Crimson Get Blanked by Visiting Princeton

The “hard-fought game,” as sports fans tend to visualize it, takes place in the rain, on a muddy field. It’s fierce and physical with star players getting knocked around and fans heckling the refs and opposing players. The two teams relentlessly attack each other’s goal, often to no avail, until the very last second. One play, quick and unexpected, decides the game.

The Harvard women’s soccer team’s (7-6-1, 4-1 Ivy) 1-0 loss to Princeton (6-6-3, 2-2-1 Ivy) on Saturday at Ohiri Field had all of these features. The deciding tally came from Tiger freshman Jen Hoy, who scored with less than five minutes to play.

“You definitely got your money’s worth coming to this one,” Crimson coach Ray Leone said.

Harvard came out charging early and seemed to dominate possession for much of the first half but was unable to capitalize. Junior Katherine Sheeleigh and sophomore Melanie Baskind were able to put pressure on the Tiger defense and goalie Alyssa Pont, but Princeton was able to thwart the Crimson’s offensive plans. The Tigers were able to clear the ball after Sheeleigh set up a scramble in front of the goal and were able to force wide shots by Baskind and senior Christina Hagner.

“I think in the first half, especially, we had a lot of chances to put it away,” Baskind said. “You’ve got to punish them in the moment, [or] it’ll definitely come back and get you.”

Princeton, meanwhile, was struggling for much of the half to get its offense going and to get Hoy involved.

“We have six or seven freshmen on the field,” Princeton coach Julie Shackford said. “From game to game, we don’t often know which ones are going to step up...at the end of the day, [Hoy is] our most dangerous in terms of getting behind people, putting defenders on their heels, that kind of stuff.”

The Tigers seemed to find their fire towards the end of the first half, outshooting the Crimson, 4-1, in the last 10 minutes of the half. Princeton carried that intensity into the second half and dominated the ball just as Harvard had done for much of the first half.

The second half was decidedly rougher than the first. Trying to clear the ball out of the box, co-captain Lizzy Nichols took what looked to be an elbow to the nose and was escorted off the field with a towel to her face at 73:58.

But the senior plugged up her nose and went back in the game at 76:38. A minute later, Nichols got a shot off.

The next shot of the game came from Baskind, and it looked as if the Crimson was regaining its control of the game.

But the thing about soccer is that one play can change everything.

“It definitely had a feel that it was a one-goal game,” Leone said.

That play came from Hoy. The freshman beat Harvard defenders freshman Taryn Kurcz and sophomore Lindsey Kowal down the field and drilled the ball past senior goalie Lauren Mann to the lower right corner at 85:10.

“Jen’s got the speed to get behind people,” Shackford said. “[She] hasn’t finished a goal like that all season, so it couldn’t have come at a better time.”

If the Crimson was frustrated with the play, it didn’t show it, bouncing right back. Nichols rallied her teammates and got off her second shot of the day at 86:00. Shortly after, junior co-captain Gina Wideroff took a shot, which Pont deflected out of bounds, giving Kowal a corner kick. Freshman Caroline Albanese tried to capitalize out of a one-on-one with a Princeton defender but was unsuccessful.

“I was really proud of them,” Leone said. “How they did in the last four minutes was amazing [because] you could fold up thinking there’s not enough time, but there’s always time. If there’s a second, there’s time.”

And in the last second, Albanese nearly changed everything. But Pont was barely able to get a hand on her shot at 89:59 and the ball went over the right corner of the goal, giving Princeton its first road shutout of Harvard since 1985.

“I thought [Albanese’s shot] was going to go in,” Leone said. “And it was a good save, it was close. I’m just more proud of how we were even able to take that shot. You can’t control everything. The only thing you can control is giving it all you’ve got, and they did, and that’s what I was appreciative of.”

After the loss, Harvard—which had gained sole control of the Ivy League in its Tuesday win against Yale—will need to win its final regular season games against Dartmouth and Columbia to stay in the title hunt. The Crimson was in the same situation last year after losing its Ivy opener to Penn.

“The way we responded last year was unbelievable,” Baskind said. “We know it’s in us.”

“We need this challenge,” Nichols added. “I feel sorry for Dartmouth next week [because] we’re going to come out on fire.”