Killer B's Blain, Berman Pace W. Soccer 2-1 Win

Boasting a very talented but also very young squad, the Harvard women's soccer team used goals by two seniors to open its Ivy League season with a win Saturday afternoon against Columbia.

Senior midfielder Julia Blain headed in the deciding goal in the 60th minute of play, as the Crimson (3-1, 1-0 Ivy) defeated the Lions (3-1, 0-1) by 2-1at Ohiri Field.

Senior midfielder Ashley Berman had converted a penalty kick in the 50th minute for the Crimson's first goal.

"It was a free kick from Meredith Stewart that found Beth Totman, one of our freshmen," Harvard Coach Tim Wheaton said about the game-winner. "Totman continued on to Blain, who knew exactly what she was supposed to do and she headed it home."

Despite owning an 0-13-1 record all-time against the Crimson, Columbia proved to be a difficult opponent.

"Columbia just plays so hard with so much heart that they make it so difficult to play your game," Wheaton said. "They force you to play their style and they did that at times today, so it's always a tough way to start the Ivy League."

With the win, Harvard recorded its 100th Ivy victory in program history, becoming the first women's team in the conference to reach the mark.

"To be the first women's soccer team to reach 100 wins in the Ivy is amazing," Wheaton said. "It means that we've been the most successful and most consistent team in the Ivy League, and every single player who's played at Harvard can take some pride in that. It means so much to us and those who have supported us."

The manner in which the match was going early on, however, left doubts as to whether the win would come at all. From the outset Harvard applied significant pressure on Columbia, constantly beating the Lions to the ball and creating several solid scoring opportunities. But despite its dominance, no goals resulted.

Co-captain Beth Zotter led the charge offensively for the Crimson. Just eight minutes into the match, the senior forward dribbled the ball to the left side of the box and boomed a shot toward the goal. Only a diving save from Lions' goalie Ali Ahearn kept the game scoreless.

Just two minutes later, Zotter received a pass from freshman midfielder Bryce Weed near the goal, but her shot went wide right, as Harvard saw another scoring opportunity slip away.

The Crimson continued to apply pressure to Columbia, but it was to no avail, as Harvard entered the intermission with the score still 0-0.

"Sometimes it can be frustrating when you have chances and don't put them away, but we felt it was going to come and we just had to keep doing what we were doing." Wheaton said. "We didn't need any major changes, just to keep doing what we were doing and just get that little edge on to go grab the goals, and I think that we did that."

Harvard finally broke through in the second half, netting both of its goals in the first 15 minutes of the frame.

"By halftime we were really eager to get goals. We emphasized coming out very aggressive in the first 15 minutes," Zotter said. "We had also worked on taking shots from all over the field to test their keeper, which has been a weakness for them in the past, so we felt confident that if we kept up the pressure we would get one in."

And just five minutes into the second half the Harvard finally did just that.

Totman received a throw-in from Zotter on Columbia's half of the field and dribbled the ball into the box where she was taken down by a Lion defender. A foul was called on the play, and Harvard was awarded a penalty kick.

Berman then calmly stepped up to the line and booted the ball past Ahearn into the lower left corner of the goal to give the Crimson a 1-0 lead.

Then after 10 minutes of fairly even play, Harvard struck again. Stewart took a restart and fired it to Totman, who then lofted the ball over the defense where Blain was waiting to head it in and give the Crimson a 2-0 lead.

"It was a free kick and Stewart took it," Blain said. "They were lined up and Totman just took it right over them and I just ran behind the defense and headed it in."

Columbia struck back just 30 seconds later. Stephanie Smith--a freshman forward for the Lions--took a rebound off of a Harvard defender and sent it past freshman goaltender Cheryl Gunther to cut the lead to 2-1.

"It's always hard to not go on the defensive after you score, because you know that your opponent will come back very hard in the first five minutes after the goal," Zotter said. "I think that we might have fallen into that trap a little bit."

But despite that momentary lapse on defense, the Crimson was able to keep its composure. Columbia could generate very little on offense for the remainder of the contest, as Harvard held on for the 2-1 victory.

"This Ivy League win means so much to us, especially coming off of last year where we sort of had a disappointing end losing to Dartmouth," Zotter said. "Also last year we started off kind of shaky, having to go to overtime to win, so it was good that we could win this one in regulation."

Since the Ivy is expected to be competitive, the team felt that opening with a win was important, especially carrying a freshman-heavy roster.

"This win was huge for us," Blain said. "It's our first Ivy with a lot of freshmen coming in for us and it's really important to start of well. We were talking before the game about how the Ivy League is so tight: one tie and you could be out."

"The Ivy League is everything to us," Wheaton added. "We want the Ivy League Championship back in Cambridge; it's our focus. We want those rings."