Men's Soccer Looks to Build Momentum After First Victory

After a winless first five games, the Harvard men’s soccer team (1-4-1) walked away with its first win of the season against The University of Massachusetts (0-7-1) and will be looking for a two-win streak when it takes on Boston University (3-3-0) Wednesday night at home.

“The guys worked really hard in the last game,” Crimson coach Pieter Lehrer said. “I think that’s a testament to what they’ve been doing this whole time. The team is improving little by little and they’ve become more disciplined. It’s a really good crew.”

According to Friedman, the team improved on things it had been working on in practice in its last two games against Hartford and UMass.

“We really were very happy with this weekend,” co-captain Ross Friedman said. “We feel as though we’ve grown and we’re improving on the things we were focusing on. For example, we really focused on blocking shots and crosses, which helped us prevent three or four attempts on goal.”

Harvard hopes to carry these adjustments into the rest of its season, particularly the upcoming BU game.

“I think they’re moving forward and they’re looking at things they can improve,” Lehrer said. “There’s a constant focus on the process of just being a better team and I think that’s eventually going to produce the results that they’re looking for.”

According to Lehrer, the Crimson will be tested against the Terriers. While Harvard’s last opponent, UMass, entered Sunday’s game winless on the season, the Terriers are a much better squad and have won half of their first six games.

“They’re a pretty talented team,” Lehrer said. “They have a couple players up front that are very dangerous, and they’re very organized. I don’t think they’ve put their team together fully yet, but they certainly have a lot of weapons.”

Furthermore, the Terriers have an early-season advantage over Harvard in a few key statistical categories. The overall shooting percentage for BU is 10.9 percent, compared to the Crimson’s 9.1 percent. The save percentage for each team is 84.6 percent and 68.4 percent for the Terriers and Crimson, respectively. Comparatively, UMass’s statistics indicate a shooting percentage of 3.5 percent and a losing record of zero wins and seven losses.

According to Lehrer, the team knows it will face a stiffer challenge going into the next game, but it is focusing on being the best team it can be instead of who it will be playing.

“I think we just need to improve on how we can get forward and keep pressure a little better when we get into the attacking area,” Lehrer said. “We [need to] have a little more killer instinct while we’re in front of the goal and put the ball into the net.”

BU has won two of its last three contests against Harvard, but in the all-time series, Harvard leads, 24-16-6. Last year’s meeting resulted in a Crimson overtime victory, 2-1.

The average shots per game for each team in 2013 also comes out in favor of the Crimson, with 10.7 for BU and 11.0 for Harvard.

Friedman said he is looking forward to the matchups of some of BU and Harvard’s star players.

“It’s been pretty great how on each game we focus on a few things and it keeps adding up and we keep seeing real results,” Friedman said. “Obviously, it was great getting a win against UMass, but there are still other aspects we have to work on. We haven’t really looked at BU yet, but they’re always a great team because they always have great talent.”

Junior Dominique Badji and senior Anthony Ciccone have led the Terriers in shots attempted and assists made, respectively. Harvard will need to pay particular attention to Ciccone, who has assisted on more than half of the Terrier’s seven goals this season.

Ciccone and Badji will face off against the Crimson’s co-captains, Kevin Harrington and Friedman, who lead the team in both the goals and assists categories.

The team’s freshman class has also made an impact thus far this season. Rookie forward Ashi Geberkidane chipped in a goal for the team during its 2-1 loss against Davidson, and his classmate, defender Alex Leondis, also contributed one of the squad’s six goals this season.

While Harvard is looking to extend its one-game win streak to two, Friedman said that the team is concerned primarily with its own development and improvement throughout the year, reiterating a year-long focus for the team on the process of getting better. Despite just one victory on its schedule thus far, the veteran indicated that the team is pleased with ceratin aspects of its play, and is ready to battle its crosstown foe.

“We’re just focusing on ourselves and focusing on our process,” Friedman said. “We have things we can keep since we’re doing them well, and things we definitely need to improve on. Every year, you know, it’s a rivalry. You want to be the best team in Boston, and so it’s always a great game to watch.”