Men's Soccer Moves to Within One Game of Ivy Title

With its sixth win in seven games, a 2-0 result over the Columbia Lions (8-5-3, 1-2-3 Ivy), the Harvard men’s soccer team (7-7-2, 5-1-0) moved one game away from the Ancient Eight title. It was the team’s first win all year by two or more goals and broke a six-game streak of games decided by one goal.

“Columbia is one of, if not the most, talented team we have played this year,” senior midfielder Kevin Harrington said. “Overall a great performance, and I am very happy with the team.”

Harvard quickly broke a 0-0 tie at half with a 50th minute goal from Harrington, who took a pass from sophomore defender Mark Ashby and rocketed a shot into the top left corner of the goal. The team capitalized again two minutes later, as junior midfielder Matt Sheeleigh took a corner kick from senior midfielder Ross Friedman and knocked it into the back of the net. The team’s defense, which surrendered only five shots on goal all game, held steady.

“I think we put together a good, hard-fought 90 minutes,” sophomore Mike Klain said. “Every game in the Ivy League is tough, and it will be a battle every time we are out there. Every guy fought for all 90, and we were able to get the result we wanted, but it was about the intensity that we brought and the fight that we brought. It is hard to get points on the road against a good team, but we played hard, stuck together, and got the result we wanted.”

Afterwards, Friedman praised the play of sophomore goalie Evan Mendez, who maintained his undefeated season with his sixth win in seven outings. Friedman said that the team’s pressure defense is reliant on an aggressive goalkeeper willing to come off the line. Mendez’s aggressiveness and communication since taking over the starting job, Friedman said, have allowed the team to find its aggressive defensive identity.

“Evan has been great for the team,” Friedman said. “He brought a lot of calm to our back line and our play. He has a clear mind and an ability to press the game. That’s what a lot of people don’t think about when they think about a goalkeeper, he has got the intangibles, and he has the communication aspect of it, which is great.”

Harrington credited the team’s recent resurgence to the philosophy of coach Pieter Lehrer. Since day one, Harrington said that the coach has emphasized that the team’s improvement will be a process and that each game the focus has been on improvement and belief.

“Since he was able to trust his process and strategy for the entire season in all those losses, he was able to make us all buy into that strategy and process,” Harrington said. “The biggest change he has made is that people have the belief that we will win games. Even if we are down one goal or two goals, we still believe we can win. Even if we lose, we come to practice thinking that we can make the changes to win the next one.”

Klain concurred with Harrington, saying that the most valuable lesson that the coach has taught the team is how to commit to its goals. The sophomore said that the team’s mentality under Lehrer is completely different from what it was under previous coach Carl Junot.

“He has really done a great job of putting together a process that we stick to every single day,” Klain said. “It has affected how we approach soccer and other aspects of life as well. We have gone about accomplishing our goals, and it has been really helpful for us on the field.”

However, the sophomore said that the team—which continues to take the season game-by-game, even with the title a game away—has yet to cross off the goals it set for itself this year.

“We are in a position to do now what we set out to do and a lot of it is thanks to the process that we have laid out in terms of how we approach every moment in our life,” Klain said. “[However,] we have a ways to go to accomplish our goals. But if you have 11 guys that fight hard and do their job, then that’s the way that we are going to win game.”

—Staff writer David Freed can be reached at david.freed@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @CrimsonDPFreed.