Fritz Plays Rude Guest in OT

The Harvard men’s soccer team rebounded from its first defeat of the season by defeating the Fairfield Stags, 2-1 in overtime last night.

The game was the first game ever held at Lessing Field, the Stags’ new on-campus home.

The Crimson (2-1, 0-0 Ivy) put the game away midway through the extra period when junior Kevin Ara started a run down the right sideline, avoided a sliding tackle and then centered the ball to classmate Ladd Fritz.

Fairfield’s goalkeeper was unable to reach Fritz’s shot, which passed just inside of the left post, and gave Harvard its first road win of the season.

“I was sent a long, diagonal pass and I took off after it,” Ara said.

“I really didn’t know if was going to get it or not. I got to the end line and saw Ladd in the box. There was a defender but no one between us. I drove the ball in and he got there before the defender. Luckily it went in.”

Ara was also the source of Harvard’s fisrt score when he sent a cross into senior Marc Buan in the 57th minute. Buan volleyed the ball past the keeper to tie the game and begin a rally.

“I got the ball about 40 yards out and I saw Marc making a diagonal run,” said Ara. “I played it at him and he took the ball out of the air and volleyed it in.”

Harvard’s comeback wasn’t made any easier by the officiating crew. In a game that left many players unhappy about the referee’s decisions, senior back Mike Lobach was sent off shortly after the Crimson goal for arguing a foul call.

Having already been dealt a yellow card earlier in the game, he was issued a second and a subsequent red card for his continued complaints, leaving Fairfield (0-2) a man up for the remainder of the game. The Crimson was still able to notch the game’s final score while playing with 10 men thanks in large part to the play of its upperclassmen.

“We still have room to improve,” said Fritz. “It was a good game and we were able to knock the ball around a bit, but we still have quite a bit of work to do this season.”

The win did not come easy for Harvard, which was outshot 16-13 and relied on six saves by sophomore Jamie Roth to overcome an early deficit. The only ball that passed Roth bounced off the head of junior Crimson defender Andrew Old after a Fairfield corner late in the first half.

“Andrew was covering the front post, and the ball was hit over his head,” Fritz said. “He was backpeddling and the ball was just deflected off him into the net.”

On Saturday, Harvard will host Hartford (2-3), a team that advanced into the America East semifinals last year. While the Hawks retained most of its offensive firepower, the graduation of 12 seniors leaves Hartford with an inexperienced defense. The Crimson will have to contend with the nation’s top returning scorer, sophomore Alon Lubezky, who set three school records during his freshman year.

—Staff writer Renzo Weber can be reached at rweber@fas.harvard.edu.