With Poor Play, No. 8 Harvard Settles For Draw

A tie, in sports, can spark nearly every reaction. There are victorious ties, heartbreaking ties, and I-can’t-believe-we-played-this-entire-game-just-to-tie ties.

When the No. 8 Harvard men’s soccer team tied 1-1 with Cornell this past Saturday, the reaction was mostly one of relief.

This was due to a slow start, which left the Crimson in jeopardy of losing the important Ivy League matchup. The team came out unfocused, and gave up an early goal.

“We wanted to play before we earned the right to do so,” said second-year Harvard coach Jamie Clark. “We were getting squeezed a little bit [and] trying to play in bad areas.”

Harvard (8-1-1, 1-0-1 Ivy) soon paid the price, falling early to the Big Red (4-3-3, 0-0-2 Ivy) by a goal at 9:26.

Things first went awry when the Crimson failed to win a header on a high pass into the box from a Cornell player. The Big Red gained control, fired one shot at the net, and, after Harvard goalkeeper Austin Harms blocked it, scored on the rebound.

The Crimson had a difficult time shifting the momentum.

“15 minutes in its 1-0,” Clark said. “That gives [Cornell] the energy, and then we’re scrambling for the next 75 minutes. [Cornell] work[s] incredibly hard, and when you give a team a goal, it stokes the fire a little bit.”

Harvard had 23 shots, in contrast to Cornell’s 12. But they weren’t going in, for a few reasons.

“We made some good chances, but [the Cornell players] compete, and we were contested on almost every chance we got,” Clark said.

But the coach and players agreed that the shots were worse than normal.

“Their keeper made a few good saves, but there were a lot of chances that the guys would have normally put away,” freshman forward Brian Rogers said.

But as the game was wrapping up in the 77th minute, the Crimson scored the tying goal. The play started when senior Adam Rousmaniere broke free up the right side and served a ball into the box. Junior Alex Chi made good on the opportunity and knocked the ball into the net.

After Harvard tied the game, the two teams remained at a stalemate for the remainder of regulation and then both ten-minute overtimes. The result was a tie, Cornell’s third of the season and Harvard’s first.

“If we’d lost, I’d be gutted,” Clark said. “This result doesn’t affect us too much—the league is still in our hands, and it shouldn’t hurt our rankings or our NCAA chances. After going down a goal, we’ll take this as a result.”

But there is definitely some lingering disappointment, especially since Cornell was thought to be a weaker team.

“Given the form we’re in, we expected to win,” Rogers said. “It’s not the worst result in the world, but it’s tough to go up to Ithaca and [not win]. It’s a brutal drive and it’s cold.”

The Big Red has enjoyed modest success this season, tying the University of Pennsylvania, 2-2, in their previous game.

“They’ve got new coach, a new energy about them,” Clark said. “You really have to give credit to them. They worked through 110 minutes of effort.”

While the Big Red stood out, Harvard’s play was somewhat underwhelming, at least with respect to scoring.

“I think [Cornell] played well, but it was more us not being able to finish our chances,” Rogers added. “People had some good games outside of the box—Andre played really well, Brian Grimm played really well—but even those guys missed some opportunities.”

Record-wise, it’s as if this game never happened, and the Crimson are moving on accordingly. The Ivy League championship, and the corresponding entry into the NCAA tournament, are still very much in reach.

“It was disappointing that we didn’t come out with a victory, but it doesn’t change what we have to do,” Rogers said. “If we win the rest of our games, we’ll still win the Ivy, which is our main goal.”