M. Soccer Strives For Ivy League Perfection

The men’s soccer team has been on a roll. Entering its last four games of the season, Harvard is undefeated in the Ivy League and has shut out its opponents in the past six games. These last games are crucial to the team’s season, though, as they are all league games.

The Crimson’s (8-2-1, 3-0 Ivy) last game was a defensive battle, ending in a tie with No. 12 Fairfield, 0-0, in double overtime. This weekend, Dartmouth (4-6-0, 0-3 Ivy) comes into town.

The Crimson is looking forward to tomorrow’s game after playing so well against Fairfield and only ending up with a tie in the game. What was promising about the Fairfield game, though, was that it was played without a few of the usual Crimson starters, who are suffering from injuries. Harvard has depth this year, which showed through on Tuesday. The Fairfield game serves as a good preparation for tomorrow’s matchup.

“Fairfield and Dartmouth have similar styles, more of a British style game,” said captain Nick Lenicheck. “Playing a nationally ranked opponent is good preparation.”

The Big Green has struggled this season, having not yet won any league games. Dartmouth, though, is coming off of a big 1-0 overtime win over Boston College, and it will be motivated to earn its first Ivy win. In the B.C. game, senior goalkeeper Ben Gebre-Medhin had his fourth shutout of the year for the Big Green, marking 13 for his career. If Gebre-Medhin gets one more shutout, he will move into fourth on Dartmouth’s all-time shutout list.

There is an added bonus to being prepared this year--Dartmouth shutout the Crimson 3-0 last year at home.

“They are going to strong and physical, and we want to give them a little payback, we’d like to get a little revenge,” Lenicheck said.

This game is important, for it could set the tone for the remaining four games of the season. As has been in the case in the rest of the season, the preparation for and focus of this game will be on the defense.

“Defense wins championships,” Lenicheck said. “Our team starts with defense, and that starts with the forwards.”

Defensively, the team has been solid, as shown by the fact that the team has not conceded a goal at home all season. Goalkeepers senior Dan Mejias and freshman Jamie Roth have combined to play extraordinarily well in the net. The team hopes that this trend will continue.

“We control our own fate,” Lenicheck added.

The Crimson has been doing well, and simply needs to keep the intensity high in order to win these games and potentially win the Ivy League. Harvard comes into this game as the only undefeated team in the league, but still needs to play hard in these remaining games. The Dartmouth match is only one step in the process of winning the league.

“Its an Ivy League game, so its do-or-die,” said junior midfielder Marc Buan. “That sums it up, it do or die. If we lose, we’re finished. We can’t afford it.”