Hard Work Pays Dividends

Over the past month, the Harvard’s women’s soccer team has played four nationally ranked opponents, lost six of its seven games, and gone through an altogether grueling beginning to its season in preparation for its run at an Ivy championship.

Sometimes hard work really does pay off.

The Crimson’s tough beginning schedule made the squad fitter and more prepared on Sunday as it defeated Penn (4-2-1, 0-1-0 Ivy) by a 2-1 score, capturing the team’s first win of the season in the game the team had been waiting for—its Ivy opener.

And for a young group that needed a boost of confidence after the strenuous start to the season, the road win in Philadelphia came at the perfect time.

“We knew we were really playing hard teams to start the season,” senior co-captain Laura Odorczyk said. “We’ve worked hard, so this is great for us to show that we are really prepared for the Ivies.”

Coming off a sluggish first half against No. 12 Boston University on Wednesday, Harvard came out focused from the start and did not relinquish any early goals to the Quakers.

The rock behind the team’s determined play was freshman goalkeeper Lauren Mann, who once again posted a stellar performance with five saves, including three on Penn breakaway opportunities.

But she saved her best for last.

The game’s three goals all came in the final twenty minutes, with the third coming from the Quakers in the 81st minute to cut its deficit to 2-1. In the next nine minutes, Penn unleashed four shot attempts on Mann, with the last one landing on net in the 88th minute. The shot came from right outside the box, but as it headed toward the top of the cage, Mann lunged out and deflected it off goal, securing the game and making one of the top saves in the Ivies this year.

“The ball was ripped from the eighteen and went right below the crossbar,” freshman Christina Hagner said. “Lauren [Mann] rose up and tipped it over the bar; she was so focused and tough like this the entire game.”

“It was literally the best save I’ve seen in women’s soccer,” Odorczyk added.

The Crimson built its 2-0 lead with goals in the 71st and in the 80th minutes. The eventual game-winner transpired when a well-placed cross from Hagner met junior Megan Merritt in the box. Merritt’s touch header came right to the foot of Rachel Lau, who blasted home the eventual game-winner into the upper ninety of the Quaker goal.

“Rachel [Lau] was right there to volley it in the goal,” Hagner said. “It was a play with everyone working together for the score.”

Harvard had to fight to maintain that lead, but after it was all over, the team took confidence from the fact that for the first time all season, it put together a stellar effort for all ninety minutes of the game.

“We finally came out strong and played for 90 minutes,” Odorczyk said. “Only when we’re behind have we focused before, but today we were motivated throughout to get this must-win game.”

Penn came into the game as the top team in the Ivies during its non-conference schedule.

But the Quakers have not been challenged by teams of the caliber of Santa Clara or Penn State; as a result, the Crimson was able to control the game by drawing from the experience of its tough opening schedule.

But in an Ivy league where there is no definite favorite, as Princeton was two years ago and Yale was last year, each game will be difficult, and on top of that, equally important. The team cannot have any lapses if it hopes to reach its eventual goal: a league championship.

“We have to go hard every game against Cornell, against Yale, any Ivy League game,” Odorczyk said. “If we do this, we can go undefeated in the Ivies—but the effort has to always be there.”

—Staff writer Walter E. Howell can be reached at wehowell@fas.harvard.edu.