Men's Soccer Snaps Winless Streak with Shutout Victory

The Harvard men’s soccer team can finally breathe a sigh of relief.

The Crimson (3-3-3, 1-0 Ivy) earned a much-needed win against Ivy League rivals Yale (1-8-1, 0-1 Ivy) to restore some of the confidence the squad had had at the beginning of the season. Even though Harvard could only come up with one goal, it was sufficient, as a strong defensive display denied Yale of finding the equalizer. The Saturday afternoon match at Ohiri Field also marked the first victory in Ivy League play for first-year Harvard head coach Carl Junot.

“It was a full team effort,” Junot said. “I think in all honesty because we hadn’t won in a while we might’ve played a little nervous, but I actually thought that produced some of the best defensive play we’ve had.”

The match was played in perfect conditions, with the wind at a minimum and the sun lightly heating up the pitch. The Crimson set out to match the weather by starting conference play with a perfect record, and it did just that.

Harvard attained the lone score of the match in the first half thanks to an accurate aerial pass from co-captain Jaren LaGreca that found the head of sophomore Scott Prozeller. With 14:39 left in the period, Prozeller’s header brought Harvard to life and set the tone of an otherwise-tame first half.

The Crimson kept pushing the Bulldogs to the limit, often using the quickness and ability of sophomore Brian Rogers against a slow-moving Yale backline. Freshman forward Connor McCarthy also tormented the Bulldogs with his pace.

About a minute after the score, Harvard was looking for more as a long ball to Rogers resulted in a footrace between the sophomore forward and the last Bulldog defender. Rogers got the edge, but the defender didn’t allow the play to continue, tripping him up from behind and earning a yellow card. Rogers spent a couple of minutes on the ground, grabbing at his shoulder, which he injured in the fall.

“I came down really hard on my arm, and it was thrown over my head,” said Rogers after spending the rest of the game on the bench with his arm in a sling. “So basically it’s dislocated, but from what I hear, it should be good in a few days.”

Rogers’ unavailability did not affect the Crimson’s ability to push forward. An excellent opportunity six minutes before halftime was just wide as McCarthy had only the Yale keeper to beat.

The final 40 seconds were troubling for the Bulldogs, as the keeper had to stretch to get a hold of a header spiraling towards the top of the goal but was able to secure it.

After the break, Harvard came onto the field seemingly with a more defensive attitude, as the attacking energy from the end of the first half was no longer present. Instead, Yale had scattered opportunities throughout the half that were thwarted by the Crimson defense, anchored by co-captain Robert Millock.

Millock did appear in trouble at one point though when Yale’s Eric Meyer forced his way past the senior, leaving him alone with junior goalkeeper Austin Harms. Meyer moved closer from the left and shot the ball to the opposite side, which was left open by Harms. Harms watched as the ball flew just wide of the right post, allowing Harvard fans to breathe again. It was the best chance of the game for the Bulldogs, a wasted opportunity that would have leveled the score and put the visiting side back in the game with 17 minutes remaining.

The Crimson was caught offsides twice in the final five minutes of the game as Harvard tried to reclaim some of the offensive dominance that it exhibited in the first half. Junior Jamie Rees and Prozeller were critical in the midfield, setting up plays with pinpoint passing. Rees had a shot that flew high above the crossbar, which marked the Crimson’s final attempt on goal as the team ran down the clock to end the game.

“From minute 1-60, we played with a lot of confidence both on the ball and defensively,” Junot said. “And then after the 60th minute we took more of a defensive shell-shape, where we still defended extremely well, but I would like to see us finish the game with the same confidence in terms of going forward.”

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