Harvard Comes Up Short in Solid Performance

It may have been senior night for the Harvard field hockey team last night at Jordan Field, but it was the underclassmen who gave the Crimson an opportunity to win the game.

Down 4-2 to University of New Hampshire (12-6, 3-2 America East) in the second half, Harvard sophomores Carly Dickson and Allie Kimmel scored two goals in the match’s final 24 minutes to send the game into overtime.

Alas, the Harvard comeback would not be completed, as UNH scored a golden goal in just the 7th minute of overtime to give the Wildcats the 5-4 victory, dropping Harvard to 5-11 (2-4 Ivy) in the team’s final home game of the season.

“It’s a game I’ve sort of thought about since coming in as a freshman in preseason,” senior co-captain Elizabeth Goodman-Bacon said. “That was a great game to end on.”

Kimmel got the comeback started for the Crimson in the second half. After UNH goalie Katherine Nagengast strayed from her post to knock away a Harvard breakaway, Kimmel scooped up the ball and lobbed it over the goalie’s head to bring the Crimson within a single goal.

Dickson evened the score seven minutes later off a penalty corner. The sophomore received a pass from co-captain Kristin Bannon at the left side of the field. After tapping it to herself just feet in front of the circle, Dickson booted it past the Wildcats goalie for her second score of the game, knotting the score at four with less than 15 minutes remaining.

“They really put pressure on us,” UNH coach Robin Balducci said. “They really put us back on our heals.”

But tying the score would not put an end to Harvard’s worries. Before the end of regulation, the Crimson would be forced to withstand three penalty corners and a shot from UNH that forced Harvard goalie Cynthia Tassopoulos—who finished with eleven saves—to hit the turf to knock the ball away.

“Cynthia continues to hold the fort down back there,” Crimson coach Sue Caples said. “She’s learning how to command her circle.”

But Harvard’s strong defensive play at the end of regulation would not carry over into the extra period.

After a turnover at midfield, the Wildcats set up a breakaway. Meg Shea crossed the ball in front of the net for Whitney Frates, who tipped it past Tassopoulos for the game-winner in the seventh minute of overtime.

The Crimson might have been able to escape with a win, were it not for the team’s typically slow start. Harvard surrendered two goals in the game’s first six minutes, forcing the team to come from behind throughout the contest.

“As we continue to improve and grow as a team, we’ll settle into a game earlier and won’t be playing from behind the eight-ball in the first five minutes,” Caples said.

If going down 2-0 early were not bad enough, the Crimson’s leading scorer, junior Chloe Keating, left the game in the 13th minute with what appeared to be an injury to her right leg.

For a stagnant Harvard offense that had scored just four goals in its past three games, losing the junior forward and her .6 goals per contest appeared to be a bad sign.

But it was just when Keating went down that the Crimson offense stepped up. Instead of letting things spiral out of control—as happened in Harvard’s past three games—the Crimson got a spark from an unlikely source.

Freshman forward Nina Kucharczyk, a field hockey walk-on, notched her first goal of the season and her team’s first goal of the game in the 16th minute.

“I feel like I’m part of the team now,” said Kucharczyk, who was recruited to play lacrosse but joined an undermanned field hockey squad.

Almost as bizarre as Kucharczyk’s journey to the field hockey team was her first score. Just minutes before her goal, Kucharczyk heard a call from the Harvard sideline telling her to come out for a substitution.

As Kucharczyk ran over to the scorer’s table, a Crimson possession began to formulate and a coaching assistant yelled at Kucharczyk to remain on the field. Kucharczyk then sprinted toward the goal where Bannon had stolen the ball in front of the net. After Bannon’s shot was batted away by Nagengast, Kucharczyk collected the rebound and put away the score.

“I’m glad I didn’t come out when I saw supposed to,” Kucharczyk said with a smile.

Harvard would tie the score minutes later, this time in a more traditional manner. A string of crisp passes put the ball in the UNH semi-circle, where Harvard was able to earn its first penalty corner of the game.

Off the penalty corner, Sophomore Georgia McGillvray fed Dickson, who slapped it past the Wildcats goalie to even the score at two.

UNH would attempt to create separation from the Crimson again, scoring with less than two minutes left in the first half and then off a penalty corner just six minutes into the second frame.

But once again Harvard managed to claw its way back into the game, with the two goals from Dickson and Kimmel.

“I thought we did a great job of coming back and putting four goals in the net,” Tassopoulos said. “It’s just incredible after their scoring on us, especially so early.”

Unfortunately for the home team, it could not hold up in overtime. The defeat marks the Crimson’s fourth straight loss and seventh in the team’s last eight games. But after being outscored 23-4 in the squad’s previous three matches, last night’s overtime loss signaled an improvement.

“Coming off a couple tough games, I think we really picked it up,” Kimmel said. “Things were working out there.”