Vermont Shelled By Harvard Offense

After a slow start, an injury-plagued Harvard men’s soccer team exploded into action yesterday, shutting out visiting Vermont (3-1-2, 0-0 America East), 3-0. The win marked the first home victory for the 2008 team, as well as the first win at Ohiri Field for the Crimson’s new head coach, Jamie Clark.

Harvard (2-1-0) got goals from three different players during the matchup.

Co-captain Mike Fucito, who leads the team in scoring, began the offensive action when he found the net in the 52nd minute of the match.

Even though Fucito is one of five athletes on the team who recently underwent surgery, he has not let his injury affect his ability to lead the team offensively, scoring at least one goal in each of the Crimson’s matches this season. In yesterday’s game, he came off the bench in the 14th minute to give a spark to the Harvard offense.

“Mike came in and he was a shot of energy off the bat,” co-captain Luke Sager said.

The Harvard men also added two new members to its list of 2008 scorers, with goals by junior Adam Rousmaniere and senior John Stamatis, both in the second half of play. Rousmaniere, who came on to start the second half, notched his first goal of the season by heading a cross from sophomore Alex Chi into the net in the 57th minute. Stamatis continued Harvard’s offensive momentum in the 70th minute, firing a textbook shot into the top corner of the net for an unassisted tally.

In addition to helping to increase the Crimson’s lead over Vermont, Stamatis and fellow midfielder junior Brian Grimm also controlled the pace of the match.

“Our two midfielders kept control of the game,” Clark said. “[In] what could have been an ugly, dirty game, [Stamatis and Grimm] kept the tempo perfect.”

Sager led his team in the backfield, and combined with junior goalkeeper Joseph Alexander to keep the Catamounts scoreless during the match.

“Luke Sager in the back was great,” Clark said. “He organized us and kept us in it.”

Alexander notched three saves on six Vermont shots, as the Catamounts were outshot 16-6 by the Crimson.

The solid defensive effort was key in Harvard’s victory over Vermont. The Crimson came out shaky in the first half, failing to capitalize on any of their scoring opportunities. However, after missing all seven of its shots on goal in the first 40 minutes of play, Harvard came back with a vengeance, scoring three times in its final nine attempts on goal.

“We made it difficult for ourselves at first,” Sager said. “That’s kind of been the story for us all year—we’re a second-half team.”

The Crimson looks to improve on this weakness before its next matchup against Rhode Island on Wednesday. Clark believes the team’s senior class can help lead Harvard to victory throughout the rest of the season.

“We’ve got a lot of great seniors who are hoping to make it a special season, and I think they can, because they’re talented enough,” Clark said. “We can do special things.”

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