M. Booters Stun 17th-Ranked Hartwick, 4-1

In sports, there are upsets, and then there are also gargantuan upsets, victories that are difficult to conceive happening, much less actually occurring.

Yesterday's men's soccer game at Ohiri Field was one of the latter cases, as Harvard finally lived up to its potential, dominating the 17th-ranked Hartwick in its 4-1 victory.

"This team finally showed up," Harvard Coach Stephen Locker said. "Everybody played a good game."

The Crimson started off the game on a quick note. At the 37:51 mark, freshman T.J. Carella passed a free kick to sophomore Chris Wojcik. Surprisingly, a rift in the Warrior wall opened, and Wojcik gladly booted the ball into the net for a 1-0 lead.

"I think that this is our first goal off a direct kick all season," said freshman Will Kohler, who had one goal and two assist in the game. "We've had some bad luck with them."

Late in the first half, however, Hartwick began to play like its ranking promised. The Warriors continuously bombarded Crimson goal-tender Ned Carlson (six saves) with shot after shot, until finally one got past him.

At the 0:38 mark, Hartwick attacker D.G. Lewis took a centering pass from Brian Chandler at the top of the goalbox with not a Crimson defender around. Lewis immediately smacked the ball into the upper corner of the net past a diving Carlson, and the Warriors had come back.

"When they got their goal, I thought we were in trouble," Locker said. "But I guess that wasn't the case."

Before any Crimson fan could moan, "Uh-oh, we're in for it now," Harvard scored the winning goal 21 seconds after the game had been tied.

Kohler sidestepped a defender and fired a pass to junior Derek Swaim, who punched the ball past the Hartwick goalie for the first of his two goals, which put Harvard ahead for good, 2-1.

"[The second] goal was real important," Kohler said. "They had the momentum and were getting their confidence back."

At halftime, the Crimson still felt pressured by the Warriors--even though it had a on-goal lead.

"For 20 minutes they were dominating us," Kohler said. "We were nervous, and they were pumped."

No matter what its psychological state was, the Crimson started the second half off with a bang. Only 59 seconds after halftime, Kohler drove right through a pack of Warriors up to the goal.

The defense caught up with him, though, so Kohler stopped to blast a shot on the right side of the goal. But instead of flying into the net, the ball trickled off his foot and rolled into the left side, giving the Crimson a 3-1 lead.

"After the third goal, we knew we had won," Locker said.

Kohler helped to close out the scoring with the second of his two assists on the day.

He flew down the sidelines and made a perfect pass to Swain, who easily tapped the ball into the net with only 13:31 left to play.

After Swaim's score, the most interesting part of the game was the Harvard women's soccer team's rendition of "Here Comes the Bench," sung in proper Beatles style to a horde of baby-faced Warriors who had replaced the defeated starters.

Not surprisingly, the Crimson was pleased with its play.

"We had nothing to lose," Locker said. "They have had a great season, but the pressure was on them to win, since they lost on Saturday and are hoping for an NCAA tournament bid."

"For us to beat Hartwick, we had to play really well," Kohler said. "The team knows that we are talented. Finally we know that we deserve a little respect."

HARVARD, 4-1 at Ohiri Field Harvard  2  2  --  4 Hartwick  1  0  --  1

G: Hartwick--Lewis; Harvard--Swaim (2), Wojcik, Kohler. A: Hartwick--Chandler; Harvard--Kohler (2), Carella. S: Hartwick--Vanderwall 4; Harvard--Carlson 6.