Harvard Makes a Comeback

After a more-than-disappointing 2006 season in which it mustered just three wins, the Harvard women’s soccer team faced a plethora of offseason questions. Who would replace head coach Erica Walsh, who left Cambridge for Penn State after just one season? Who would provide the offensive spark in 2007 after the Crimson was shut out nine times in 17 games? How would Harvard move from a disappointing team to a dangerous one?

New head coach Ray Leone and an outstanding freshman class were ready with the answers.

Behind new faces and a new attitude, Harvard turned in its best season since 2001, finishing 10-6-1 (3-4 Ivy) and restoring stability to an uncertain program.

“The theme was ‘flip it,’ and we nearly did that,” Leone said. “I don’t think we did as well as we would have liked in the Ivy League, but we certainly turned a winning mentality from the previous year to the next.”

Leone threw his highly-touted freshman class into the mix early and wasn’t disappointed.

Rookies ignited what had been a stagnant offensive attack, with First Team All-Ivy pick Katherine Sheeleigh and Second Team choice Gina Wideroff leading the team in scoring with eight and five goals, respectively.

“Every time we were working hard, we were working for each other, and that’s something we tried to show the freshmen early,” junior captain Nicole Rhodes said. “This year, our team was extremely unified.”

Indeed, while underclassmen provided much of the offensive firepower, veterans served as the bedrock of a solid defensive unit that allowed a league-best 2.18 goals per game.

Sophomore Lizzy Nichols, an All-Ivy First Team pick, and Rhodes, an Honorable Mention selection, anchored the back line in front of the league’s top goalkeeper. Sophomore Lauren Mann, who picked up an All-Ivy Second Team nod for her work in net, led Ancient Eight keepers with nine shutouts.

A set of three non-conference games against local opponents in early September provided an important foundation for the young team as it prepared for Ancient Eight play. In the space of a week, the Crimson fought to wins at Northeastern and home against Boston University—the second of which ended in dramatic fashion with a Wideroff game-winner in double overtime—and nearly upset No. 10 Boston College in Chestnut Hill.

“Those three games really stick out to me,” Leone said. “They were all very exciting, and helped us gain confidence as we moved through the rest of the year.”

As Harvard’s Ivy slate began, the intensity increased—and the young Crimson was forced to grow up quickly. Entering league play with a four-game winning streak, Harvard emerged on the losing end of a 2-1 overtime decision in front of a rowdy crowd under the lights in New Haven.

“There was no way for a team with this many young players to see what an Ivy game is until you play it,” Leone said. “There’s already no way to prepare for it—and then the first is Harvard-Yale?”

League wins over Cornell, Princeton, and Dartmouth—the Crimson’s first in eight years over the Big Green—highlighted the turnaround season and displayed the young talent that carries Harvard into its 2008 campaign.

In its Oct. 20 matchup against the Tigers and eventual Ivy Player of the Year Diana Matheson, the Crimson used a free-kick goal from Nichols just one minute into the match and two tallies from Sheeleigh to power a 4-2 victory at Ohiri Field.

This offseason, Harvard enjoys an advantage it hasn’t in the past three seasons: it will work with the same head coach for the second consecutive year.

And with only three seniors departing from the 2007 squad, the Crimson—a year older, wiser, and more experienced—is poised to contend for a league title.

“Improving from [2006] was not difficult,” Rhodes said. “We’ve had this entire offseason and spring to train this core group, and you could see a big improvement that I’ve never seen in my time here.”

“In this league, you make runs every once in a while when you have a good team returning and they know what it takes,” Leone added. “That’s your chance to make a shot at it, and that’s one of our goals—to make a shot at the Ivy League.”

—Staff writer Emily W. Cunningham can be reached at ecunning@fas.harvard.edu.