Soccer Scores Three Goals In Sixteen Minutes In 3-2 Victory

With its back against the wall, the Harvard men’s soccer team put together a furious rally Tuesday night. The Crimson scored three goals in under sixteen minutes to get its fourth straight win, 3-2, over Northeastern, capped by a sizzling volley from junior midfielder Andrew Chang with 43 seconds left in regulation that caught Huskies goalie Jonathan Thuresson flat-footed.

“I thought that as a team we just kept pushing and never gave up,” Chang said. “We worked hard. We know what we are good at and we just continued to do that.”

Harvard fell behind 2-0 with 20 minutes to play when Northeastern forward Frantzdy Pierrot finished a give-and-go with teammate Christian McKenna by blasting a shot off a Crimson defender and past junior goalkeeper Evan Mendez.

At that point, Harvard had outshot Northeastern 14-12 but had not seriously challenged Thuresson since junior Oliver White missed a point-blank shot in the 30th minute, one-touching a shot just right of an open net.

On this night, however, the Crimson was not to be turned back.

Coach Pieter Lehrer pulled junior co-captain Mark Ashby from the pitch following the goal, putting in Chang. The switch put a significantly more offensive unit on the field, and Harvard swiftly took advantage of its new lineup.

After pressing the ball upfield, junior Michael Klain launched a throw-in towards the box, finding 6’6” junior midfielder Tim Schmoll.

Schmoll struggled to corral the ball, sending it towards the back post, where junior midfielder Matt Sheeleigh headed the ball past an oncoming defender and right to sophomore midfielder Andrew Omiunu-Wheeler. The ball never hit the ground as Omiunu-Wheeler headed it into the back of the net, bringing the Crimson within one.

Lehrer immediately brought back Ashby, drawing a corner kick a minute and a half later. Tinkering further to try and make up the extra goal, the coach brought in senior forward Hiroki Kobayashi for Sheeleigh.

The junior rewarded his coach’s faith moments later when he tracked down a flying ball in the right corner of the box and headed a shot over the head of Thuresson. The ball fell softly into the back of the net as the bench erupted.

Down 2-0 just 13 minutes earlier, Harvard was tied.

“I think we really focused on fighting in the box and willing the ball into the goal every time,” Chang said. “We never stopped pushing as a team, and we were in the right spot at the right time.”

However, thoughts of overtime were nearly cut short as Pierrot tore through the Crimson defense 13 seconds later, dishing to teammate Donovan Fayd. Alone at the top of the box, Fayd sailed the kick long.

Back down the field came the Crimson. After a sliding tackle from sophomore forward Daniel Smith stopped a Northeastern three-on-two, a quick series of Harvard passes found White again in front of the goal. His sharp shot was deflected up into the air by Thuresson, coming right to Chang. Without hesitation, the junior struck the ball on its way down, sending a laser past the stunned goalkeeper and putting the bench on its feet.

“This group fights, they have done this in training and everything that they do,” Lehrer said. “They just fight and fight and fight.”

Afterwards, Chang noted the depth on this Crimson squad, which played 18 players on the night, as a reason behind its offensive resurgence.

After not scoring three goals in a game since November 2011, Harvard has done so in four straight games, bookending the streak with 3-2 wins over city rivals Boston College and Northeastern.

In this span, Harvard has scored 13 goals, nearly seven times the amount that it scored in its first three contests and more than it scored in any five-game period in 2013. The Crimson has outscored its opponents by eight goals during this span, bringing its season plus-minus to plus-four.

“A big part of our team that is part of our culture is that we are a team of leaders,” Chang said. “Everyone has the ability to step up in big moments and lead the team.”

—Staff writer David Freed can be reached at david.freed@thecrimson.com.