Men's Soccer Falls in Heartbreaker at Boston College

Though the Harvard men’s soccer team kept Boston College off the board for more than half of the game, the Crimson defense was ultimately its own worst enemy.

Harvard (3-7-2, 2-1 Ivy) fell to the Eagles (6-5-2, 3-4-1 ACC) at Newton Campus Lacrosse and Soccer Field Tuesday afternoon, in a tight game that was ultimately decided by a Crimson own goal.

In the 74th minute, co-captain goalkeeper Brett Conrad failed to adjust after coming out of the goal to defend and let the ball roll into the net, making the final score 3-2 in favor of Boston College.

“In the second half, I thought I should have done a better job with focusing the team,” Harvard coach Pieter Lehrer said. “We were focusing on really competing from the beginning right through to the end [of the game], but [the second half] didn’t have the same quality that we’ve had throughout the year.”

Late in the first half, Harvard found itself with a comfortable, 2-0 lead over the Eagles with back-to-back set piece goals within two minutes of each other.

Junior midfielder David Barna managed to find the back of the net after a throw-in was headed into the box by senior Kevin Harrington.

Less than two minutes later in the 34th minute, sophomore midfielder Michael Klain found junior defender Tyler Evans, who fired it off a Boston College defender to extend the Crimson’s lead to 2-0.

“I thought we came out with a good mentality today,” senior defender Ross Friedman said. “In the first half, we were pretty dangerous for the other team and really finished the chances we had.”

While Boston College attempted seven shots in the first half, none of them made it to the back of the net. However, the Eagles converted three of four shot attempts in the second half.

“We really tried to emphasize composure after the first half, since we were up, 2-0,” freshman forward Ashi Geberkidane said. “We all played really well, but there were some silly mistakes, and we paid dearly for them.”

Geberkidane was injured in the first five minutes of the second half, and Harvard was forced to rearrange its lineup to make up for the loss of the rookie standout. Geberkidane was recently named Ivy League Rookie of the Week and has scored three goals in his first collegiate season.

Boston College also refocused its game after halftime.

“[The Eagles] made changes in the game that were trying to throw us off in the second half,” Friedman said. “They brought a different energy than what we saw in the first half, and made some substitutions to bring in stronger players. Part of what they were trying to do was to make sure we weren’t tracking their passes and getting a hold of the ball.”

In the 55th minute, Boston College’s junior midfielder Brendan Hayes took advantage of a cross from sophomore midfielder Derrick Boateng to put the Eagles on the scoreboard.

Hayes scored again after a run on the left side by freshman Zeiko Lewis—three minutes before Harvard’s own goal—to tie the game at 2-2.

“They scored all of their goals on transition where we would get caught up higher when we moved the ball, and they were very fast up top,” Friedman said. “This is something that we analyzed once the game was over, in terms of what we did well and what we didn’t do well. If they’re only scoring one way, then it’s easily fixable and we can identify that.”

Both Boston College goals came from fast breaks up the left side, with Harvard unable to catch up.

“Generally, our problem was a player being open during transitions,” Lehrer said. “We’re at a good place as far as the mentality and work, but I think we just haven’t put that last part together in the last half.”

Despite multiple attempts to bring the ball back to Boston College’s side of the field in the last 15 minutes, only one of these attempts actually resulted in a shot on goal. Freshman midfielder Andrew Wheeler-Omiunu’s shot was saved by Eagles’ sophomore goalie Alex Kapp, his only save of the game. Conrad totaled two saves on the Crimson side.

“This team doesn’t constantly get results yet, but they always make improvements and have a great attitude,” Lehrer said. “If we can make that jump, we would be a much more dynamic team, and can compete with the better teams in the conference and in the country.”