Men's Soccer Off Target in 0-0 Draw

Just one year after escaping Nickerson Field with an unexpected double-overtime victory against Boston University, the Harvard men’s soccer team found itself deadlocked with the crosstown-rival Terriers on Wednesday night.

However, this time neither the Crimson (1-4-2) nor BU (3-3-1) could find the back of the net, leaving Soldiers Field with a 0-0 draw. Despite a lack of activity on the scoreboard, there was no shortage of action on the field. Both teams had several chances to net the winning goal.

With just a minute remaining in the contest, Harvard nearly capitalized on a critical Terriers error. With much of the BU squad upfield following a Terriers corner kick, senior midfielder Kevin Harrington stole the ball off the foot of BU junior defender Parker Powell at midfield. Harrington sprinted the length of the field with Powell in pursuit and earned a corner kick. Off the set piece, Harrington headed the cross over to junior defender Tyler Evans, who sent a rocket flying towards the net. But another chance was stifled, as the ball found the back of a BU defender rather than the back of the BU net.

“We are creating chances, but we are not getting the final product,” Crimson coach Pieter Lehrer said. “We are working on it. [The players] are making steps in that end, and hopefully it comes to fruition.”

Evans was not the only member of the Harvard squad who had an opportunity to put away the Terriers late in the contest. Before the game reached overtime, sophomore midfielder Andrew Chang had his biggest opportunity of the night. With under two minutes to play, Chang charged up the left side of the pitch after shaking away from a BU defender and blasted a powerful shot at Terrier freshman goalkeeper Matt Gilbert, who made his second save of the game to preserve his third shutout of the season.

“Our confidence went up, and we are a second half team,” Harrington said. “We are well conditioned and have really good endurance as a group because of what Coach Lehrer put us through in the preseason and the beginning of the season. We thrive when it gets tough.”

BU also had a fair amount of chances to come up with its fourth win in its last five games. The Terriers were dominant in the first half, and the offensive onslaught began just five minutes into the first half. Led by senior midfielder Anthony Ciccone and junior midfielder Cameron Mouri, BU had the center of the field under control in the early going. Capitalizing on the precise passing of the Terrier midfielders, senior forward Ali Sozeri came away with the ball and blasted a curling shot from 25 yards out. Crimson goalkeeper Evan Mendez—in his second consecutive start after the Crimson’s win over Massachusetts last weekend—got his fingertips on the Sozeri strike, sending it high over the net.

After the first half, the Terriers led Harvard in shots on goal, 5-1.

“At halftime, the players sit down and go over their collective thought and then we talk as a group,” Lehrer said. “They were spot on with their ideas of what to do: need more energy, winning the first ball and competing for the second ball, and finishing when we get the chances. They are very tuned in, and I think it is a great step forward.”

As play resumed, Chang dazzled the crowd with a back-heel flick to Friedman, who sent the ball left-to-right into the box. Junior defender Philip Fleischman was wide open but could not finish as the ball sailed high off his head. Eight minutes later, Friedman found himself on the receiving end of a cross in the box, but his shot went wide.

“In the second half, we really came out refreshed and went after their defensive backs with everything we had, and it showed,” Harrington said.

Harvard has now earned a result in three of its last four contests after opening the season on a three-game losing streak.

“The win would have been great, but getting a shutout is always a positive and something that we can build off of,” Harrington said. “We are happy coming out of here knowing that, if a few chances went our way, then the win is ours.”