Harvard Rides Offensive Outburst to Victory over Stony Brook

For the first 30 minutes of its season-opening match against Stony Brook on Friday afternoon, the Harvard men’s soccer team looked nothing like the team that is expected to make its fourth-straight NCAA tournament appearance and once again challenge for the Ivy League title. The Crimson could not get anything going offensively, constantly giving away possession to the Seawolves (0-2). And in the 28th minute, Stony Brook freshman Berien Gobeil ran right through the Harvard midfield and rifled a shot from over 30 yards out into the top left corner. Questions about the team’s ability to replace the creative influences of Mike Fucito ’09 and John Stamatis ’09 suddenly loomed even larger.

Luckily for the Crimson, two fresh faces were on scene to make sure that their first game in a Harvard uniform did not end in disappointment. Seven minutes after Gobeil’s goal, freshman Scott Prozeller linked up with classmate Brian Rogers to even the score at one.

The Crimson (1-0) would go on to dominate the second half and take away a 4-1 victory from its season opener.

“We started off slow in the first half—maybe it was a little nerves, maybe it was a little excitement,” co-captain Andre Akpan said. “But we got that goal before halftime ,which was important, and we came out ready to play in the second half.”

Akpan—recently listed as one of the top collegiate soccer players by ESPN, College Soccer News, and Soccer America—scored twice in the first eight minutes of the second half, and senior winger Desmond Mitchell added a fourth in the 73rd minute to put the game out of reach.

“We got caught in a lull when we lost that first goal, and then we had to dig our way out,” Harvard coach Jamie Clark said. “But we did a great job by responding right away, and then in the second half we were fantastic.”

After falling behind, Clark made two immediate changes that helped turn the game around: bringing on Mitchell and sophomore Jaren LaGreca, and moving Prozeller up to midfield.

But the most strategic substitution may have come five minutes prior to Stony Brook’s goal, when Clark sent on Rogers for his first collegiate match. Much is expected of Rogers, and the speedy striker did not take long to show everyone in attendance that he intends to live up to the hype.

In the 35th minute, Rogers latched onto a great pass from fellow freshman Prozeller, who had slotted next to co-captain Brian Grimm in midfield. Rogers darted by the Seawolves’ defense on the right side, finding himself one-on-one with the Stony Brook keeper. Rogers shot early, lifting the ball into the top left corner to even the score.

“Before the game, [Akpan] put a lot of pressure on me,” Rogers said. “He said, ‘This is the first step to breaking all my records.’ So it was a big weight off all my shoulders when I saw that ball go in.

“It felt like it was in the air for an eternity,” he added.

“I think he’s one of the five best freshman forwards in the country,” Clark said of Rogers. “He scores—that’s the name of his game. He gets in behind defenses, he gets on the ends of balls…and once he gets behind the defense, no one’s going to catch him.”

Prozeller, a Sudbury, Mass. native, joined the squad as the heir-apparent to Grimm in the holding role in midfield. But Prozeller quickly showed his ability to flourish in a more attack-minded function, picking up his first collegiate assist.

Playing a more direct brand of soccer, the Crimson dominated the final exchanges of the first half and continued to bombard the Seawolves’ goal after the break.

Five minutes into the second half, junior Alex Chi fought off multiple Stony Brook defenders to win a free kick right outside the Seawolves’ box. Akpan curled the ball beautifully around the wall and into the bottom right corner to give Harvard the lead.

Akpan doubled his tally for the season a few minutes later by heading the ball into the same corner of the net off a cross from the right side.

The relentless Crimson attack struck again for its fourth and final goal when Akpan sent a ball over the Stony Brook defense and Mitchell finished with a skillful lob.

“We believe that we are one of the top 20 teams in the country, but you have to impose it on other teams,” Clark said. “It’s hard when you play against a team that has already played a game and are just a little sharper to begin with. But by the end of the game we were fresher and more composed.”

—Staff writer Jay M. Cohen can be reached at jaycohen@fas.harvard.edu.