Freshman's Late-Game Heroics Give Harvard Victory

The previous two instances the Harvard and Yale field hockey teams met, the game lasted into double-overtime. Saturday afternoon at Jordan Field, the matchup between the Crimson and the Bulldogs ended in regulation, but it featured the same brand of drama. Freshman midfielder Carly Dickson scored her first collegiate goal late in the second half to break a scoreless tie and propel Harvard (2-3, 1-0 Ivy) to a 1-0 victory.

Dickson’s goal came on a penalty stroke with 10:04 remaining in the game. The penalty came after Dickson fired a shot that was blocked. On the ensuing scrum, Yale (1-3, 0-1 Ivy) committed the infraction that afforded Dickson a stroke. The freshman fired the shot at the top right corner of the goal. Bulldogs goalie Charlotte Goins deflected the ball, but not enough to prevent it from reaching the back of the net.

“It felt pretty good,” Dickson said of the goal. “I was just hoping I’d put it in the corner. It wasn’t exactly there, but it worked, so I’ll take it.”

The game began slowly before picking up in the second half. The Crimson had a 5-4 advantage in shots at the half, but only one shot was on net. On the defensive end, Harvard did a good job limiting Yale’s opportunities, but the Bulldogs still managed to test senior goaltender Kylie Stone. The co-captain made a pair of kick saves on a couple of rockets, one of which came on a penalty corner that concluded the first half.

“She had some pretty fine saves back there,” Harvard coach Sue Caples said. “Kylie’s always poised and composed. She’s just very solid.”

In the second half, the pace picked up dramatically. Seven minutes into the period, the Crimson had a breakaway in which Dickson split the defense at midfield, passed the ball ahead to sophomore forward Maggie McVeigh, who set up sophomore forward Leigh McCoy for a shot. McCoy’s attempt was denied by Goins and the ball was cleared.

“We had a great discussion at halftime on what we needed to work on, our strengths and weaknesses from the first half, and I think we were really ready to just come out hard and finish it,” Stone said.

Later in the half, Harvard threatened again and appeared to score when McVeigh sent a ball across the front of the net that was deflected high into the air and poked into the cage by freshman forward Allie Kimmel. The referee ruled that the ball went in off Kimmel’s body and disallowed the goal.

The Crimson kept the pressure on, earning four penalty corners and seven shots in the second half.

“The second half was definitely stronger,” Dickson said. “We were more composed. Because it was the first Ivy League game, we were pretty anxious to get out there, but I think we settled down a bit.”

The game appeared to be heading to overtime before Harvard drew the penalty stroke and Dickson capitalized on the shot.

“Carly is great. She works so hard all the time,” Stone said. “She really is one of the hardest working people on the team. I know yesterday she practiced penalty strokes for a long time, and she made it count today.”

After the goal, the Crimson sealed the victory with a solid defensive effort that allowed only one shot in the final 10 minutes. Stone stopped seven shots in total to earn her second shutout of the season.

“We were really excited to open up with the Ivy League today,” Stone said. “I thought we had a pretty strong showing. It’s great to see the freshman step up—it helps out.”

—Staff writer Timothy J. Walsh can be reached at twalsh@fas.harvard.edu.