melanie Baskind fired a shot at the goal. Rebecca Taylor, the Lions’ goalie, did not have a chance.

The ball rocketed towards the goal, hit the top goalpost, shaking the net, and deflected straight down and out. In a controversial call, the referee did not signal goal, causing both the Crimson’s fans and players to break out in exclamations of disagreement.

“We had to score, like, three goals,” Leone said. “We thought we had one there, we thought we had one here, and then it didn’t go in. So what are you going to do?

“I mean, I don’t know if it went in or not, or if anybody had a better view, but they pulled it off,” he added.

Whether Baskind’s shot went in or not, all of that didn’t matter after Nichols put in the game-winning goal.

Overall, the Crimson outshot the Lions 25-15, dominating the offensive end.

Harvard got the first goal of the game at 26:01, when senior Rachael Lau launched a pass to speeding junior Christina Hagner. Hagner promptly redirected the ball into the back of the net.

After this initial goal, Columbia and Harvard traded shots. But junior Lauren Mann, and the Lion’s Rebecca Taylor mainained their composure and refused to let another ball past them. The Crimson headed into halftime with a 1-0 lead.

Just four minutes into the second half, Harvard committed a foul, giving a penalty free kick to the Lions.

Ashlin Yahr was granted the shot and sent it into the back left corner past a diving Mann. With the early second-half goal, Columbia tied the game at one.

But the Crimson still had some fight left, and the team responded to the Lions goal with aggressive and determined play.

After the goal, Harvard stepped up its performance and controlled possession throughout the second frame. But the shots fired by Baskind, freshman Patricia Yau, Hagner, senior Nikki Rhodes, freshman Gina Wideroff, and sophomore Kerry Kartsonis all came up empty, ultimately sending the game into two overtimes.

Harvard fought the physical Columbia players all the way up until Nichols rocketed in the final goal of the game and regular season into the back of the net.

“It’s just shock,” Leone said. “To end the game like that, it’s just, I just can’t believe it, to end the game like that and to be the champion in the same second that it ends,” he added.

With the title win, the Crimson earned itself an automatic bid into the NCAA postseason tournament.