Dartmouth Puts W. Soccer Away With Golden Goal

After tying over a third of its games this season, the Harvard women’s soccer team finally saw a golden goal on Saturday against Ivy League front-runner Dartmouth.

Unfortunately for the Crimson, that goal was not Harvard’s.

Christina Ferraris, the Big Green’s diminutive forward, headed a bouncing ball over charging sophomore goalkeeper Maja Agustsdottir with just under four minutes remaining in the second overtime period. The ball slowly trickled into the net, sending the Crimson (5-5-5, 1-2-3 Ivy) to another frustrating defeat and allowing Dartmouth (8-5-2, 5-0-1) to guarantee itself at least a share of the conference title and thus an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

“It’s really disappointing,” co-captain center back Katie Hodel said. “It was just one of those games where we felt like we couldn’t do any more. It’s kind of how most of our season has gone. We’re just on the wrong end of things.”

Agustsdottir replaced fellow sophomore Katie Shields at halftime, when Harvard led 1-0.

The Crimson appeared in control of the match until the Big Green converted a free kick with 32 minutes to play in the second half to tie the game. Megan Wijas’ shot skirted a wall of defenders and ended up in the far side of the net.

“[Dartmouth] found a couple of opportunities and put them away,” sophomore midfielder Maile Tavepholjalern said.

The Big Green had just seven shots all game, as the majority of its attacking efforts were stifled by Harvard’s strong defensive play.

The Crimson’s lone goal came courtesy of senior forward Alisa Sato. After junior Alisha Moran intercepted an errant goal kick, Sato snuck a shot past the Dartmouth goalkeeper and inside the far post with just seconds remaining in the first half.

Moran and Sato are now Harvard’s top two point scorers on the season with 22 and 13, respectively.

Sato’s goal notwithstanding, Harvard failed to capitalize on numerous quality opportunities.

“We just haven’t finished our chances,” junior forward Emily Colvin said.

Colvin herself was responsible for a number of those chances, as she had consecutive breakaway opportunities in the opening minutes of the match but was stifled by Big Green goalkeeper Anne Marbarger. Colvin’s shots were among the nine that the Crimson fired before Dartmouth outshot Harvard 4-3 in the second half.

“We need to maintain our intensity,” Tavepholjalern said. “We’re good for 45 minutes or 60 minutes, but we need to play a full 90 minutes of our style of soccer.”

Both teams employed a physical style, as evidenced by the 32 fouls whistled in the match. Hodel received a yellow card in the 97th minute for a dangerous tackle on Ferraris, while the Big Green’s Laura Randolph was cautioned for a vicious takedown of senior midfielder Katie Westfall.

The loss was especially painful for the Harvard seniors. Co-captain left back Caitlin Fisher, Hodel, Sato, Westfall and defender Lauren Cozzolino were playing the last home game of their collegiate careers and were honored before the match.

“This has been a wonderful senior class,” Colvin said. “They’ve held us together really well.”

The Crimson travels to Columbia next weekend, where it will attempt to wrap up its 2003 season on a high note. The game will also mark the final collegiate contest for the quintet of seniors, a point which is not lost on the players.

“We won’t have any trouble getting up for this game,” Hodel said.

Harvard is hoping that the memories that its seniors take from their last collegiate game will be better than the ones from their final home match.

—Staff writer Nathaniel A. Smith can be reached at nsmith@fas.harvard.edu.