Men’s Soccer Shut Out in Final Home Ancient Eight Contest

The dreary weather on Senior Day ominously predicted the outcome of the game, but, as has been the case all season, the men’s soccer seniors delivered a few rays of hope.

Co-captains Jaren LaGreca and Robert Millock and fellow seniors Alex Chi, Shomesh Chaudhuri, and James Pelletier all played their final game at Ohiri Field on Saturday afternoon. Their opponent, the Columbia Lions, upstaged the memorable event, scoring in the first half and giving the Crimson backline trouble in the second period en route to a 1-0 victory. It was only after sophomore Richard Smith received a red card midway through the second half that Harvard reacted to the scoreboard and tried to overcome the deficit, but the Lions’ lead remained intact.

“It would have been nice to end the year and our careers here on a better note,” Millock said. “You know, last year, we only lost one game on Ohiri. The year before that, I don’t think we lost on Ohiri. It’s sad, but I guess it’s something that you always knew was going to happen, and it’s tough to really swallow, especially when it’s your last game.”

Before the game, the seniors were commemorated in a short ceremony where the players were individually introduced and then accompanied by their parents for a photo shoot. Almost 700 fans cheered on the graduating student-athletes, who over the span of their careers have won 42 games and boast a 16-7-3 record in the Ivy League.

The game began with both sides battling for possession. In the process, Columbia’s Nick Scott and sophomore Scott Prozeller were involved in a seemingly minor collision, but the Lion forward fell to the ground, unable to get up. The clock stopped at 41:44, and it took several minutes before Scott could get up again.

After the minor incident, the Crimson grabbed control of the game’s tempo for most of the first half, putting more passes together than the visiting side.

But two mistakes gave the crowd reason to worry. At 25:53, Columbia’s Will Stamatis easily stole the ball from Smith and ran down the field. Stamatis tried to find someone in the middle with a lob pass but to no avail.

Four minutes later, junior goalkeeper Austin Harms fumbled a save, and a Lion almost connected with the ball before it was played out of bounds. Harms handled an ensuing corner kick with ease.

It took two minutes for Harvard to respond with a chance of its own. A free kick almost reached Prozeller in position to score, but the ball was cleared out of the box, finding the feet of co-captain Millock. The senior crossed the ball back into the penalty box from the left in an attempt to connect with a sliding Chi, but the pass barely missed.

Eight minutes later, Stamatis once again caused trouble, stealing the ball from the defense and passing it to David Najem from the left. The Columbia freshman made his way towards the center of the field while the defense complained about an alleged handball. Najem took the opportunity to create a quick back-and-forth into the box before sending a strong shot past Harms.

This quick strike caused a shift in momentum that transferred over to the second half. The Lions came out running, causing the Crimson to intermittently shoot from afar or send long passes into the box. Prozeller took a long free kick in the 62nd minute that almost resulted in a header by freshman Pascal Mensah, but it sailed just high for the rookie.

At 71:19, Smith was the victim of another steal, this time by Francois Anderson, who immediately started sprinting down the field to go one-on-one with Harms. Smith, the last man in the back, tripped Anderson, resulting in a red card.

Even though Harvard was down a man, it was the Crimson making all the offensive plays late in the game—the closest ones coming from freshman Kyle Henderson. With 15 minutes left to play, freshman forward Connor McCarthy sent in a cross from the left, and Henderson carefully headed the ball towards the far post. The attempt narrowly went over the crossbar.

Ten minutes later, Henderson shot the ball from 30 yards out, but Columbia goalie Alexander Aurrichio caught the high and fast shot.

“Towards the end of the game, I thought we made a real commitment to trying to attack the goal,” Harvard coach Carl Junot said. “We played direct, and we got service from wide areas. So overall, a disappointing result, but it’s kind of been the story of our season. We come out playing strong, and because we don’t get a goal or anything productive early in the game, it makes it much harder in the second half.”

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