Late Losses Mark M. Soccer Season

If any one game typifies the disappointment of the 1995 Harvard men's soccer season, it may as well be Saturday's 3-2 overtime loss at Hartwick.

The Crimson, up 2-1 late in the game, surrendered the equalizer just a minute before the end of regulation before falling in the extra period. The year 1995 will likely be remembered as the season when Harvard snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

Coming off an Ivy League title winning season with eight of its eleven starters returning, expectations were high for the Crimson. With an experienced goalkeeper between the posts in Peter Albers, a skilled midfield led by senior captain Chris Wojcik, junior Kevin Silva, 1994 All-Ivy Honorable Mention selection T.J. Carella and highly touted freshman Armando Petruccelli, and scoring punch up front in the persons of Rich Wilmot and Will Kohler, the team appeared primed for another successful season.

And they were. At least against Fairfield University. Harvard opened its 1995 campaign with an 8-0 demolition of the hapless Stags at Ohiri Field in what would prove to be one of the few high points of the fall.

The team would never come anywhere near its extravagant goal tally in that game, nor would it put together as solid an effort from start to finish at any later stage of the season.

An early season trip to the North Carolina Classic gave the Crimson its first taste of top flight competition.

After falling to the host Tar Heels in a hard-fought match, Harvard struggled to a 2-2 tie with the College of Charleston, twice coming from behind to earn the draw. Junior Will Kohler proved himself the team's most potent scoring threat, netting the tying goal in the 76th minute.

Harvard then recaptured some of its form from the Fairfield game, blanking Columbia 3-0 and avenging last year's opening round NCAA tournament loss to Boston University 2-1. Both games saw the Crimson put in a solid 90 minutes on both sides of the ball, marking the opposition closely and making well-timed runs and passes.

But except for the two wins over Ivy doormats Yale and Penn, the Crimson would not perform as well again.

First there was the heartbreaker at Cornell. Having turned in a performance worthy of at least a tie with the eventual Ivy League champs, the Crimson returned from Ithaca empty-handed after conceding a late goal in overtime. An earlier red card had reduced their numbers to ten, and a costly injury to junior John Vrionis had put them at a further disadvantage before they succumbed, 1-0.

Disappointing losses to Central Connecticut State and Maine followed.

The Crimson just could not get it together in either of its two non-conference defeats, nor did it fare much better in drawing Lafayette 2-2 and Boston College 0-0. Execution was clearly a problem.

"We just didn't put away our chances," freshman defender Lee Williams said.

If the defeat at the hands of the Big Red hurt the team, the October 21 loss to Princeton killed it. After battling back from a goal down to force the game into extra time, the Crimson again allowed an overtime goal to spoil the result.

Effectively eliminated from the Ivy League title race thereafter, the Crimson limped home, dropping three of its four final matchups, despite leading and oftentimes outplaying less talented opponents.

"When the coach read us the names of the teams who qualified for the NCAA tournament, we were just appalled," Albers said. "We are legitimately better than many of the teams who made it."

The team did, however, learn a valuable lesson from its frustrating season--one which should prove valuable as it heads into the 1996 season with ten returning starters and a new sense of purpose.

"We learned that you don't win games simply by stepping on the field," Albers said. "You can have all the talent in the world, but if you're not scoring goals and playing defense, you're not going to get it done."