Crimson Clinches Title Spot With Win Over Big Green

Even nature couldn’t defeat the Harvard women’s soccer team, which found itself in a 1-1 tie in the second half on Saturday at Ohiri Field, fighting both Dartmouth and a 29 mph wind.

But the Crimson (8-6-1, 5-1 Ivy) was undeterred, and in the 87th minute notched the go-ahead goal to hold off the Big Green (8-7, 3-3) for the 2-1 win and, more importantly, for the Ivy League championship.

“It feels absolutely amazing to come back and be Ivy League champions again,” junior forward Katherine Sheeleigh said. “Absolutely amazing.”

Sheeleigh scored both goals for Harvard, and while she insisted that her game-winning goal “just slipped in,” head coach Ray Leone was quick to praise.

“She’s got a knack.” Leone said. “She is so mentally tough that you just can’t take this kid out of the game. She’s a winner.”

Dartmouth scored first for an early lead in the seventh minute when Big Green forward Aly O’Dea—her team’s leading scorer—headed a cross from the left past Crimson goalkeeper Lauren Mann.

“We’ve been down before and come back,” co-captain Lizzie Nichols said. “We just brought everyone in and just said, ‘Listen, relax. We have almost an entire game left. Let’s just play our game.’”

Sheeleigh made her presence known with the equalizer in the 20th minute, when, after a well-placed corner kick, she found the loose ball and launched it into the net. Harvard continued to get chances, but converting them proved difficult, and the Crimson ended the first half tied 1-1.

In the second half, Harvard shifted to defend the downwind side in a rapidly rising gale. Any clearing attempts were stuffed by the winds, and Dartmouth kept the pressure on accordingly.

“Our defense and [goalkeeper] Lauren Mann really kept us in the game, they were amazing,” Sheeleigh said. “It was a struggle. The wind was very, very strong.”

The Big Green came tantalizingly close to taking the lead but couldn’t seem to finish.

“We huffed and puffed and dinked the post and the crossbar and just couldn’t get it in there,” said Dartmouth head coach Angie Hind.

In the 87th minute, Sheeleigh got an opportunity for the Crimson, taking a pass from the right directly in front of the Big Green net and spinning it just out of the reach of the off-balance goalie. It was her fourth game-winning goal of the season.

The match was a battle from start to finish, as both teams had seven corner kicks, and both goalies had four saves. Dartmouth outshot Harvard 15-12.

“The game was everything it was built up to be,” Leone said. “Dartmouth was unbelievable. They played as good as we thought they were going to play, and we had to match that.”

When the final buzzer sounded, the team stormed the field in excitement. The league title-clinching win was particularly sweet after the 1-5-1 start that the team had.

“[It’s] unbelievable,” Nichols said. “After the BU game in the middle of our season, we had to come together because we were having a rough start. We just looked each other in the eye to say, ‘I believe in this team, and we’re going to do it this year, and we fought through every game’…I’m so proud of this team.”

“Once we started doing bad, it kind of snapped them out,” Leone added. “Day by day they got better and better. We were starting from scratch when we were starting the Ivy League [schedule].”

The Crimson is Ivy League champion for the second year in a row and for the ninth time overall.

“Last year was the first time in a long time that we’ve won,” Nichols said. “This time really shows our character because we were able to repeat.”

With a game left in the league schedule, the team is guaranteed at least a tie for the Ivy championship as well as the accompanying NCAA tournament berth, since it holds the tie-breaker over Yale.

Harvard now has an extra week to focus on preparing for the post-season—a luxury compared to 2008, when the championship was decided in the final game of the year.

“To do it in game six is really a dream come true,” Leone said. “Now we have to put this game behind us and focus on just improving.”