Cornell Squad Cannot Keep Pace with Crimson

On Saturday, the Harvard women’s soccer team honored former captain Meg Berte Owen ’94 who, after surviving Hodgkens Lymphona 13 years ago, succumbed to lung complications last year. When Owen played against Cornell her senior season, the team lost to the Big Red, 1-0.

This time, with Owen’s family and friends in the stands, the Crimson soccer team (5-4-1, 2-1 Ivy) honored the former All-American with black bands and a 2-0 win.

“It was a difficult game,” Harvard coach Ray Leone said. “Cornell was a very, very difficult team to play against. They bring it, they’re physical, and you have to match their intensity, or you’re in deep trouble. I thought we did. We played real well today.”

In its third straight victory, and second straight Ivy victory, the Crimson began the game going shot-for-shot with the Big Red (5-6-0, 0-3-0). While each side managed six attempts at goal, the Cornell squad had trouble finding the back of the net.

Cornell struggled to finish off its shots, but Harvard took advantage, grabbing its first goal in the 18th minute. After a penalty on Cornell, junior defender Lindsay Kowal belted a free kick past the outstretched hands of Big Red goalkeeper Kelly Murphy to give the Crimson a 1-0 lead.

“The first goal, Lindsay sent a perfect ball into the box, and it just bounced off of one of the players and went in,” sophomore Alexandra Conigliaro said. “So although it was an own-goal, it was a perfect ball by Lindsay.”

“The second goal, I think, was really important for our team, because it really propelled us forward for the rest of the game,” she added.

Seven and a half minutes later, the Crimson struck for a second time as Conigliaro knocked a corner kick into the mix of players in front of Murphy’s goal. Senior Kerry Kartsonis grabbed the header, hammering the ball in.

During halftime, with the score 2-0 in Harvard’s favor, Owen’s family and teammates stood alongside Crimson athletic director Bob Scalise as he announced the new Meg Berte Owen ’94 Memorial Award, created with the $40,000 raised by classmates and friends.

“This was something that we were all looking forward to doing, because although we didn’t know her, she definitely has a legacy here,” Conigliaro said. “The whole week leading up to it, we were getting ready for that, talking about when we play, play for Meg. I think they did a great job honoring her, which was really nice.”

Moving into the second half, Cornell swapped goalkeeper Murphy out in favor of junior Megan Bartlett. Barlett quickly felt the pressure from the Crimson’s front line, which took 16 shots in the half compared to the Big Red’s eight. But with Bartlett’s four saves and Harvard goaltender Jessica Wright’s three saves, both teams seemed at a standstill.

“I think we came out strong, and I think we kept maintaining the pressure,” Leone said. “The Cornell goalkeeper made some good saves, and it was difficult, [and] we made some good saves, so it was a good game. It’s not like I felt we didn’t come out hard, I felt we did, but they just played well too.”

As the clock ticked down, Cornell scrambled to produce a goal, but Wright and her defense, including two fellow freshmen Peyton Johnson and Claudia Haeussler, stayed strong to give Harvard its first shutout of the year.

“[The freshmen are] getting better and better,” Leone explaind. “They’re getting more experience and doing well.”

The experience will continue to build as the Harvard squad journeys to Brown next weekend. Brown, like Cornell, is known for its height and skill in the air, and after a close loss to Princeton last weekend, the Bears will prove to be another challenge for the Crimson.

“It was a hard game today,” Leone remarked. “But isn’t every Ivy League game? They’re all hard.”

—Staff writer Alex Sopko can be reached at sopko@fas.harvard.edu.