Senior Breaks Slump To Assist Harvard’s 2-1 Victory at Home

The Dartmouth men’s soccer team (8-5-1, 3-2 Ivy) came to Cambridge on a mission to reassert itself as the Ivy League’s top team after entering into a tie with Brown following last week’s loss to Columbia. Accompanied by a legion of costumed fans, the No. 21 Big Green came from New Hampshire hoping to beat No. 14 Harvard (11-3-1, 3-1-1) on its home field on Saturday.

But the Crimson, coming off an upset loss itself, wanted some revenge of its own.

Senior defender Kwaku Nyamekye took matters into his own hands, scoring his first goal of the season to spark Harvard’s 2-1 defeat of the Big Green.

“Kwaku was brilliant,” Crimson coach Jamie Clark said. “He’s a defender, but he comes over for set pieces, and he’s good for one shot a game. So we talked about it, and it managed to work.”

It only took 4:42 for Nyamekye to break the longest score-free stretch of his career—his last goal coming last Nov. 8 against Columbia.

“It’s great to finally score,” the senior said. “I knew it’d come at some point...I’m really happy.”

Nyamekye, brought up top for a corner-kick play, received a pass from senior Adam Rousmaniere and drilled the ball into the right side of the goal.

“Every goal takes a little pressure off our team,” he said.

The goal proved to be critical, as the Big Green dominated the ball for the rest of the half. Junior Alex Chi worked hard in the midfield to send the ball up, but senior forward Andre Akpan and freshman forward Brian Rogers were stifled by Dartmouth’s physical defense. Clashes sent Akpan to the ground on a few occasions, and the co-captain seemed to be looking for penalties to be called.

Meanwhile, Dartmouth’s strikers Austin Bowers, Kevin Dzierzawski, and Maarten van Ess were pressuring the Crimson defense and goalie Austin Harms through the end of the first half and into the second. Though the defense was able to keep the ball away from the goal, it seemed only a matter of time before Dartmouth found the back of the net.

The Big Green’s lucky moment came at 55:26, when sophomore Lucky Mkosana fired the ball past Harms off an assist from classmate van Ess. The Crimson had held off two offensives before the goal, but it was unable to clear the ball past midfield.

Perhaps that goal was the wake-up call Harvard needed, as it registered the next three shots of the game. The first one came from Chi at 60:42. Two minutes later, the Crimson was back on top, thanks to the combined efforts of its co-captains.

Midfielder Brian Grimm kicked the ball far down the field to the right side.

Akpan was waiting for it, but so were two Big Green defenders, both of whom were to his inside. Controlling the ball, the forward quickly reversed direction and beat the first defender to the inside, firing the ball to the opposite corner before the second could touch him.

“[Akpan] scored a brilliant goal,” Clark said. “He always makes a little run. It’s a bit of class to actually beat the guy.”

The goal puts Akpan just two goals shy of the all-time career scoring mark, currently held by Chris Ohiri ’64.

A minute and a half later, it looked like the Crimson would go up one more, but Rogers’ shot hit the crossbar, and Dartmouth defenders boxed him out for the rebound.

The freshman’s effort proved to be the Crimson’s last shot of the game. The Big Green regained its control of the ball and, just as in the first half, Harvard relied on its defense to deliver the victory.

“We expected them to put a lot of pressure on us,” Nyamekye said.

The defense was up to the challenge. Missed opportunities by the Big Green certainly didn’t hurt, as Dartmouth forwards had four shots miss the goal near the end of the game. But the Big Green hounded the ball, and just as before, it seemed a matter of time before one went their way. When the ball finally went past Harms, it seemed for a split second that the score would be tied.

But Nyamekye had other ideas, clearing the ball before it broke the plane.

“Every time we needed something won in the air [or] cleared, [Nyamekye was there],” Clark said. “And kind of a cherry on top, he scores a goal.”