M. Soccer, Fairfield Are ‘Stagnant’

The Harvard men’s soccer team welcomed the Northeast’s top-ranked team, No. 12 Fairfeld, into Ohiri Field yesterday and controlled play throughout the afternoon. Yet after 120 minutes of missed opportunities, the Crimson had to settle for a scoreless tie with the Stags.

“I thought we thoroughly dominated the game from start to finish and our boys deserved better,” said Harvard Coach John Kerr. “But it was still a good result against the No. 12 team in the country, so I’m proud of them.”

Despite the tie, Harvard (8-2-1, 3-0 Ivy) still managed to match a school record by posting its sixth straight shutout. The only other Crimson squad to equal that feat is the 1969 team which went 14-1 and made the national semifinals.

If Harvard can silence Dartmouth on Saturday, it will be the first Crimson team ever to blank seven consecutive opponents.

“Our defense is playing great,” said sophomore back Michael Peller. “Our goaltenders are combining to play awesome. We just need to get our scoring back and we’ll be set.”

But the Crimson’s level of goal-scoring has nearly dropped to its level of goal prevention. Harvard scored 22 goals in its first seven games but has netted just three goals in its last four games.

The Crimson outshot Fairfield (9-2-2) 21-9 for the day. That total included an 8-1 Crimson advantage in the overtime periods, which were highlighted at the outset by a flurry of three consecutive Harvard corner kicks. The Crimson had several quality scoring chances during that stretch, but Fairfeld goalkeeper Roger Noll was effective in covering the upper corners of the net all day, and the Stag defense stopped the other Harvard shots by crowding the goal line.

“First half of overtime we had five or six shots on net,” Peller said. “We were just killing them. It’s disappointing that we can’t get the results.”

Harvard set the tone for the game in the third minute, when freshman forward Jeremy Truntzer collided violently with Noll following a cross after Noll had come out of net. With Noll rolling on the ground in pain, Harvard promptly sent the ball over the open net. The Crimson dominated the play, but had nothing to show for it.

The Harvard defense made the day relatively easy for senior Dan Mejias in net as he only needed five saves to post the shutout. Mejias did have to handle a few precarious passes from the fullbacks on the afternoon, but he handled each flawlessly, so they had every reason to be confident in him.

The Crimson backs were highly successful in moving the ball up the sideline after slowing the Stag attack. Harvard’s play contrasted sharply with the Stag defense, which consistently allowed Harvard throw-ins deep in its own zone.

“They did great taking care of the little things in the game, making sure they blocked shots at crucial times and winning crucial headers,” Kerr said. “Just a little bit of luck in front of goal—and a little bit of quality in the final pass—and we’re in good shape.”

Junior midfielder Joe Steffa took the bulk of the deep Crimson throws. These led to several scoring chances, but on most of them, the crowd of Stag backs managed to beat Harvard in the air and clear the zone.

“We played a great game, but we just needed a bit of luck to put a goal away,” Kerr said. “I think if we would have gotten one goal we would have gotten three or four.”

On the occassions when the Stags actually had success moving the ball, they typically wasted their opportunities as most of their shots found the large open space to the immediate left of the goal rather than the net itself. Whenever they did get the ball on net, Mejias made the saves look easy.

Fairfield entered the game ranked first in the Northeast and 12th in the country despite not having a single win over a current Top-25 team. Harvard is unranked nationally and ranked fourth in the region, despite having beaten No. 14 San Diego in September and every Ivy opponent to date.

Peller would have liked to have won yesterday’s game outright to force a rankings correction.

“I’m really disappointed,” Peller said. “This was a big game for us. We’re not getting the respect we need right now in the rankings. We beat them in every part of the game, especially in overtime. Our fitness was so much better than theirs.”

Among the positives in the game was the return of sophomore forward Grayson Sugarman, who had been out of action for six months due to back problems. Sugarman subbed in midway through the first and second halfs and produced three shots on goal for the day.

“It’s great to have Grayson back,” Kerr said. “You could tell anytime he’s around the ball with that electric pace and the strength he has and desire to go forward, he causes all kinds of problems. The defense can never relax when he’s around.”

“He’s so quick, you just never know what he’s going to do,” Peller added. “His back’s been bothering him and he played right through it.”

The return of Sugarman was especially timely because captain Nick Lenicheck, freshman back Jason Andersen and junior back Michael Cornish were all out due to injury. Kerr did not know when any of the three would return.

Harvard will resume its Ivy schedule at Ohiri on Saturday against Dartmouth. That game, tentatively scheduled for 2:30 p.m., will immediately follow the women’s soccer match set for noon the same day.