Men's Soccer Drops Crosstown Contest

BOSTON—The latest “road” game for the No. 20 Harvard men’s soccer team, a 20-minute bus ride away, turned out to be a disappointing finish to a mediocre five-game road trip.

The Crimson (2-2-3) visited Boston University (5-3-1) last night in hopes of adding a victory to its otherwise winless campaign on the road. Instead, a lackluster first half that ended tied at one—thanks to a beautifully-taken free kick by freshman Kyle Henderson to end the period—only led to a second half filled with heavy touches and incomplete passes. The unranked Terriers took advantage of the sloppy play to put the game away, 2-1.

“[BU’s second score] was a well-constructed goal on their part,” Harvard coach Carl Junot said. “It was a good finish and a good cross, and after that we ran out of a little energy. I think five games into a road swing we’ve run out of road energy. I think if you had told me that we would come out of a five-game road swing with two losses, I would’ve said that’s probably pretty good.”

The Terriers had a plethora of opportunities throughout the game, starting with a very close shot in the 27th minute that went wide just past the right post on a counterattack that caught junior goalkeeper Austin Harms out of the goal.

Harvard showed sparks of ingenuity as well. Junior midfielder Jamie Rees, freed up by the constant double- or even triple-teaming on sophomore Brian Rogers, often tormented the Terriers’ left flank but failed to find the back of the net.

In the 23rd minute, Rees went one-on-one against a Boston leftback and was purposefully tripped up after successfully slipping the ball through the legs of his opponent. This foul led to the first set piece for the visiting team, but it was a wasted opportunity as the ball crashed into a two-man wall.

Throughout the game, set pieces were a major weakness for the Crimson, which often failed to get the ball past the wall or lost possession.

With 18 minutes left in the first half, the host’s constant attempts on the right flank finally came to fruition when the Terriers’ Ben Berube kicked in a cross to an unmarked Kelvin Madzongwe.

The freshman calmly jumped into the air and carefully headed the ball into the goal—the first tally of his career. Harms helplessly watched the ball roll past his right, and BU went up on the scoreboard.

Falling behind is now becoming a pattern for Harvard, a team that had to rely on an 89th–minute goal from Rogers against Stony Brook on Friday to salvage a tie. This time around, the Crimson banked on a freshman to level the score.

With just two minutes left in the first half, Henderson bent a free kick into the top left corner of the net, scoring his first collegiate goal. It was the only shot on goal for Harvard, compared to the Terriers’ four.

The second half began with the characteristic exchange of touches from both teams, with the Crimson coming up with a few opportunities but failing to test Terrier goalkeeper Brandon Briggs.

Rees, causing trouble for the left side of the Terriers’ backline, had a clear chance to put his team ahead with 38 minutes left in the half, thanks to a pass from senior Alex Chi, but Briggs sacrificed his body to secure the ball.

Five minutes later, just as the momentum seemed to be on Harvard’s side, a crafty sequence of passes by the BU frontline led to an easy put-in by Berube.

Aaron O’Neal, from the right side, crossed a dangerous pass through the penalty box to a rushing Vicente Colmenares, who passed the ball back to the middle, where Berube ran to meet it. Harms, preoccupied by Colmenares, failed to get back in time to the middle section of the goal, where Berube rolled the ball right in.

After the second goal, the fatigue wore on Harvard, and it was only in the final minutes of the game that the Crimson felt a sense of urgency to find another tying goal, primarily from its lone striker.

Unfortunately, Rogers was largely ineffective, as he was heavily marked by a resilient backline. It was up to the wings to come up with plays, but nothing gave a positive result for Harvard.

“We have the guys that can step up and help me out, but it’s going to take some time,” Rogers said. “It’s just a matter of figuring out how they’re going to impact the game. I think we’re asking guys to step up who haven’t had to in the past, and it takes everyone a few games, a few weeks to adjust.”

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