Brown Poses Biggest Challenge Yet

Thus far this year, the Harvard men’s soccer team has seemed to raise its game against its toughest competition.

On opening night against then-No. 13 Stanford, the team rallied around forward Brian Rogers’ late goal to earn a 2-1 victory. A week later, the team was able to pull out a tie in a hostile environment on the road against then-No. 10 Connecticut.

Maybe a matchup against another ranked opponent—and Ivy League rival—in No. 15 Brown in Providence Saturday night will be the spark that ignites the fire for the Crimson (4-3-4, 1-0-1 Ivy) and gets it headed towards a second-straight Ancient Eight title.

“There are no secrets or illusions for our team,” Harvard coach Carl Junot said. “This is potentially the most pivotal match of the year.”

But pulling out a win will certainly not be easy. The Bears (7-1-2, 1-1-0 Ivy) possess a strong defense that only allowed one goal in its first nine games before giving up three in its first loss to Princeton last Saturday. Brown goalie Paul Grandstand ranks fourth in the nation with a 0.38 goals-against average and second in the nation with a 0.90 save percentage and a 0.80 shutout percentage.

“[Their defense is] not a concern for us,” junior midfielder Jamie Rees said. “In terms of scoring, our team is confident that we’ll be just fine. We know our defense is as good if not better than theirs, so we only need one or two goals to get a good result out of the game.”

But scoring could be especially tough for the Crimson Saturday, as the team may again be without Rogers, the team's leading scorer who injured his shoulder Oct. 2 against Yale. The sophomore was medically cleared to play this week, but Junot said Tuesday he hadn’t yet decided if he would play Rogers against Brown.

Since Rogers first went down, the team has managed just one goal per game and has lacked the scoring spark that the forward provided, but Junot has seen positives in his team’s production during that time.

“Since Rogers has been out with an injury we’ve had two goals from two different people,” Junot said. “I actually think our overall productivity as a team has increased, at least in terms of the different players who have contributed to our offense.”

The Bears have been better offensively thus far, averaging 1.60 goals per game to Harvard’s 1.09. Sean Rosa leads the squad with four goals and 11 points, while Jon Okafor and T.J. Popolizio have contributed three goals apiece. Austin Mandel leads the team with four assists.

For the Crimson, after Rogers, sophomore midfielder Scott Prozeller is second on the team with two goals, while Prozeller and freshman Kyle Henderson are tied for second with five points each. Henderson’s classmate Connor McCarthy is coming off his first Ivy League Rookie of the Week honor after scoring the game-winning goal against Holy Cross.

In net for Harvard, junior Austin Harms sports a 1.14 goals-against average and has two shutouts in his last three games.

“Austin’s playing at a very high level right now,” Junot said. “He’s playing with a lot of confidence.”

One thing the Crimson will have to tidy up is finishing each half strong defensively. Last week against Cornell, the team gave up a game-tying goal in the 89th minute. Earlier in the season, Providence scored the eventual game-winning goal with just two seconds remaining in the first half.

“Certainly within the Ivy League every game and every minute matters, and I think we’ll be a lot more focused,” Rees said. “It certainly won’t be a problem again.”

Last year, the two teams met on the same October weekend in Cambridge. Brown was again the No. 15 team in the country at that point, while Harvard was No. 6, a ranking they held earlier in this season. In that game, Harms recorded a 1-0 shutout with the winning goal coming when graduated leading scorer Andre Akpan ’10 took a pass from Rogers and beat Grandstand.

But this year, there will be no Akpan and maybe no Rogers to bail out the offense. If Harvard is going to knock off its second ranked opponent this season and pick up a crucial Ivy victory, it will be someone else’s turn to step up. Despite his offense’s recent struggles, Junot believes in his team’s ability to pull out a win.

“[Brown] lost their game against Princeton 3-0 which I think exposed a lot of their weaknesses,” Junot said. “I think we’re carrying a lot of confidence into the game...we’re potentially one win away from being [considered] the top team in the Ivy League.”

—Staff writer Scott A. Sherman can be reached at ssherman13@college.harvard.edu.