Harvard-Brown Decided By Overtime Golden Goal

Playing in the midst of fierce winds at Ohiri Field on a cold Saturday morning, the Harvard women’s soccer team needed more than the standard 90 minutes of play to come away with its fifth-straight win and remain undefeated in Ivy League play, as the Crimson (6-5-1, 3-0 Ivy) defeated Brown (4-7, 1-3) in overtime, 1-0.

After failing to score off its first five corner kicks in regulation, Harvard capitalized on its sixth attempt as junior forward Katherine Sheeleigh put away the golden goal in the 93rd minute.

Just over two and a half minutes into the first overtime, freshman forward Caroline Albanese took the ball down the sideline and played it off her defender to earn her team a corner kick from the left side of the field. Sophomore midfielder Melanie Baskind took the kick for the Crimson, placing it just in front of the goal for Sheeleigh, who knocked the ball to the ground before hammering it home.

“It was just a big jumble mumble of us all in the center, and then we just managed to get something on it,” said Sheeleigh, who scored her sixth goal of the year, matching her output from last season. “We all were just crashing the net and it got in.”

Sheeleigh has led Harvard in its recent winning streak, accumulating four goals in her team’s past three matches.

“She’s consistent,” Crimson coach Ray Leone said. “Whether she’s scoring or not scoring, she does whatever it takes to help the team.”

Though it took an extra session for either team to net a score, both teams had earlier chances to end the match. Less than a minute before Sheeleigh’s shot sent Brown back to Providence, the Bears had a strong opportunity to come away with the victory.

In the second minute of overtime, Brown forward Marybeth Lesbirel fired a shot that was deflected off the crossbar by Harvard senior goalkeeper Lauren Mann before she recovered it.The post aided the Crimson defense in the second half as well. In the 70th minute, Brown’s Gina Walker headed the ball over Mann, but the shot hit the crossbar. Mellissa Kim recovered the ball for the Bears and appeared to have an open shot on goal, but freshman defender Taryn Kurcz swooped in to block the attempt just in time.

“It was a rough day for us, and that’s why I’m so proud of our team,” Leone said. “We were able to withstand an incredible performance by Brown and just hang in there.”

Harvard was not without its own scoring opportunities in regulation. Just over two minutes after the Brown header deflected off the post in the second period, Baskind led a Crimson counter-attack and found senior forward Christina Hagner just feet in front of the net. Hagner, who led Harvard in scoring last season, booted the ball at Bears keeper Steffi Yellin, but the ball was knocked away.

After going scoreless in regulation—something the Crimson has already done three times this season—Harvard came through in the extra session.

“I think today’s game was just a game of heart,” said Sheeleigh, who left the game in the 26th minute with an injury to her hand but returned just over two minutes later with her fingers taped. “It was just really like a gruesome battle the whole way through, and we just kept fighting, and that’s why we got the win.”

The Crimson offense, which entered the contest averaging 1.55 goals per game, was slowed by the strong wind that it fought against both in the first half and in overtime.

While the Bears also struggled with weather conditions when the teams switched sides for the second half, their offense still managed to come away with a solid scoring opportunity.

“I thought we had a really strong second half against the wind,” Brown coach Phil Pincine said. “We even had some chances, which we didn’t think we were going to [get], since Harvard didn’t get many in the first half against the wind.”

The Harvard defense, led by Mann and sophomore defender Lindsey Kowal, managed to neutralize the Bears’ attack. Mann finished the game with two saves, earning her fourth clean sheet of the season. Captain Lizzy Nichols, who returned to the lineup last Saturday after missing the team’s match against Fairfield, spent time at midfield instead of in her typical role as defender.

“Our back line is doing great, [and] we didn’t want to mix that up at all,” Nichols said. “They’re playing really well, so I just stepped into the midfield for a bit today.”

With the win, the Crimson remains undefeated in Ivy League play and keeps its position atop the conference standings before heading into a midweek matchup against Yale on Tuesday.

“We’re feeling a lot more comfortable the way that we are [playing], and we’re attacking a lot better,” Nichols said. “I think that it was about finding the right combination of players and just sort of finding that mentality that we need to win, and I think that the Ivy League [schedule] definitely brought it out of us.”