W. Soccer Struggles to Fourth-Place Ivy Finish

After a tumultuous season that featured memorable victories over Penn and Columbia as well as heartbreaking losses to Brown and Dartmouth, the Harvard women’s soccer team found itself almost exactly back where it started—with nearly an equal number of wins, losses and ties.

Despite never losing a game by more than a single goal and outscoring its opponents 27-17 on the season, the Crimson finished the fall season with a 6-5-5 (2-2-3 Ivy) record, leaving Harvard tied for fourth in the Ivy League.

“We could have finished 11-5-0, but the ball just wasn’t taking the right bounces,” said junior forward Alisha Moran, who led the team with 10 goals. “It speaks to how we were a strong team. We have a lot of potential.”

After a 2-1 victory over the Quakers to open its Ivy schedule on Sept. 27, the Crimson would not win another league game until its season finale—an overtime decision over Columbia.

In addition to 1-1 ties with Cornell and Princeton and a scoreless tie with Yale, Harvard suffered an overtime defeat at the hands of the Big Green as well as a tough, 3-2 loss to the Bears on Oct. 18 with much of Brown’s offense coming from set plays.

“The problem [with the Brown game] was that we didn’t figure out how to defend the set plays until after we had already given up two goals,” junior back Liza Barber said. “It was one of the few games where we came off the field and said, ‘What did we do?’ We just didn’t play well.”

The Crimson’s non-conference schedule featured the likes of then-No. 8 Virginia and then-No. 13 Penn State, as well as perennial contender Stanford. While Harvard was able to battle hard, it ultimately fell short each time, losing by a single goal to these three top-tier teams.

“After these games, we always had an excuse,” Barber said. “It was always OK because they were [a top team]. We’re trying to change that attitude. We are a team that can compete.”

In contrast to the previous season, when the team operated in a set that featured three backs, five midfielders and two forward, the Crimson shifted to a formation this season that included four backs, three midfielders and three forwards.

“We had three strong center midfielders as well as outside backs who were fast and could push forward,” Moran explained. “[The new formation] allowed the midfielders to work off each other.”

Another reason for the formation shift was the necessity of adjusting to the loss of forwards Joey Yenne ’03 and Beth Totman ’03, who together accounted for 11 of Harvard’s 27 goals last season. Much of this void was filled by Moran, who shifted to forward and scored 10 times after recording just two goals last season.

“It was huge for Alisha to step up, and she had a wonderful season,” Barber said. “She had been shuffled around [in the past] and put in wherever we needed someone. She never really got settled into a role. She earned her spot this season.”

While the Crimson failed to secure a place in the NCAA tournament this season, it was certainly not lacking in individual accolades. Harvard featured seven All-Ivy honorees, headlined by back Katie Hodel and midfielder Katie Westfall, both of whom were named to the first team. Westfall became just the 15th player in league history to be a four-time first-team honoree.

—Staff writer Jonathan P. Hay can be reached at hay@fas.harvard.edu.