M. Soccer Still Controls Own Destiny For Title

The Harvard men soccer team might not have the whole world in its hands, but it does have a potential grip on the Ivy League championship

“This is our year,” sophomore forward Charles Altchek said.

With yesterday’s win over Brown, the Crimson kept itself so that it needs to win out its last four Ivy games to secure the championship. Currently it is tied for third in the conference standings with Yale and Dartmouth.

The Bulldogs beat last-place Cornell 2-1, while the Big Green tied No. 15 Penn.

“It’s still in our hands, which is a nice thing,” Harvard coach John Kerr said. “We have some work to do, but nothing is better than having a big game against Princeton [on Saturday] with the stakes pretty high again as here at Brown.”

Right now, the Tigers sit atop the Ivy League with the Quakers. Penn held sole possession of the top spot until this weekend. Following its heartbreaking loss to the Crimson, Brown—now out of the current Ivy picture with two losses—has a much different outlook from Harvard’s about the conference.

“We’re concerned with Cornell next week,” Brown coach Mike Noonan said. “We don’t care about the Ivy League.”

NO O’DOULS FOR OHIRI

Just this past week, it was announced that almost the entirety of the student tailgate for the Harvard-Yale football game will take place on Ohiri field before the Harvard-Yale football game.

But considering the damage from some of the previous Harvard-Yale tailgates to the intramural fields, Ohiri might not be in the best of playing conditions for either of the soccer teams after a few thousand students tramp around on it for 10 hours—even if U-Hauls and kegs aren’t allowed on the field.

But the men’s team may have a trick up its sleeve to foil the College’s plans.

“We don’t want our field torn up, so part of our goal is to try to get a home game [in the NCAA tournament] that weekend so they can’t have it,” Kerr said. “It’s our goal to save Ohiri, and the boys are trying to win the Ivies so we can get a home game.”

Kerr also admitted that he had only heard of the decision on Thursday and has not had time yet to discuss it with those overseeing the decision.

“I haven’t looked at the details yet,” Kerr said. “I am going to inquire about it.”

TURNING STEVENSON INTO OHIRI

When junior midfielder Nicholas Tornaritis put the ball past Brown goalie Christopher Gomez, the crowd’s groan could barely be heard.

Any of the frustration from the Bears’ fans was overwhelmed by the intense screaming coming from the large Harvard contingent at Stevenson field.

Over the last couple of weeks, the Crimson has been bolstered by a loud and boisterous fan section.

Two weeks ago, a group of Harvard supporters yelled “Arg!” every time Yale’s Evan Stone touched the ball, supposedly because of his similarity to a pirate.

And just last week, members of the Black Men’s Forum and the lacrosse team turned up to cheer for the team, and some led a group of younger fans in a victory lap around Ohiri field after the Crimson’s 4-0 defeat of Cornell.

“Family, classmates, etc.—it’s great, it’s a good type of support,” Tornaritis said.

“All the parents came out and we even had kids from Harvard take buses to get up here,” Altchek said. “We’ve had all these fans we didn’t have in the past.”

The game the fans saw was one of the most exciting of the year and left most of them in utter joy as they came down next to the field and took pictures and hugged smiling members of the team.

“I just talked to a Brown supporter, and he said, ‘That was a great soccer game, coach,’” Kerr said. “I really enjoyed the game....It was great to have so much support. Some of our old players’ parents showed up today, which is nice to see.”

—Staff writer Gabriel M. Velez can be reached at gmvelez@fas.harvard.edu.