Second Half Surge Fuels Harvard Victory

The Harvard women’s soccer team rallied from a halftime deficit to defeat Fairfield University, 2-1, on Tuesday afternoon.

After an exciting overtime win at Yale this past weekend, the Crimson (7-4, 2-0 Ivy) came back to Ohiri Field to take on the Stags (3-4-3, 1-1 MAAC) in a nonconference matchup. Despite going down 1-0 in the opening minutes, Harvard found its offensive rhythm in the second half, with two goals coming from sophomore Peyton Johnson, who is also a Crimson sports comper, and rookie Meg Casscells-Hamby.

“We were sluggish in the first half, for sure,” Harvard coach Ray Leone said.  “[The fact that we were] recovering from an emotional game [against the Bulldogs] showed up in the game.”

While the hosts appeared most dangerous in the opening minutes of the game, Fairfield grabbed an early lead thanks to forward Kasey Schulz’s tally.  Less than eight minutes into the game, a poor clearance by the Crimson defense found its way to Stags midfielder Nikki Stanton, who slipped the ball to Schulz outside the box.  Schulz’s low shot deflected off a Harvard defender and beat a diving freshman goalkeeper Cheta Emba.

The Crimson, who started the game with many of its regular starters on the bench, struggled to find an answer for the goal. Despite dominating possession of the ball in the midfield, Harvard did not create many offensive opportunities for the first 20 minutes of the game.

Johnson believed the timing of the game had something to do with the slow start.

“Playing on a weekday is always tough,” the midfielder said.  “Your mind is in a lot of different places, and it is hard to leave all of that across the river.”

But the Crimson went into halftime on a positive note.  Before the whistle blew, Johnson unleashed a 30-yard shot towards the top corner that Fairfield goalkeeper Kelly Boudreau had to tip against the crossbar.

After numerous halftime substitutions, Harvard was able to counter its slow start.  In the 54th minute of the game, co-captain Lindsey Kowal put a corner into the middle of the box, and Johnson headed low past Boudreau to tie the score.

Harvard had a chance to make it two goals in as many minutes when freshman midfielder Lauren Urke’s long cross flew high past sophomore midfielder Elizabeth Weisman’s head.

As rain clouds moved in and opened up over Ohiri Field, both teams attempted shots from distance to test the goalkeepers’ ability to handle the ball in the wet conditions. In one of these instances, Casscells-Hamby fired a shot right at Boudreau, who fumbled the ball.  Two Crimson forwards rushed to slide home the rebound, but Boudreau recovered quickly, and the score remained tied.

Casscells-Hamby would only have to wait five more minutes to beat Boudreau.

Kowal again took a corner that was cleared back to her on the wing, and her follow-up cross found Casscells-Hamby in the middle of the box.

The freshman volleyed the ball into the top of the goal to give Harvard the lead in the 66th minute.

“Lindsey serves a great corner,” Johnson said.  “It’s pretty nice when a center back has two assists on the day.”

Casscells-Hamby’s goal underlined a strong performance by her and other members of her freshman class.

Both Emba and rookie goalkeeper Bethany Kanten had crucial saves, while Urke continued to make plays in the midfield.

Casscells-Hamby said she and her classmates have had a smooth transition to the college game.

“None of us have really felt like freshmen,” she said. “We all just feel like a part of the team.”

After the goal, the Crimson changed its formation slightly to provide more defensive cover, while the Stags made a late push for a tying goal.

Fairfield senior forward Jasmin Corniel, a halftime substitute, used her physical presence to drive the ball down the wing and test the Harvard defense with numerous crosses in the final minutes.

With two minutes left in the game, Corniel put in a cross that was headed towards goal, directly in between Kanten and onrushing Stags attackers.  Kanten barely won the race to the ball, punching it clear before colliding with a Stags forward.

From there, the Crimson maintained possession and ran out the clock, registering a midweek win to help carry the squad into Ivy League play this weekend.

“We took a different tactical approach [in the second half],” Johnson said.  “We put different people in different places. We had some fresh legs, and there was also a mentality switch.  We just turned it on.”