Men’s Soccer Hopes To Rebound Against Fairfield

The Harvard men’s soccer team will look to bounce back from a shocking 5-1 defeat on Sunday at the hands of the University of Rhode Island when it travels to Connecticut to play Fairfield University tonight at 7 p.m.

The Crimson (1-1) expect another tough matchup against the Stags (0-1) who battled Harvard to a scoreless tie in Cambridge last season.

The Crimson began their season with a 4-0 home win against Vermont last week. Junior striker Ladd Fritz—a First Team All-Ivy and Third Team Regional All-America selection last year—led the way with two goals as the Crimson demonstrated solid defense and crisp finishing on their way to a strong win.

Everything went from right to wrong on Sunday when Rhode Island scored two early goals and never looked back on its way to a convincing victory over the Crimson. Fritz kept Harvard close by scoring before halftime to make the score 2-1, but the Crimson’s early second-half surge failed to produce the equalizer as the Rams managed to pull away.

With only three games left before its Ivy opener at Brown on Sept. 28, the Crimson knows that it must get into form quickly.

“We have to start focusing our efforts,” sophomore goalkeeper James Roth said. “Even in the Vermont game we came out a little flat. We have to make sure that we’re ready to play on gameday.”

With just two starters lost to graduation, Harvard hopes to challenge for the Ivy title that slipped away on the season’s final weekend. Senior Michael Lobach—last year’s team MVP—and captain Michael Cornish will anchor one of the league’s strongest defenses. Senior Joe Steffa and junior Kevin Ara should provide strength and creativity in the midfield with Fritz providing the firepower up front.

Once again the Crimson will feature a deep bench as Coach John Kerr continues to put more emphasis on recruitin. Freshmen Jeff Chivers and Anthony Tornaritis have alreaedy seen significant time on the field in their first two games.

Fairfield should prove a formidable opponent, as they were ranked second in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) pre-season coaches poll. The Stags have advanced to the MAAC championship game in five of the last six years. Four Stags earned spots on the All-MAAC pre-season team, including striker Justin Thompson and midfielder Danny Attwell who tied for the team lead in scoring last season. Fairfield will also be looking to rebound after giving up the game-winning goal in the 88th minute in a 2-1 loss to Boston University in itsseason opener.

A win against Fairfield could put the Crimson back on track towards their goal of an Ivy title and success in the NCAA tournament.

“We just need to play our gaame,” sophomore goalie Conrad Jones said. “We didn’t do that on Sunday. If we come out strong and play our style of soccer we’ll be fine.”