M. Soccer Ends Up Winless Out West

The Harvard men’s soccer team lost two tough games this weekend against formidable foes in San Franciso and Santa Clara at the Diadora Classic Tournament.

San Francisco, who hosts the annual event, went on to win the tournament after defeating both Santa Clara and Brown.

The Crimson (6-3-1, 1-0 Ivy) has a week of practice ahead as it tries to regroup for Saturday’s first home Ivy game against Cornell.

San Francisco 4, Harvard 1

San Francisco cruised to a 4-1 victory over Harvard on Friday night as it capitalized on an early red card infraction by Harvard junior Kevin Ara that forced the Crimson to play most of the match a man down.

Tournament co-MVPs Gabe Sturm (1 goal, 1 assist) and Josh Hansen (2 goals) provided most of the offense for the Dons (6-4-0).

Ara’s red card also meant that the Crimson’s leading scorer and last week’s Ivy League Player of the Week would have to sit out Sunday’s match as well.

Injuries to key players including senior defender Michael Lobach, sophomore goalkeeper James Roth and junior forward Grayson Sugarman are starting to catch up with the Crimson as it approaches some key Ivy League matches.

“After Kevin’s red card, we knew we were in for a fight,” said junior defender Andrew Nechtem. “But we’ve been in the position before where we’re down a goal or down a man and we were confident that we could come out on top.”

Playing under the lights in front of close to 1,000 fans helped the Crimson finally break out of its trend of sluggish first halves. Harvard was able to move the ball around well but its momentum was abruptly halted when Sturm bent a beautiful 35-yard free kick into the upper right corner of the Crimson goal.

Things got worse for Harvard in the 30th minute when the referee handed Ara the red card for a hard tackle near the sidelines. Still, solid midfield play by freshman Brian Charnock helped keep the Crimson within a goal at the half.

The Dons went up 2-0 just two minutes into the second half when Marko Bedenikovic headed in a Sturm cross.

But, despite being shorthanded and behind by two goals, Harvard did not pack it in. Senior Charles Morrow cut the deficit in half when he took a feed from Nechtem and ripped a shot from about 20 yards out that sailed over the keeper’s head and into the net.

It was as close as the Crimson would get, however, as two goals by Hansen in the 75th and 79th minutes wrapped up the victory for San Francisco in front of its home crowd.

Santa Clara 2, Harvard 0

The 25th-ranked Broncos took advantage of two late Jamil Walker tallies to overcome a red card received by sophomore defender Zach Knight in the first half as they defeated the Crimson 2-0 yesterday afternoon.

Harvard could not figure out a way to solve the Broncos’ aggressive offsides trap, which forced twelve offsides calls against the Crimson.

Harvard posted another solid first half as the defensive unit of Nechtem, Michael Cornish, Andrew Old and Jason Andersen combined to keep Santa Clara (5-3-1) off the board.

Andersen, who had been kept out all season with a knee injury, returned to action this week and has helped make up for the absence of Lobach with his solid play in the back.

It was the Crimson offense that could not get into gear. Even though the Broncos were playing shorthanded, they held the Crimson to only four shots in the first half. Santa Clara’s star sophomore goalkeeper Steve Cronin, a member of the Under-20 US Men’s National Team, was also a big factor in goal.

“Every time he punted the ball it went into our defensive third,” Andersen said. “He made some solid saves for them, too.”

Walker scored his first goal with 18 minutes left when he struck a laser off a free kick that banged off the inside post and into the net. His second tally came just minutes later on a rebound off a shot that freshman goalkeeper Ryan Johnson could not handle.

Despite the two goals, Johnson played strong as he recorded eight saves in the defeat. Charnock stepped in and played strong in the midfield again as he helped fill the void left by Ara’s red card suspension.

“Even though we were up a player, I think we just ran out of gas,” Nechtem said. “It’s been a long weekend and the injuries started to affect us also. Not having Lobach hurt us a lot too. He brings a lot to our team and we missed him in more ways than one.”

Harvard is still in good shape to battle for its goal of an Ivy League title with its 1-0 Ivy League record and a week for its injured players to heal before the next contest. The Crimson is one of four unbeaten teams atop the Ivy standings along with Yale (6-1, 1-0), Penn (6-1, 2-0) and Columbia (6-2, 1-0).

“Despite the two losses, we still played some very good soccer at times,” Andersen said. “We still have a lot to work for and a lot to look forward to.”

—Contributing writer Anastasios Skalkos can be reached at skalkos@fas.harvard.edu.