Early Goal Brings Season’s First Win

With a solid back line and a three-time All-Ivy keeper between the pipes, the Crimson has enough to overcome an offense still beginning to take shape. As it turns out, all the Harvard women’s soccer team needed for its first win of 2009 was a single goal—and what a score it was.

Second on the team in points and goals a year ago, junior Katherine Sheeleigh found the net for the first time this season, propelling the Crimson (1-1-1) to a 1-0 victory over New Hampshire (1-3-0) yesterday afternoon at Ohiri Field.

“It feels really good for us,” co-captain Lizzy Nichols said. “We’ve been wanting it for a while. It just feels good to get that now, and build off of that, and get a taste of what it feels like so we can keep striving for more.”

The game’s key moment came barely three minutes into the match, when junior co-captain Gina Wideroff sent a lob in from 20 yards out. Sheeleigh headed the lofty ball straight at Wildcat goalie Ally Yost, who handled the shot but couldn’t manage to corral the rebound. The Harvard forward’s second attempt rocketed off her right foot and into the cage.

“Pretty wild goal, I know,” Crimson coach Ray Leone said. “A great little half chance by Sheeleigh, and I’m glad she took it. A great player will score crazy goals like that sometimes.”

Figuring out the kinks in its offense, Harvard emphasized staying aggressive following the early score, and finished with 11 shots in the half.

“We played well at times,” Leone said. “It’s still early season form for us, and I know anybody watching can tell that. It’s coming, just slower than we all want.”

Though the Crimson continues to refine its touch on lengthier passes, a constantly pressing attack forced Yost into a couple more saves on attempts off the feet of Wideroff and Sheeleigh. The New Hampshire netminder had eight saves on the day, matching her career high.

For its part, the defense maintained a constant presence. The contributions of sophomore Lindsey Kowal and freshman Taryn Kurcz, who got the start along with backline mainstays Nichols and junior Katie Kuzma, who is also a Crimson sports editor, helped prevent the Wildcats from making much headway onto the Crimson’s side of the pitch during the initial 45 minutes.

Of the six first-period shots Harvard allowed, none presented serious threats.

“The best defense for us, especially in this game, was trying to stay relentless, not letting down offensively,” Nichols said. “I don’t think we played at the same level that we started the game with throughout the game, but we never stopped trying to go to goal, and that’s why we played so well defensively, because we tried to lock them in on our end.”

As New Hampshire pushed to even the tally before the half, a final-minute 30-yard try flew over the crossbar. Senior goalie Lauren Mann grabbed a deflected ball on the next possession and held on until the clock ran out.

The Crimson’s dominating play continued through the second stanza, especially in the opening minutes, when blasts by Wideroff and sophomore Melanie Baskind nearly extended the Harvard advantage.

The Wildcats’ search for the tying goal would not lead to any scoring threats, and Mann’s only save of the game came on a 30-yarder late in the 83rd minute.

The Crimson doubled up its opponents in shots, 26-13, for the contest. The mismatch was particularly notable on corner kicks, as Harvard had seven to New Hampshire’s one.

The Crimson still has a long way to go, however.

“We haven’t really established ourself yet and the style of play that’s going to define our team,” Nichols said. “It takes a lot to become a team. I felt like last season, it took the entire season to get to that really great feeling…I think we started this season better than we have in the past, so I have a lot of confidence that we’re going to do well pretty early.”

—Staff writer Dennis J. Zheng can be reached at dzheng12@college.harvard.edu.