Resurgent Men's Soccer Sits Alone Atop Ivy League

On October 5th, the Harvard men’s soccer team suffered a 2-1 loss to the Yale Bulldogs. Leading 1-0 with four minutes to play, Harvard gave up two goals in the final four minutes. The loss extended a league winless streak that stretched back to 2011. Afterwards sophomore Michael Klain said, “We’ll fight every time we’re on the field, in practice, and in games, because we know our goals are still within reach.

Oh, was he right.

Less than a month later, the Crimson sit alone atop the Ivy League after five games. Its 2-1 victory against Dartmouth on Saturday was its fourth in a row by the same margin. Harvard is now 4-1 in one-goal games since the loss to Yale—with the only loss a 3-2 non-conference decision against Boston College where the Crimson took a 2-0 lead into halftime.

“This team continues to fight, they continue to prepare really well,” Harvard coach Pieter Lehrer said. “They show up the same way they did in the early part of the season. They work, they work, they work.”

A REBOUNDING OFFENSE

The main part of Harvard’s resurgence has been a more productive offense. After scoring only three goals in the first five games, Harvard has ten goals in its last five efforts. Overall, the team is averaging 1.8 goals in Ivy League play. The offense has been a team effort, with no individual scorer ranking in the top 10 in the Ancient Eight in goals, but 12 players have scored at least one goal for the team.

On Saturday, the trend continued. In the 12th minute, sophomore Andrew Chang—who had to that point scored only one goal all year—corralled a pass from senior midfielder Ross Friedman and let loose a shot from 25 yards out. Chang’s shot sailed just over the fingertips of the diving Dartmouth goalkeeper for Harvard’s first goal of the night.

“We pride ourselves on taking advantage of every opportunity that we can,” junior forward Philip Fleischman said. “It was a great strike by Chang and it was great to get an early goal and set the tone for the rest of the game.”

The second goal of the game came from senior forward Pascal Mensah in the 41st minute as Harvard took advantage of an unusual opportunity. After an apparent foul on Harvard senior Kevin Harrington went uncalled, the ball rolled back to Big Green goalkeeper James Hickock. Hickock, like many of the others players on both squads, had stopped play awaiting a call by the official. Seeing the ball lying alone in the middle of the box, Mensah ran in from the right side and, after juking a startled Hickock, dribbled the ball into the back of the net.

“It all comes from the mentality of fighting every single day and fighting every single play,” Fleischman said. “We all embody it, and Pascal embodied it in that play, and it is something that we pride ourselves on.”

LEADING WITH EXPERIENCE

After the win, Lehrer pointed to the play of co-captains Kevin Harrington and Friedman as the reason for the team’s continued success since four losses in five games to open the season. Friedman has 10 assists on the season and his eight in Ivy League play lead the league. Harrington’s goal in the second overtime against Cornell jump-started the team’s current four-game conference winning streak.

Harrington and Friedman have started all fourteen games and are one-two on the team in shots and points. They have combined for 44 shots, 16 points, and three goals on the year, pacing the Crimson offense. On Saturday, Friedman set up the first goal with his dish to Chang, and Harrington set up Fleischman with two separate chances in front of the goal that the junior forward could not convert.

“Both of those guys have been unbelievable,” Lehrer said. “Kevin on the field, in the locker room, in meetings, those guys just lead from the first moment to the last moment. Obviously it’s huge since it sets a great standing for the rest of the group and it pulls the group higher to a different level.”