Harvard Soccer Can’t Hold Early Lead, Falls to Tigers

Against one the most potent front lines in the Ivy League and on the road, the Harvard men’s soccer team fared well by scoring first on national television.

Then, in a matter of minutes, the lead turned into a deficit.

The Crimson (4-5-5, 1-1-2 Ivy) went into halftime yesterday with a 1-0 lead thanks to a goal by sophomore Scott Prozeller off a free kick in the 27th minute.

But Harvard quickly fell behind after the break, as No. 23 Princeton (9-3-1, 4-0-0 Ivy) returned the favor. The Tigers also scored off a set piece, and three minutes later, a redirected shot on goal got past junior goalkeeper Austin Harms to make the final score 2-1.

Harvard made a concerted effort to tie the score, but several wide shots did not help the Crimson’s cause in the final minutes of the game.

“I think that [yesterday’s] game went like most college games,” senior midfielder Alex Chi said. “Long throw-ins, corner kicks, it was basically a set-piece battle, and [Princeton] just happened to put away two set pieces.”

All of the action was aired on ESPNU, the second televised game of the season for Harvard.

After starting out its Ivy campaign with a win and two draws, the Crimson needed a win to gain momentum, and by the end of the first half Harvard seemed to have some hope.

Princeton’s Benjamin Burton was the first to test Harms, getting off a shot two minutes after the whistle blew the start of the game that the junior goalkeeper ultimately saved.

At 8:33, sophomore forward Brian Rogers responded with a shot of his own that was blocked by Burton. The block led to a shot by Josh Walburn that didn’t bother Harms and sailed high.

Three minutes later, the Tigers’ Antoine Hoppenot was close to putting his name on the score sheet, when one of his two shots on goal hit the crossbar.

The pace of the game then settled until 27:19, when Prozeller took advantage of two fouls called on Princeton to score the lone goal of the match for Harvard. The sophomore successfully bent the ball to the left to put it past goalkeeper Sean Lynch.

This was the first time in exactly a month that the Tigers fell behind on the scoreboard, but Princeton also came back to win that game—against Richmond—by a larger margin, 3-1.

The first half ended quietly, with both sides vying for possession of the ball and fouling each other. Both teams had seven fouls to end the period, and Princeton outshot the Crimson, 7-5.

The second half belonged to the Tigers, as the home team came out looking for the equalizer.

Princeton was awarded a free kick from 45 yards out in the 54th minute, and Teddy Schneider used the opportunity to send a long pass to Walburn, who put the ball into the left bottom corner of the net.

It didn’t take long for the winning goal to come. Less than three minutes later, a bicycle kick by Hoppenot sailed wide before Matt Sanner redirected the shot into the goal.

“I don’t know if that was a lack of pressure on our part or inspiration on their part, playing in front of a home crowd,” sophomore forward Zack Wolfenzon said. “But they just brought it, and you could really see some of their intensity.”

Freshman forward Connor McCarthy had the only shot on goal for Harvard in the second half, with 17 minutes to play—a ball that Lynch had no problem saving.

Harvard managed to get eight shots off in the second half, but the Tigers doubled that figure to end up with 16 shots in the period. Overall, Princeton outshot the Crimson, 23-10.

In the final nine minutes, co-captain Robert Millock and sophomore defender Richard Smith provided some of the offense, attempting a total of four shots. Nothing went in for Harvard, though, as the visiting side couldn’t come up with a comeback on national television.

“The last 35 minutes, we were playing catch-up, and no soccer team likes to do that,” Wolfenzon said.

Yesterday’s game was the first loss for the Crimson in Ivy League play, but it knocks Harvard down from third to fourth place in the standings, making its chances to defend its title very difficult.

—Staff writer Brian A. Campos can be reached at bcampos@fas.harvard.edu.