Women's Soccer Bounces Back with Shutout

Three minutes is all it takes to make a Veritaffle, watch the new Harry Potter trailer, do Shakira’s Waka Waka dance, or make a banana split. Or you can win a soccer game.

In its second matchup of the season, the Harvard women’s soccer team took just over three minutes to grab its first win of the year. The Crimson (1-0-1) recorded a 2-0 shutout against the University of New Hampshire (2-1-2) on Sunday, raising its tally to six consecutive wins against the Wildcats.

“We were pretty consistent the entire game in terms of dominating,” junior Patty Yau said. “I think we were really well connected. They really only had one scoring chance, and that was at the end of the game in the last few minutes.”

Playing with a new formation that involved more players in the midfield, Harvard came into New Hampshire’s Lewis Field looking for some redemption after a shaky 2-2 tie on Friday against Long Island.

“We had a tough tie on Friday so the team certainly bounced back,” co-captain Gina Wideroff said. “We were able to learn from our mistakes at Friday’s game and try to correct them...It was an exciting first win. It felt good, felt really good, to get that win under our belt.”

While the men’s team relied on strong showings from its sophomores on Saturday night, for the Crimson women it was the senior class—led by co-captain Katherine Sheeleigh—that played a starring role. With 1:26 gone on the clock, Sheeleigh smashed a shot that whipped past Wildcat freshman goalkeeper Erica Correa.

“She basically just took on a few defenders and ripped a shot from 20 yards out,” Wideroff said. “It was phenomenal, the goalkeeper had no chance in saving it.”

Two minutes later, Sheeleigh again stole the show, sending a cross to Yau, who tapped it behind Correa for the 2-0 lead.

With a two-goal advantage, the game seemed reminiscent of Friday’s tie against the LIU Blackbirds, but with Harvard sophomore keeper AJ Millet making three saves, the Crimson was able to overwhelm New Hampshire’s Correa with a 17-8 shot advantage.

“I think our first game wasn’t really a true testament to how our team can play,” Yau said. “We were pretty nervous—first-game jitters played a big role. [Sunday] we were very consistent, a lot more connected from the back line to the front. Everyone played well, played together as a unit.”

With the clock ticking down, Harvard seemed controlled but wary that just like against Long Island, a 2-0 lead doesn’t always mean a win.

“That’s always a concern,” Wideroff said. “You know a 2-0 lead is a hard lead to maintain, we obviously experienced that on Friday. But we were in pretty good control for the entire game, and in the second half the ball was in their part of the field for a lot of the half.”

The only concern for Crimson fans came in the final minutes, as New Hampshire senior midfielder Cassie Guerra came charging at Millet.

“One of their forwards had a breakaway in the box, and it was between her and our keeper AJ to get to it,” Yau said. “AJ came out and made a great save and stopped the ball, so that was pretty much the only scoring opportunity they had. We were able to really keep them in their end most of the game.”

Guerra’s shot was the last chance for the Wildcats, as Millet notched her first career shutout and the Crimson tallied its first win of the season, giving hope that this preseason will go better than last year’s 1-5-1 showing.

“Every season is different,” Wideroff said. “Last season we sort of struggled with our first few games, non-conference games, with a pretty bad record, so this year our goal is to compete in these non-conference games.”

“So far we’re doing a really good job,” she added, “but we always have another big test ahead of us.”

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