Crimson Looking to Snap Winless Streak

With the start to the Ivy League season quickly approaching, players and coaches will undoubtedly take time to reflect on what’s been happening so far.

The Harvard men’s soccer team (2-3-3) looks to bounce back from its first loss at home as it takes on Ancient Eight rival Yale (1-7-1) in the Ivy League opener tomorrow at Ohiri Field. After a six-game winless streak, with three losses and three draws, the Crimson hopes to return to form and recapture some of that on-field chemistry that helped them beat then-No. 13 Stanford in the season-opener, 2-1.

Last year’s matchup against the Bulldogs was anything but friendly. The hard-fought match ended in double overtime in favor of the Crimson after sophomore Brian Rogers scored the winning goal in the 103rd minute.

In the past three seasons, Harvard has won every match against the Bulldogs with the Crimson backline recording shutouts in each game. But players like senior forward Alex Chi are also well aware of this match’s potential to ensnare the home side.

“We can’t take games against lesser teams like Yale too lightly,” Chi said. “We need to win games that we are supposed to win, but battle in the games where we aren’t.”

In Harvard’s last outing on Wednesday, Providence defeated the men’s soccer team, 2-1. The Crimson trailed the Friars, 2-0, at the half, but within the first minutes of the second period, a well-coordinated offensive attack by Harvard and a shot on goal by junior midfielder Jaime Rees cut the deficit in half. Though the Crimson outshot the Friars 18-8, the Harvard offense could not find the back of the net to gain the equalizer.

“It was one of those games where we completely dominated,” Chi said. “And [Providence] literally had only two chances, but they put those two chances away. And we left the game wondering how we were just robbed of a win.”

After a strong start to the season with wins against Stanford and UMass, the Crimson has been winless ever since, conceding eight goals in the last six games.

But this has not been a major letdown to Harvard men’s soccer coach Carl Junot due to the high level of competition the team has been up against.

“It’s been an interesting season for us so far in a sense,” Junot said, “because we’ve played three of the very best teams in the country, being UConn, UC Santa Barbara, and New Mexico. I think that those are legitimately some of the top 15, top 20 teams in the country and our performance against those teams was fantastic.”

Nevertheless, the Crimson’s weakness on the defensive side of the ball has raised some tactical questions leading up to Ivy League play.

“I think our focus for this week,” Junot said, “is to really work on tightening up our defense. I believe we have the most talented attacking team in all the Ivy League, and that we can create enough opportunities to win every game. The question is, are we going to be solid enough defensively to not concede goals? If we can shut-out teams or keep them to one goal, I think that we are going to have a chance to win every Ivy game.”

Besides its significance as the Ivy League opener, the 97th meeting between Harvard and Yale also holds additional meaning for some on the Crimson side. For Junot and the five seniors on the squad, tomorrow’s game signifies a crucial moment in their collegiate soccer careers.

As a first-year head coach, Junot remarked on the importance of the match against the Bulldogs at a personal level.

“[The match against Yale] does have special significance for me,” Junot said. “Its my first Ivy League game as head coach and I want to get a positive result and I want our team to have the pace to victory, because I feel that our team is on the verge of having a very good season.”

And the seniors hope that tomorrow’s game will be a memorable final Harvard-Yale matchup.

“Harvard-Yale is always a tough rivalry game, Chi said. “But Yale is one of the few teams that I’ve beaten every time, so I would like to close out my time here 4-0 against them.”