Men's Soccer Falls Short in Nation's Capital

After entering the year with high expectations, the Harvard men’s soccer team (0-2-0) went winless on its first road trip of the year, losing in tight matches against No. 9 Georgetown (1-0-2) and George Washington (2-1-0). The Crimson led for just eight minutes across both games.

GEORGE WASHINGTON 2, HARVARD 1

On Sunday, the Crimson avoided falling into an early hole by dominating the offensive end in the first half. The Crimson had 11 shots in the first period, allowing just two, and notched nine corner kicks along the way. Harvard had three shots in the first six minutes but ultimately could not convert until early in the second half, when captain Kyle Henderson knocked in a header off an assist from sophomore forward Daniel Smith.

George Washington quickly fought back, scoring a corner kick just eight minutes later. After sophomore Spiros Tsakos sent the corner into the box, a foul gave the Colonials a penalty kick attempt. Junior Jonny Forrest knocked the ball into the right corner of the net to equalize the game.

Forrest was not done for the day. In the next 25 minutes, George Washington had just one other shot before the forward put the team on his back. Corralling a through ball from junior Philip McQuitty in front of the goal, Forrest beat a Crimson defender before blasting a shot into the bottom left corner of the net for the deciding score of the contest.

Harvard, which outshot the Colonials by a 21-8 count over the course of the game, could not manage a shot in the final minutes, losing its second straight game.

GEORGETOWN 2, HARVARD 0

The last time Harvard squared off against a nationally ranked opponent, the Crimson did not stand a chance, falling to then-No. 4 Connecticut, 6-0.

Two years later, Harvard has a new kind of team. Although the result was the same—a loss to No. 9 Georgetown, 2-0—the Crimson proved that it can compete against the best in its 2014 season opener.

“There were a ton of positives we can take out of the game,” junior co-captain Mark Ashby said. “We really feel like we were able to hang with them and probably any other team in the nation. We feel really confident now.”

After falling behind in the 12th minute, Harvard settled into the contest, staving off the Hoyas’ attack for the majority of the game. Georgetown recorded a whopping 21 shots but could only get five of them on net.

“If you just look at the shots, it looks like we got pounded, but I can really only think of three or four chances where they had good opportunities to score,” Ashby said. “I was really impressed with the whole back line. They did a really good job of holding it down.”

Crimson coach Pieter Lehrer said that the major aim of the back line was shutting down the Hoyas’ two top forwards, sophomore Alex Muyl and junior Brandon Allen. The attacking duo combined to tally 15 goals and 14 assists last season, but Harvard held them to just one shot on goal on Sunday.

The defensive effort, however, would not be enough, as Georgetown’s goal in the early stages of the game proved to be all the host would need. Following two early shots on net from the Hoyas, senior midfielder Tyler Rudy finally broke through with a strike from the top of the box that got past Crimson goalkeeper Evan Mendez.

From then on, Georgetown could only muster two more shots on goal, but one of them sealed the deal for the Hoyas. With less than five minutes to go, freshman midfielder Arun Basuljevic caught Harvard too far in the attacking zone, slipping through the defense and adding an insurance goal from the left side of the pitch.

Prior to the second Georgetown goal, the Crimson had its share of opportunities to level the score, the first of which came just minutes after the Hoyas got on the board. After receiving a throw-in thirty yards into the attacking half, Harvard called on junior attacker Michael Klain.

Klain, a throw-in specialist, delivered a towering ball into the box, which junior defender Philip Fleischman redirected toward Ashby. The co-captain got his head behind the ball and sent a shot flying toward the net, but it skipped just past the post.

“We’re really serious about our throws and set pieces,” Ashby said. “That can be one of our serious assets throughout the year offensively to generate a lot of goals.”

Freshman forward Tyler Savitsky also had several scoring opportunities in his first collegiate contest. After coming on as a substitute in the 63rd minute, the rookie added a much-needed spark to the Crimson offense, recording all three of the team’s shots on net for the game.

“[Savitsky] was very, very good when he came in,” Lehrer said. “The goalie just made great saves on his shots.”

Despite the result, Lehrer was happy with the performance.

“We played very well, and they’re a very good team,” Lehrer said. “There’s going to be very few teams in the nation that will be able to hold them to five shots on goal…. I think we’re going to be very difficult to handle.”

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

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