Men's Soccer Edged Out Late by Davidson

After holding a 1-0 lead for the majority of Sunday afternoon’s game against Davidson, the Harvard men’s soccer team let its second game of the season slip away with just over two minutes left on the clock, losing 2-1.

Though the Wildcats (2-0-1) dominated the possession game early in the first half, the Crimson (0-2) was able to hold Davidson off, and the game went to halftime tied, 0-0.

Harvard picked up its speed of play in the the attacking third in the second half and had a number of close chances before netting its first goal of the season just over an hour into the game.

In his second game in the Crimson uniform, freshman forward Ashi Geberkidane capitalized on a towering cross from senior midfielder William Giahos to put Harvard on the board.

“Giahos was everything,” Geberkidane said. “We had the build up all the way from the back and then straight up to Giahos. Giahos took a great touch out wide and crossed it in. All I had to do was be there; right moment, right time.”

But the Crimson’s lead would not last.

Twelve minutes later, Wildcat senior defender Ryan Malden responded with a long shot that barely snuck past Harvard senior goalkeeper Brett Conrad. Harvard took only one more shot before Davidson freshman forward Max Pragnell broke away at the top of the box and directed the ball low and hard into the left corner of the net.

“I’m certainly proud of the team, but it was a bummer,” Geberkidane said. “I thought we had it. It was a disappointing goal but we’ll come out tomorrow and work hard and be out there again next week.”

With seconds on the clock, Crimson captain Ross Friedman came close to tying it up with a header from the left side, but Wildcat goalkeeper Andrew Kenneson made his third save of the night and clinched the win for his squad.

Though Harvard was unable to win, the Crimson improved upon its offensive performance from its season opener Friday, when Iona shut out Harvard in a 3-0 win at Soldiers Field.

“I thought we had more energy from the beginning to the end of the game,” Crimson coach Pieter Lehrer said. “We created a lot of chances. I think we have to finish our chances a little cleaner, but I think we had a lot of energy on both the defending side and the attacking side. They fought from the beginning to the end and that is going to be something we can build on.”

After failing to break through Davidson’s defense in the first half, Harvard looked to take advantage of space off the ball in the second.

The Crimson took 16 shots—seven more than in its previous game—but was unable to capitalize on seven corner kicks.

“[Junior forward] Hiroki [Kobayashi] was playing very well with a lot of energy and making good runs in and causing problems,” Lehrer said. “We wanted him to get behind the other team, and we thought they did a good job of backing up and taking care of the space behind him. When they didn’t, we tried to take advantage of that.”

Conrad spent all 90 minutes in goal for Harvard for the second straight game and made three saves while allowing two goals.

The Wildcats split the goalkeeping responsibilities between sophomore Matt Pacifici—who played the first 60 minutes—and Kenneson. Pacifici made seven saves and picked up his second win of the season.

Though Davidson committed 12 fouls to Harvard’s 10, the Crimson picked up two yellow cards in the second period.

In his second game at the helm, Lehrer—hired after the 2012 season—was impressed with the performance of his freshman class.

Out of the seven freshmen on the roster, six have seen playing time in the first two games. Geberkidane leads the team with three shots on goal.

“The freshmen have been a huge addition to the program,” Lehrer said. “They’ve hit the ground running and integrated into the team with the upperclassmen. The seniors brought them in the fold and made them welcome, and they are a very strong group.”

—Staff writer Hope Schwartz can be reached at hschwartz@live.com.