Women's Soccer Falls to BC

On Wednesday night, the Harvard women’s soccer team made a short trip to Newton Campus Field to take on undefeated Boston College in another matchup designed to test the Crimson’s fortitude.

The Eagles exploded for 21 shots, however, and soundly thwarted any chance for Harvard’s first upset win with a 3-0 victory over the visitors. BC (6-0-1) remains undefeated, while the Crimson (2-3) slips back under .500 just past the halfway mark in non-conference play.

“[Boston College] was better than us today, no doubt about it,” coach Chris Hamblin said. “They edged us tonight, but there were definitely positives to take out.”

Sophomore Danielle Etzel made her fourth career start in between the pipes, stopping two shots, while freshman Kat Hess came on during the second half for her first minutes of the season, tallying four saves.

The two were tasked with slowing down an Eagles offense that, including Wednesday night, has now scored 20 goals over its six wins.

“Both goalkeepers did a good job for us tonight,” Hamblin said. “[BC] is a very dynamic attacking team that we knew had a lot of success coming into tonight. They did catch us in behind our back line, and you get punished at this level.”

The solid showing on the defensive end translated into a bevy of opportunities on the other end of the field. The issue for Harvard on Wednesday was simply getting the ball past BC goalkeeper Alexis Bryant.

“We played well collectively,”junior defender Candy Janachowski said. We played hard as a team and put in a lot of effort out there. A lot of times, we struggled, making pretty simple mistakes and us improving that will just come with time and a little bit of practice. There are a lot of new pieces in play.”

Bryant managed to keep Harvard off the scoreboard, which Hamblin said was a product of a lack of offensive finishing inside the penalty box, effective BC defense, and excellent saves.

“When you look at the flow of the game, it was about the difference inside the 18-yard boxes,” Hamblin said. “We created a lot of good opportunities, but we were probably a little out-of-sync in the final third.”

The Crimson had chances in the 24th, 39th, and 72nd minutes, involving senior forwards Midge Purce and Karly Zlatic inside the penalty box, but Bryant was able to extinguish all three threats.

Bryant, a redshirt sophomore, is now 5-0-1 as a starter, sporting a 0.34 goals-against average on the season. To lead the Eagles offense on Wednesday night, BC redshirt junior midfielder Lauren Berman tallied a goal and an assist.

“They were able to connect a lot of balls and are really dangerous at the flank,” Janachowski said. “Playing top-tier teams prepares us for faster play and exposes a lot of things we need to work on.”

Harvard, in preparation for Ivy League play, which starts in about two weeks, has loaded its nonconference schedule with quality opposition and is seeing its tough stretch through. Although each game’s score lines have not been inspiring, Hamblin says there have been positives to take out of each match.

“I’m really proud of the effort the team put in,” Hamblin said. “We never quit—we continued until the last whistle. Now we just have to turn our opportunities into goals, and that’s something we’ll work towards this week.”

The Crimson is now 0-3, with a minus-seven goal differential, against teams that are now a combined 16-2-2. Against teams that are a combined 0-0-12, Harvard is 2-0, with a plus-four goal differential.

“We’re getting a lot of exposure on our weaknesses that we wouldn’t get playing easier teams, and BC is a very strong team,” Janachowski said.

—Staff writer Bryan Hu can be reached at bhu01@college.harvard,edu.