Outside Chance Remains For M. Soccer To Win Crown

HANOVER, N.H.—With a 1-0 loss to Dartmouth yesterday, the Harvard men’s soccer team’s Ivy title chances are no longer in its control. But surprisingly, even with two league losses, the Crimson’s title hopes aren’t completely lost after the weekend results.

To at least claim a share of the title, the Crimson (9-6-0, 3-2-0 Ivy) will most likely need to win out in its last two games against Columbia and Penn, and hope that Brown can upset the Big Green (5-2-6, 3-0-2) next week. Harvard got some help this weekend, after both the Quakers and Yale lost, clogging up the middle of the conference pack.

Should the Crimson manage a tie for the Ivy championship, it will be its first time doing so since 1994.

As of yesterday, Dartmouth was the one team left that controlled its own destiny.

“We’re glad to be in a good position, but we don’t take anything for granted,” Dartmouth coach Jeff Cook said.

Harvard hosts the Lions this Saturday before traveling to Philadelphia to take on the Quakers on Nov. 13.

ROAMING ROWAN

All week the Harvard had been hearing about how formidable the Dartmouth defense was. After all, the Big Green had allowed just nine goals all year—good enough for 12th in the nation for goals-against average.

Plus, the team was led by sophomore goalie Rowan Anders who had a .744 GAA., good for 15th in the nation.

”They’re a formidable defense,” Harvard coach John Kerr said. “We did have our chances, we just didn’t capitalize on them.”

Anders had several spectacular saves on the day, as he shut down a Crimson offense which had been on fire as of later, scoring 15 goals in five games.

“I always come out to play,” Anders said. “And so does the rest of team.”

Still, junior captain and defender Will Craig was not of the same mind about the Dartmouth’s netminder performance.

“I wasn’t terribly impressed with him,” Craig said.

MISSING PLANKS IN THE D-FENCE

Though Harvard welcomed back senior defender Jason Andersen to the lineup after a two-game break following a toe injury, the back line found itself without the services of defender Sam Wiggin and sophomore Tom Stapleton. Seniors Zach Chandis and Ben Mottau started in place of the two absentee players

“Those are two big players for us,” Kerr said. “But we’re a little bit more offensive-minded when we have those guys in there.”

Wiggin was not allowed to play in yesterday’s game after receiving a red card during the Providence match on Tuesday. Stapleon missed his third straight game as a precaution after being diagnosed this week with a minor concussion, but Kerr insisted that he would be back by the end of the week.

SLIP AND SLIDE

With just 10 minutes left to play in the first half, the good weather that had been holding for most of the day broke, and a slight drizzle started to create problems for players looking for a hold on the ground. In the second half alone, junior goalie Ryan Johnson slipped and fell twice after taking a goal kick.

“We did have a good bit of rain last night, which did make the field a bit soft [when it started to rain again],” Cook said. “Both sets of players were having trouble with their footing.”

But the extra precipitation did help with celebration ideas, as several of the Big Green players used the slickness of the grass to slide on their stomachs after scoring the winning goal with 1:03 left to play.

—Staff writer Evan R. Johnson can be reached at erjohns@fas.harvard.edu.