Men's Soccer To Face BU in Final Tuneup Before Conference Action

After spending last weekend on the other side of the country, the Harvard men’s soccer team (1-3-2) returns to the Bay State Thursday night, where the Crimson will play at Boston University (3-2-0) in its last game prior to the start of Ivy League action.

With Harvard’s first Ancient Eight matchup versus rival Yale on the horizon, the Crimson will look to use the matchup against its river rival to build momentum prior to the start of conference play. But the team is hardly looking ahead.

“Obviously we want to have a good feeling going into Ivies,” co-captain Mark Ashby said. “But it’s really important for us to focus on [this] game…. We’ve played [BU] a lot. It’s a crosstown rivalry, so it’s always tough to go into that.”

The Harvard defense will be tested by a Terrier attack that has managed to score at least one goal in all of its contests so far, averaging 1.6 goals a game.

BU’s offense is led by sophomore midfielder Anthony Viteri and junior forward Felix De Bona, with the two players registering three goals and an assist apiece through five games. While stopping this two-headed strike force will be a challenge, the Crimson’s defensive performance this past weekend suggests the team is capable of handling the task.

After conceding two goals against a potent Seattle offense, Harvard picked up its first shutout of the year in a nil-nil stalemate versus then-No. 9 Washington. The Crimson’s back four were supported by co-captain Evan Mendez, who made a season-best seven saves en route to being named Ivy League Player of the Week.

Mendez’s prowess between the sticks will be crucial in helping out a backline which is still missing Ashby. The reigning Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year has been unable to play so far this season due to a quadriceps injury and is not planning on playing against the Terriers.

But even without Ashby, despite the defense’s struggles early in the season, junior co-captain Andrew Wheeler-Omiunu believes his side’s performance versus the Huskies demonstrated the potential of the Harvard defense.

“I think we’re on the upward trend,” Wheeler-Omiunu said. “We put in a very good defensive performance against a really good team…. We’re starting to build that chemistry and you’re starting to see it come together.”

While the defense made progress over the weekend, the Crimson struggled to convert their chances on offense. The team was unable to find the back of the net despite recording 18 shots—seven of which were on target—over the span of the two games.

Though Harvard came close to finding a breakthrough various times—including on senior forward Michael Innocenzi’s shot that rang off the crossbar and goal line versus Washington—the team has been held without goals in three of its six games so far.

Thus, improving its finishing will be key for a Crimson offense which has been able to find space and break down opponents but has found minimum reward for its efforts.

“Scoring goals is a thing that, as a team, we have to be more committed to,” Wheeler-Omiunu said. “We have a very good record of keeping goals out but we need to have a better record of scoring goals.”

Facing a porous Terrier defense could remedy some of the issues that the Harvard attack has had.

BU has allowed an average of 1.4 goals per game so far this season, including two to Ivy League rival Princeton in its last outing. The Terriers have also conceded 15 shots on average per game—with just under nine of those shots coming in the second half—suggesting the Crimson offense could have various opportunities to find the back of the net, particularly in the final frame.

While the team is determined to get a win, Ashby doesn’t believe that any big changes need to be made for Harvard to come out with a W. The Denton, Tx., native insists that focusing on optimizing and executing the team’s philosophy will help the Crimson pick up its second victory of the season.

“[We’ll] stick to the same principles, which we always do,” Ashby said. “Very solid defending, everyone defending, creating chances—both in set pieces and in the run of play—and just maximizing the amount of chances we can get. We know that once we create a lot, the goals will come.”

—Staff writer Julio Fierro can be reached at julio.fierro@thecrimson.com.