Crimson Kicking for Final Four

The Harvard men's soccer team is seeded first in the NCAA Tournament's New England region. The University of Connecticut is seeded second.

Harvard has a 12-0-2 overall record, UConn is 13-6-3.

The Crimson is ranked fourth in the nation, the Huskies 16th.

But when it came time to select the site of tommorrow's first-round showdown between the Crimson and Huskies, none of Harvard's advantages counted for much.

The two teams will square off at the Connecticut Soccer Stadium in Storrs, Conn.

UConn earned home-field advantage because of better facilities and greater crowd capacity. But Huskie Coach Joe Morrone believes that the Crimson will be just as at-home in Storrs as it would be in Cambridge.

"I'm not so sure you can consider it home field advantage," Morrone said. "Harvard's field and our field are very compatible in that they are both of maximal size and very high quality."

But there's a difference Morrone overlooked. At Connecticut, there will be upwards of 7000 fans--a crowd size Harvard hasn't seen all season.

"It's hard to play in front of a crowd like that," Harvard Coach Mike Getman said. "But ideally, you want to play in front of a big crowd."

"You can't go into a game with a big crowd and be intimidated by it," sophomore midfielder Paul Baverstock said. "I like playing in front of a big crowd." Baverstock, an England native, and the rest of Harvard's foreign contingent have had experience playing in front of larger crowds--soccer is a major spectator sport in Europe.

The Huskies like playing in front of the home fans--they have a 9-2-2 record at Connecticut Stadium. But late-season road games have hurt UConn. In the last few weeks, UConn fell to Rutgers (1-0) and Brown (2-1) and lost in the Big East final to 10th-ranked Seton Hall, 2-1.

"We've had some tight games which have hurt our record," Marrone said. "Our defense has been holding us into games, while our weakness has been our inability to score."

One Huskie who hasn't felt the scoring slump is junior All-America Dan Donigan. Heading into tomorrow's contest, Donigan is averaging one goal for every 3.5 shots.

Marrone hopes to capitalize on his defensive strength to slow down the explosive Crimson attack. The Crimson' sophomore foursome of David Kramer, Nick D'Onofrio, Derek Mills and Paul Baverstock have combined for over half Harvard's scoring this season, and their attack has proven fatal to many opponents.

"Harvard has outstanding players throughout the line-up, and all of them could be the game-breaker," Morrone said. "Starting with [junior goalie Stephen] Hall and working through [senior Nick] Hotchkin and [junior Ramy] Rajballie in the midfield and D'Onofrio and Mills up front, any one of those players could win the game for them."

Hall has had a light late-season in goal, fielding less balls than in the early games. But UConn should prove to be more of a challenge--the Huskies fired 23 shots at the junior netminder when the two teams last met in Storrs. In that meeting, the Crimson and the Huskies battled to a 0-0 tie.

Morrone will be looking for a win in his 500th career game as a coach. But the Crimson will be looking for a repeat trip to the quarterfinal round.

After beating Yale 1-0 on penalty kicks in the first round last year, Harvard downed Boston University, 2-1, to claim the New England regional title. The Crimson went on to defeat Hartwick, 2-0, and earn a Final Four berth before falling to Duke, 3-1, in the semifinals.

"We think we are capable of winning the national championship," junior back Robert Bonnie said. "But we're certainly not going to look past UConn."

A win tomorrow would send the Crimson into the New York-New England final to be held November 29.