Men's Soccer Tops Cornell in Overtime for First Ivy Win

When a game is on the line, captains must step up. With the Harvard and Cornell men’s soccer teams heading to overtime tied at one on Saturday afternoon, co-captain Kevin Harrington did just that.

“We got into a huddle, and we were going over what we were going to do,” Crimson coach Pieter Lehrer said. “Kevin kind of took hold of the group and said, ‘Play the ball to me. I will get the ball. Just get the ball to me.’ And so we said, ‘Okay.’”

Just over a minute into the second overtime period, Harvard (2-6-2, 1-1 Ivy) earned a free kick 25 yards out deep in the corner of Big Red territory. Co-captain Ross Friedman took the kick and sent a powerful cross into the box. The ball managed to clear the heads of several Big Red (6-3-2, 0-2 Ivy) defenders before dipping right onto the head of Harrington. The co-captain knocked the header into the top corner of the net past Cornell keeper Kurtis Teskoski, stunning the crowd at Berman Field and giving the Crimson a 2-1 victory.

“He wanted the moment, he asked for it, and we just kind of rode him at that point,” Lehrer said.

The upset win over the defending Ivy League champions is the first conference win of the season for Harvard, propelling the team to fourth in the Ancient Eight. The win is the first in three conference seasons for the Crimson, whose two Ivy League tilts have been decided by a combined two goals.

“This was a much-needed win for the team for the program,” Friedman said. “It feels unbelievable. We fought until the end, and that’s something that we’ve struggled with. We’ve been able to fight [for] 85 minutes or 88 minutes, but this time we fought through the full 90 minutes and then all the way through to the second overtime.”

Although according to Friedman, the team fought to the very end, but at the end of regulation, the Crimson looked like it was about to undergo a severe case of déjà vu. Just one week after surrendering two goals in the final three minutes to Yale, the Crimson nearly blew another 1-0 lead late in regulation.

Leading 1-0 in the 82nd minute, the Crimson conceded a foul 35 yards out in its own zone. The ensuing kick was cleared away by the back line, but the ball found its way to Cornell’s Devin Morgan, who sent the ball right back into the box.  Senior defender Jake Kirsch received the cross right in front of the net, and his header beat sophomore Harvard keeper Evan Mendez to tie the game.

Following the equalizer, Cornell pushed forward, looking for the game-winner. In the final five minutes of regulation, the Big Red got three shots off and earned two corners. It appeared as though Cornell had come up with the dagger when the Big Red was able to find the back of the net in the 88th minute, but the goal was called back due to an offsides call.

Nevertheless, Friedman said, the Crimson remained confident heading into the overtime period.

“I could really tell by looking in the huddle, looking at the guys, that we were going to win,” Friedman said. “We weren’t going to leave that game with a tie. We were going to win the game.”

Harvard came out firing in overtime, outshooting the Big Red, 5-0, in the first additional frame. Then, in the second extra period, it only took one shot for Harrington to send the Crimson home victorious.

Harvard played the majority of the game with the lead after an early goal from Friedman. In the 24th minute, senior forward A.J. Agha carried the ball up the wing and sent a pass to Friedman near the corner of the box. Friedman trapped the ball with his chest and struck a low, bending shot that found the inside of the left goalpost for his first goal of the season.

After his one-goal, one-assist performance against Cornell, Friedman has now either scored or assisted the last four goals for the Crimson, and six of the last seven. He had three shots on the night, as did Harrington, junior Matt Sheeleigh, and freshman Andrew Wheeler-Omiunu.

Cornell had a season-high 22 shots in the game. Mendez saved nine of them in net for Harvard, earning his second win of the season.

“When you have someone like Evan who can step in and play at the level he’s playing, it’s phenomenal,” Lehrer said. “He made a couple great saves.”

Friedman says that he is very proud of the team and is confident looking forward.

“That extra push that we had today gave us that win,” Friedman said, “and hopefully we can continue to have that extra push."