No. 11 Men's Soccer Continues Dominating September

The men’s soccer team kept its season record spotless with a pair of recent road wins against Providence and Vermont, beating the Friars, 2-1, on Sunday and topping the Catamounts by a 2-0 count yesterday.

The Crimson (4-0-0) was led offensively by junior Michael Fucito, who scored three of the team’s goals and registered the assist on the fourth.

Fucito, who credits his new-and-improved “mental approach” with his success, says that he has made no major changes in his game, but rather has been working on the little things.

“It’s a combination of things,” said Fucito of his recent achievements. “I think I’ve gotten a little bit more confident.”

As a whole, Harvard’s confidence has been bolstered by the two wins, especially its recent triumph over Vermont. But the team is trying to stay focused amid the lofty expectations surrounding the team.

“Our mindset is to take one game at a time,” senior co-captain Matt Hoff said. “Every time we step on the field, we’re expecting to have a better game than the last and win.”

Next up on the schedule is a home date with Boston University on Friday afternoon.

HARVARD 2, VERMONT 0

The No. 11 Crimson, which keeps moving up in the national soccer polls, came together as a team yesterday to shut down and shut out Vermont. Harvard’s defense, composed of juniors Marcel Perl and Michael Giammanco and sophomores Kwaku Nyamekye and Chey Im, kept the attacking Catamounts (11 shots) at bay.

“The whole back four, including [goalie] Adam Hahn, had a really solid game,” coach John Kerr said.

Fucito, who was recently named to Top Drawer Soccer’s National Team of the Week, had a key showing. He registered the Crimson’s second goal of the match, and assisted on the first, with a beautiful pass ahead to sophomore André Akpan in the 25th minute.

Harvard, which barely beat Vermont in overtime last year, was able to build on the successes of its previous matches to gain a decisive win.

“We’ve used these first games well to figure out how to play with each other,” senior co-captain Adam Hahn said. “We played really well.”

“This was by far the best performance we’ve had,” Hoff added.

HARVARD 2, PROVIDENCE 1

Key efforts by Fucito and Hahn in the second half of the game lifted the Crimson to a tough 2-1 victory over Providence on Sunday.

After a scoreless first half, Harvard was finally able to find the net in the 74th minute, when freshman Alex Chi connected with Fucito.

The Friars did not wait long to retaliate, tying the game at 1 just over two minutes later. The goal by Jonathan Medcalf was the only tally registered on Hahn in the Crimson’s last three outings.

But Fucito was able to give Harvard the lead again, with assists credited to Akpan and Perl.

Although the Crimson was able to squeak by the Friars, Hoff saw room for improvement.

“Performance-wise, we didn’t really play that well,” Hoff said. “We came out kind of slow and we couldn’t really put many passes together.”

Hahn helped Harvard with his play in goal, recording five key saves against a Providence team that tripled its total shot output in the second half.

“A lot of my job is helping out the defense,” Hahn said. “I think especially in the last 20 minutes of the game I stepped up and played pretty well.”

—Staff writer Alexandra J. Mihalek can be reached at amihalek@fas.harvard.edu.