Men's Soccer Tops Haiti, Falls to Cape Verde All-Stars in Exhibition Matches

On paper, it was an impressive weekend for the Harvard men’s soccer team. But, in reality, it was much more than that.

The Crimson welcomed the Cape Verde All-Stars on Friday night to Harvard Stadium before hosting the Haitian national team Sunday night. Both games drew over 1000 fans, most Cape Verdean and Haitian supporters sporting their countries’ colors or waving flags.

Friday’s game supported Coaches Across Continents, an organization devoted to social change through the implementation of soccer leagues in impoverished countries. Sunday night benefitted Partners in Health, a global health initiative, founded in part by Harvard professor Dr. Paul Farmer, that is assisting post-earthquake Haiti’s health infrastructure.

On the pitch, each shot, run, and pass finding a player in space was greeted by loud cheers and gasps, as the Boston area Haitian and Cape Verdean communities were well-represented at Harvard Stadium. Under Sunday night’s rain, most of the 1209 spectators rejected the covered seating high in the stands to be as close to the action as possible.

In addition to the charitable contributions and the cultural celebrations, Harvard was able to steal a 1-0 against Haiti after falling in penalty kicks to the Cape Verde All-Stars after a 1-1 draw in regulation.

“From our team’s standpoint, we work the entire spring towards these games,” Crimson coach Carl Junot said. “We’re building and building and building, so to be able to come out and play these games is exciting.”

HARVARD 1, HAITI 0

After failing to score until late in Friday’s loss to the Cape Verde All-Stars, Harvard’s offense came out aggressive in the Crimson’s Sunday matchup with the Haitian national team.

Harvard earned several early set pieces. Junior center back Richard Smith and sophomore left back Pascal Mensah both had looks at the goal off corner kicks in the first five minutes, but both attempts went wide.

But after the opening exchanges, Les Grenadiers began to find an attacking rhythm of their own and took control of the game.

Monuma Constant gave Haiti its best chance of the half in the 11th minute. Constant beat the Harvard backline and sent a shot through the legs of Crimson goalkeeper Brett Conrad.

But freshman center back Tyler Evans was there to make a sliding goal-line clearance before the ball could break the plane.

But as the half went on, both teams struggled to find holes in the opposing defense.

But towards the end of the half, Haiti’s one-touch style of play began to create chances. Donald Guerrier used his speed to beat the Harvard defense and then launched a low effort. But Conrad was able to parry, and the squads went into the locker room all square.

Much like the first half, the second stanza began with a flurry of opportunities and then settled into a battle of the midfield. But this time it was Haiti that came out with its foot on the pedal.

“In the second half, straight away, I think we noticed that we could pressure higher up the field,” Junot said. “Throughout the second half, we did just that and took away their space to play dangerous soccer.”

As the game went on, the Crimson began creating more chances, with sophomore forward Connor McCarthy delivering several crosses into the box.

In the 82nd minute, freshman forward Hiroki Kobayashi took control of the ball outside the box, slipped and recovered, and cut inside his defender before sending a low curling effort into the bottom right corner to give Harvard the lead.

But the Crimson was almost pegged back immediately when Les Grenadiers defender Millean Jean Alex’s 30-yard free kick glanced the crossbar.

But that was Haiti’s last attack, as the Crimson was able to hold on for the slim 1-0 victory.

CAPE VERDE ALL-STARS 1, HARVARD 1 (7-6 PENALTY KICKS)

In front of 1176 fans, most of them sporting blue and red scarves, Harvard began its international weekend by taking on the Cape Verde All-Stars under the lights Friday night.

And though both teams found the back of the net in the first half, neither team had a goal to show on the scoreboard for their efforts going into halftime.

A sweeping offensive move by Cape Verde led to a cross by Benvindo Barros, which was deflected five yards in front of goal. Danny Xavier found himself in the right spot and pulled off an acrobatic bicycle kick that beat Conrad but not the offside flag.

Seven minutes later, forward Zack Wolfenzon thought he had eluded the offside trap before slotting home, but the junior was also ruled offside.

But both Xavier and Wolfenzon would have something to show for their efforts before the end of the day.

Xavier put Cape Verde ahead five minutes into the second half, finishing a rebound from Zico Veiga’s volley off of a corner kick.

The Crimson struggled to find an answer for most of the remaining time, but the offensive urgency picked up in the final fifteen minutes.

And after several shot attempts went wide, Wolfenzon got on the end of a deflected header from freshman Tim Schmoll to even the score at one and send the game to penalty kicks.

Harvard was up 4-3 with a chance to win, but was unable to put the game away, and Cape Verde stayed perfect in sudden death to take the matchup, 7-6.

But for Junot, positive messages could be taken from the tight loss.

“My message to our group is to [find] the urgency to attack like [the final fifteen minutes],” Junot said. “I saw our fullbacks overlapping and our forwards willing to run at defenders and create opportunities.”

—Staff writer Peter G. Cornick can be reached at pcornick@college.harvard.edu.