After 0-4-1, Sluggish Start, Men's Soccer Wins Eight of Last 11

Junior midfielder Armando Petruccelli did not join the men's soccer team until the fourth game of this season. Not coincidentally, it took the

Crimson that long to discover its offensive touch.

Unfortunately, by then Harvard already had an 0-3-1 record and would lose one more game, 5-4 to Yale on Sept. 26 in which Petruccelli scored twice.

The poor start virtually precluded the Crimson from returning to the NCAA tournament, but it gained a considerable amount of respect by posting an 8-2-1 record over its last 11 games.

Harvard finished the year in fourth place in the Ivy League on a 3-3-1 conference record, 8-6-2 overall.

"Overall, I wasn't very pleased with the season," captain Andrew Lundquist said. "We could've done a lot better, but we did finish up strong."

All of its losses early on in the season stemmed from an inability to generate offense. With a veteran defense led by Lundquist and senior sweeper Lee Williams, it held then-No. 8 Stanford to just one overtime goal in the season opener on Sept. 13, blanked Central Connecticut in the following match, and limited both Columbia and Providence to just two goals apiece.

Except the Central Connecticut game, which ended in a scoreless tie, Harvard lost all of the above contests by one goal. In fact, no team edged the Crimson by more than a strike this season.

"We had a good defense," Lundquist said. "But we didn't have the experience or the confidence to win the close games."

Goals were almost as precious for Harvard opponents as for the Crimson because whenever an attacker navigated through the senior fullbacks, it still had to beat senior goaltender Jordan Dupuis.

Dupuis posted four shutouts on the season and his six saves in the final Harvard game of the year--a 1-0 win over Hartwick--gave him 233 for his career. That mark eclipsed the record held by Bill Meyers '70 for most career saves.

"I did alright this year," Dupuis said. "I wasn't really going for the record, it just happened."

With such a strong defense, the Crimson just needed its offense to kick in gear to produce some victories and it started on Sept. 29 against then-No. 17 Boston University as freshman Mike Peller scored unassisted in overtime for a 2-1 win.

Harvard pressured the Terriers consistently through the second half as the offense now had some life.

The Crimson then built some Ivy momentum by blanking Penn 2-0 on Oct. 3, and followed that with a 2-1 triumph over the Big Red.

Captain-elect Ryan Kelly and junior Will Hench each connected for the Crimson against Cornell to give Harvard its first win over the Ithacans since 1994.

The key to Harvard's newfound success was the play of Petruccelli. Coach Steve Locker installed an Italian-style offense for the team, which relies upon precision passing to generate pressure. His skill in the middle of the field gave direction to the attack.

Before he came back from his injury, Harvard was floundering in trying to replace All-American Tommy McLaughlin '98, who led the Crimson in scoring in 1997 and is the program's career assists leader. McLaughlin was drafted by the New England Revolution last year, and with his graduating class went 40-percent of last year's scoring output.

Along with Petruccelli, Kelly and Hench emerged as strikers for the Crimson. It took Hench until Cornell to find the back of the net, but he ended up finishing second to Petruccelli's 17 points with 11 on four goals and three assists. Kelly posted ten points on the year, with five goals.

"We lost Tom from last year," Lundquist said. "We didn't get Armando until the fourth game and he controlled the midfield."

After the Cornell win, the squad hit a little snag, dropping two of its next three. Northeastern bested Harvard 3-2, while Princeton won 1-0 on a gorgeous free kick stick by senior Chris Palpuka from 25 yards out.

The Crimson applied plenty of pressure on the Tigers, dominating most of the game, but it couldn't score. That loss knocked it from Ivy contention and prompted Locker afterwards to remark that the team now played for pride.

Harvard responded by not losing another game.

"I think everyone realized that we we're better than our results," Dupuis said. "We just dug in as a team."

The Crimson started its final five-game unbeaten streak by exploding for three goals on Fairfield, which took a 14-2 record into the contest on Oct. 28. Fittingly, the three scorers were Petruccelli, Kelly, and Hench.

The Fairfield game also witnessed the continued development of the freshman class. Nick Lenicheck assisted on two of Harvard's goals and finished the year with nine points.

Jonathan Oslowski and Marko Soldo also began to display their offensive talents down the stretch, posting six and five points, respectively, in their rookie campaigns.

The defense then outfought a very physical Dartmouth team for stunning 2-1 victory. The win knocked the then No. 22 Big Green out of contention for the Ivy Title and showed the maturation of the Harvard squad through the season.

Harvard then rolled up to Portland to roll over Maine 3-0 on Nov. 4. It proved one last time it could play with some of the best team in the country as it battled Brown to a 2-2 tie in the season's penultimate game.

Last up on the schedule came Hartwick and Dupuis' record setting performance in the 1-0 win.

"I was very pleased with how we played down the stretch, Locker said. "The players grew as individuals and as competitors, and we got things moving in the right direction."

All told, Harvard converted a miserable start into an exciting season and answered some big question marks on offense. However, next season will bring new questions for the defense, as it loses its three talented seniors.

Furthermore, Harvard will also have a new head coach as Locker resigned after the season. Citing a desire to pursue other opportunities, the man who guided the team to the NCAA tournament in 1994 and 1996 stepped down from his position.

Still, the Crimson has to be satisfied with its second winning season in three years and be optimistic about its future for next year.

"We'll do all right next season," Dupuis said. "We have a quite few promising freshmen and they'll keep getting better."