Harvard To Play Yale in Ivy League Opener

After a much-talked-about start in which the team won six consecutive games, the No. 8 Harvard men’s soccer team fell at last to then-No. 3 Wake Forest this past weekend. The loss was the first real blemish on an otherwise perfect season. Now the Crimson (6-1) must bounce back for the first time this season, facing Yale in the Ivy League opener.

Harvard visits the Bulldogs (2-3-2) tomorrow night in the 96th matchup between the two schools.

“[Losing] is not something we are used to,” co-captain midfielder Brian Grimm said. “It’s a little bit humbling.”

Even though the loss was to an extremely talented team, it has endowed the Crimson with a newfound resolve.

“We’re thinking about the loss,” Grimm said. “But we’ve done a lot to prepare ourselves [for Yale].”

“Great teams never lose two in a row,” coach Jamie Clark said. “Anyone can drop a game.”

Though Harvard has had an impressive overall start to the season, and is ranked eighth in the country, the Ivy League schedule is what counts. The Crimson aims to win the automatic NCAA Tournament entry that comes with the Ivy League title.

“Those were all nice asides,” Clark said of the many impressive victories earlier this season. “This [Yale game] is our main focus.”

“We’ve had a great start,” Grimm added. “But that’s all behind us now.”

Both teams will attempt to make their case early as contenders for the Ivy League championship by starting off 1-0.

“You don’t need to win every single game, but it certainly puts pressure on others if you get off to a fast start,” Clark said.

“Ivy League games are always a different sort of battle,” Grimm said. “The Ivy League will be particularly close this year. I don’t think there will be any room for error.”

Based on its performances this season, though, the Crimson will expect to dominate the struggling Bulldogs. Yale had an iffy start to the season and has won only twice, once over St. Francis College and once over Central Connecticut. The squad has lost the previous two games, and most recently was crushed by Sacred Heart 4-0.

“They’re not coming in with momentum or a great deal of confidence,” Clark said.

While Harvard is clearly the favorite, Clark emphasized that the game is by no means a lock.

“They are a team finding their way right now,” Clark said. “You never know what to expect because they’re shuffling in new players, trying new systems…It’s difficult to prepare for.”

The historic Harvard-Yale rivalry adds flavor to the matchup. While not as heated as in football, the game still means a lot to the players, especially due to the fact that the two schools recruit from the same pool of high school players.

“Seventy-five percent of [Yale’s] team looked at coming here and for one reason or another didn’t end up here,” Clark said. “That close connection with both schools makes for a great rivalry.”

Great rivalry notwithstanding, the Crimson has beaten the Bulldogs three years in a row.

But Clark feels that his team still has room to grow. Clark mentioned three midfield players in particular to watch: sophomore Ben Tsuda, junior Alex Chi, and senior Adam Rousmaniere.

“Those three are guys who have performed so well in practice and looked so well in games [that] it’s really just a matter of time before they get in the box scores,” Clark said. “It’s about time that they start appearing aside our big names.”

If Yale is to pull off the upset, they will need to find a way to stop these “big names.” The Crimson’s primary offensive weapons include co-captain Andre Akpan, who has six goals, and freshman forward Brian Rogers, who has two game-winning goals and four overall.

The Bulldogs must also circumvent sophomore goalkeeper Austin Harms, who has a .880 save percentage and has allowed only three goals all season. Harms was named this week’s Ivy League Player of the Week—the second time this season that he has received the honor.

Harvard looks to use this game to set a tone for the remainder of the year.

“[Yale] is a huge game for us, based on the fact that we just lost and it’s the first game of the Ivy League season,” Clark said. “It’s the start of Ivy League play. That’s our focus every year.”