Late Goal Propels Men’s Soccer to Victory

Uncertainty filled Soldiers Field as the clock wound down on the Harvard men’s soccer team’s contest against Columbia Saturday night.

Following a Dartmouth victory earlier in the afternoon, the Crimson faced a simple scenario. In order to keep its hopes of an Ivy League championship alive, Harvard needed to win. Yet with just seven minutes remaining, the game remained scoreless.

The lack of activity on the scoreboard was hardly a surprise, however, as the Crimson had failed to register a single shot on goal. But in the 84th minute, junior forward Tim Schmoll proved that one shot would be all that the team would need, lifting Harvard to a 1-0 victory over the Lions.

“We knew at halftime, and even going into the game, that this was going to be a game where we just needed to fight,” junior forward Tim Schmoll said. “We just needed to grind it out.”

In its last two contests, the Crimson has produced two goals on just two shots on target, squeaking out a tie against the Big Green last weekend and now a victory. But to earn the latter, Harvard (10-4-2, 3-1-2 Ivy) needed a little bit of luck.

With 6:40 remaining in regulation, junior defender Michael Klain delivered a towering throw-in into the box, but the threat diminished when junior co-captain Mark Ashby barely got his head on it.

The ball skipped to the right of the goal, and Columbia (7-7-2, 2-3-1) looked poised to make a clearance. But showing a lack of judgment, Lions’ defender Bryce Terrill reached up with his left hand and swatted the ball down to the ground, giving the Crimson a penalty kick.

Without hesitation, Schmoll stepped up to the dot, and the 6’6” forward delivered. With Columbia goaltender Kyle Jackson diving to the right, Schmoll powered a shot into the bottom left corner of the net, then kicked over the corner flag in celebration.

“Tim was fantastic on his [penalty kick]—very composed,” Harvard coach Pieter Lehrer said. “He’s always like that in training, and he’s like that as a person—very calm and collected.”

Behind the leadership of its seniors, the Crimson closed the book on a perfect 9-0 season at home with the win. The last time Harvard achieved such a feat was in 2008—a year when the Crimson reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

“It’s a fantastic class, and they lead the entire group,” Lehrer said. “Anything that the players need advice on, the seniors are the first to give it. They’ve had a massive impact on the quality of this team.”

While the Crimson managed just one shot on goal for the game, the Lions tallied seven. But junior goalkeeper Evan Mendez was there to stop every one of them—with none bigger coming just seconds before Harvard’s goal.

After junior defender Andrew Chang surrendered possession of the ball deep in his own territory, Columbia defender Rhys Williams had room to run. The sophomore darted toward the 18-yard line, initiated a give-and-go, and then launched a rocket at Mendez.

But Mendez, en route to his third shutout during Ivy play, used both hands to swat the chance away. The ball then bounced out to senior captain Kyle Henderson, who initiated the counter-attack that led to the goal.

“Like any good goalie, you don’t want to notice [Mendez] until it’s a big moment to make a save, and that’s what he did,” Lehrer said. “It might have been his best game.”

The Crimson would need each and every one of those seven saves to preserve the result. This has been the case all year long, as all six of Harvard’s conference contests this season have been separated by just a goal.

Heading into the season’s final weekend, the Crimson trails conference leaders Princeton and Dartmouth by two points. But according to Lehrer, Harvard has already been approaching every game as a “must-win.”

“It was a very typical Ivy League game when a lot’s on the line,” Lehrer said. “[It was] very physical and very emotional—much like a playoff game.”

—Staff writer Jake Meagher can be reached at jmeagher@college.harvard.edu.