Men's Soccer Wins First Game of Season

With fifteen minutes to go and the Harvard men’s soccer team (1-4-1) tied 1-1 with UMass (0-7-1), seniors Ross Friedman and Kevin Harrington took the game into their own hands. Friedman’s cross in the 76th minute found junior Hiroki Kobayashi in front of the goal, but a slow roller that made it past the goalkeeper was punched out by a UMass defender inches from the goal line.

The composed pair of seniors, whose inside-out dynamic allowed the Crimson to dominate the middle third of the field, quickly struck again. After an errant header by a Minuteman defender went out of bounds four minutes later, a Friedman cross found Harrington’s head on the far post; the ensuing header found the net. The deciding goal gave Harvard its first win of the year, 2-1, under new coach Pieter Lehrer.

“[Ross and Kevin] have been huge for us,” Lehrer said. “We play them in the middle of the field and out wide and they have been effective for us each game. Both of them are leaders for us on the field and off the field and in the locker room.”

Early on, the game closely mimicked Harvard’s 2-1 loss to Davidson, two weeks ago to the day. A 48th minute goal by junior forward Phillip Fleischman put the Crimson into the lead for the first time since the Davidson game, where an early goal by freshman Ashi Geberkidane was followed by two quick Wildcat goals that provided the deciding margin.

But empowered with a 1-0 lead, the Crimson pushed ahead early in the second half to try and put UMass away. Two minutes after his header found the back of the net, Fleischman was found again by Friedman on the right side but his header fell wide of the post. Ten minutes later, Harrington’s cross hit the junior forward in front of net but a diving UMass goalie knocked the ball away before Fleischman could get a second touch.

Three minutes later, however, the Crimson’s attacking mentality quickly backfired. After an errant touch in front of the net leaked out to a UMass defender, the Minutemen had numbers pushing the ball up the field and quickly capitalized. A deft series of passes left Josh Schwartz alone in front of the goal, where he beat sophomore goalkeeper Evan Mendez to tie the game up at one.

Overall, Harvard had the advantage over the Minutemen in every offensive statistic. In addition to the lead in both shots, 13-8, and shots on goal, 7-3, the Crimson took nine more corner kicks than its opponents.

On the heels of another two-goal performance Friday, Harrington said that the team has been more and more successful as it has pushed forward in the field.

“We have been able to do more work with the ball and get it into the offensive third more often,” Harrington said. “When we do that, we look to get the ball into dangerous areas in the box and play it out wide. The biggest thing was that guys were willing to put it all forward and once they got into the box, were willing to get their heads on the ball and that ended up with two goals [today].”

Friedman, with three assists over the weekend, was a central component of the Harvard attack. Harrington said that the senior midfielder’s ability to dominate play from the center of the field has been key in the development of the team’s offense.

“Ross is the best foot on the team,” Harrington said. “We have to get it to his foot when we can and give it to him in space and let him get it to us in the middle, where it is easy for us to get the ball. He is a phenomenal guy on the wing to be putting balls in and we try to find him every time we can and that ends up with some goals for us.”

Fleischman added that the team has focused on progressing each day and practice and that meticulous focus has shown itself in the team’s improved offensive play.

“We have a plan from the midfielder to the forward positions that is coming together right now and you can see the results,” Fleischman said. “[We are focused] on the straightforward process of trying to get better each day … focusing on little things and improving on those and then getting to the next little thing after that.”

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