Men's Soccer Looks to Avenge Loss At Yale

For the Harvard men’s soccer team (6-3), last year’s Ivy League opener was rock bottom.

Having won just one of its first eight games in non-conference play, the Crimson preached "new start—new season." The team stressed urgency; then-co-captain Kevin Harrington ’14 said before the game that “it’s win or go home.”

Harvard started strong, taking a 67th minute lead on a sliding goal by A.J. Agha ’14. It was the team’s first goal in three games.

The blows from Yale came one after the other. The first was an 88th minute strike from Conner Lachenbruch—a scramble in front of the goal where an errant bounce left the Yale then-junior with a clear shot at the net.

Barely 90 seconds later came the decider—a free kick rocket that bounced off a Harvard defender and straight into the goal.

“When you put everything out on the line, sometimes you’re going to lose,” coach Pieter Lehrer said at the time, regarding the talk he had with his players. “As we keeping putting it out there, the results are going to change in our favor.”

Lehrer’s words proved prescient. The team ended the season on a 5-1 tear, finishing second in the Ivy League and beating the defending league champion, Cornell, on the road.

The defense, headed by the leadership of then-sophomore co-captain Mark Ashby, allowed just three goals in the subsequent four conference games.

One year later, Harvard appears to be hitting its stride. The team has scored 16 goals in five straight wins after netting a total of 20 in all of 2013.

The Crimson has battled back from 2-0 deficits in each of its last two games, both 3-2 wins over area rivals Northeastern and Massachusetts.

Suffice to say, the team is ready for the rematch in New Haven on Saturday.

“I’m really excited for the Ivies to start, just as everyone else is,” junior forward Andrew Chang said. “I’m ready to do what I can for the team.”

The team enters the game boasting an undefeated home record and a diverse group of weapons on the offensive end.

Ten different Crimson players have scored a goal this year, and 11 have recorded an assist.

The offensive success has led to increased confidence. Even after finding itself down two goals in the early moments of its last game, a 3-2 victory over Massachusetts where Harvard did not allow a shot against after the 18th minute, the team hardly blinked.

“After the second goal they scored, we gathered the team on the field and there was no doubt, no disappointment and lack of confidence,” Ashby said Sunday. “We had full confidence we were going to come back and win that game.”

The improved defense will be a key focus against a Yale squad that has struggled to score goals this year. The winless Bulldogs have found the back of the net only three times in eight games and just once in their last six.

After finishing last season by scoring six goals in its final three games, the Bulldogs have not yet scored twice in one game this year.

Led by Ashby, Lehrer has said he has full faith in this unit.

“They have done a great job all year,” Lehrer said. “Mark, for such a big guy, moves very well and is really an elite defender.”

Co-captain Kyle Henderson said that the team’s energy is completely focused on handling the Bulldogs this Saturday.

Henderson noted that the Crimson has viewed the season one game at a time, and that even its larger goals—as Chang noted Tuesday, the team’s ultimate goal is to win the national championship—cannot be achieved in any one game, but by taking each game in the schedule at a time.

“Our main goal right now is winning our next game against Yale,” Henderson said. “After that, our next goal will be to beat who we play next. We don’t set a big goal or anything other than winning our last game of the year. Hopefully, our last game of the year is the final game of the year for college soccer. But for now, [the focus] is just winning the next game.”

Staff writer David Freed can be reached at david.freed@thecrimson.com.