Crimson Drops Game to Friars

After the final buzzer sounded, Brian Rogers lay on the field, frustrated and cramped.

The sophomore’s postgame reaction said all that needed to be said of his struggling team’s performance in a 2-1 loss to Providence (5-2-1) last night at Soldiers Field Soccer Stadium.

Rogers did all that he could to try to push the Crimson–winless in six straight contests as it heads into conference play–over the hump. He took eight shots, three directly on goal. But each time his attempts were denied, leaving him and his teammates wondering where the team that was No. 6 in the national rankings as recently as 10 days ago had gone.

“This game is a true disappointment in the sense that I thought we had better soccer players on the field than our opponent,” Harvard coach Carl Junot said.

The first half of the game was filled with great looks but missed opportunities for the Crimson (2-3-3).

First, at the 6:41 mark of the opening period, junior midfielder Ben Tsuda had an opportunity on a one-on-one with Friar defender David Datilus, who blocked the ball before Tsuda could get a shot on net.

At 7:21, Rogers had a great chance off a rebound on a corner kick, but Providence goalie Jhojan Obando made a diving stop to his left to knock it away.

At 21:33, sophomore defender Richard Smith hit Rogers with a long pass that Rogers windmill-kicked right on goal, but Obando made another impressive save, diving to his left.

Eight minutes later, Rogers once again had a scoring opportunity off a cross, but his attempt was blocked. Smith had a chance on a header with four minutes remaining in the half that Obando caught with a leaping save, and senior defenseman Jaren LaGreca had an open shot from inside the box that Obando dove the wrong way on, but the ball sailed high and wide.

“I thought that we were starting to do well in the first half,” Rogers said. “It was encouraging.”

Though the Friars were outshot in the period, 12-4, the team took advantage of the chances that they did have.

At 35:11, after a scrum inside Harvard’s 18-yard box, the Crimson had the chance to pick the ball up and clear but couldn’t. Providence midfielder Keith Jecewiz took advantage, gaining possession and rolling the ball past Harvard junior goalie Austin Harms from 15 yards out to give his team a 1-0 lead.

“Off the clearance the ball was bouncing around, and [sophomore midfielder] Scotty Prozeller managed to get control of the ball,” Junot said. “Generally he’s rock solid on decisions, but the ball got caught under his foot, and he turned it over.”

Later, Jecewiz took a pass and sent a cross to teammate Matt Marcin, who from 12 yards out blasted the ball into the roof of the net with just two seconds remaining in the half, putting the Friars up 2-0 at the midpoint.

“[Harms] made some important mistakes,” Junot said. “I thought both goals that beat him were legitimate, quality goals...But that being said, when your defense gives up goals consistently then potentially as the goalkeeper you can ask yourself, can you provide more leadership and can you organize your defense a little bit better.”

The Crimson struck right back under two minutes into the second half when, after a free kick, junior midfielder Jamie Rees took a rebound of a Rogers shot in front of the net and put it past Obando for his first goal of the season.

“We talked about our set pieces where someone just tries to get it across goal,” Rogers said. “So I took it down off my set and hit it as hard as I could across goal, and Rees was there to tap it in.”

But unlike in the first half, Harvard was unable to generate many quality chances the rest of the way. With 3:52 remaining in the game, Rogers had a shot attempt off a cross that sailed high. It was the Crimson’s best opportunity to tie the score.

“It was a disappointment,” said Rogers, who fought through a quad strain suffered in the second half that limited his performance. “I thought we had a lot of momentum after the goal at the beginning of the second half, but we weren’t able to get that second one.”

Obando finished with five saves on the contest, and Harms tallied two. The loss ended Harvard’s seven-game winning streak against Providence, despite marking just the second time in the team’s last six contests that it outshot its opponent.

“In the second half we came out, made some adjustments from the back which shored up our line and looking at the stats, we only allowed four shots,” Junot said. “[But] it’s not the number of shots. It’s the quality opportunities, and they took care of theirs.”

—Staff writer Scott A. Sherman can be reached at ssherman13@college.harvard.edu.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

CORRECTION: October 14, 2010

An earlier verison of the Sept. 20 sports article "Crimson Drops Game to Friars" incorrectly referred to Harvard goalie Austin Harms as a sophomore. In fact, he is a junior.