Women's Soccer Falls Short in Final Seconds

­Heading into the final minutes, the results of both of the Harvard women’s soccer team’s games this weekend were hanging in the balance.

On Sunday, Connecticut junior forward Rachel Hill beat Crimson junior goalkeeper Lizzie Durack with just 36 seconds left to lift the No. 25 Huskies (5-0-0) to a 2-1 victory. In the first game of the weekend on Friday, junior forward Midge Purce hit the crossbar on a shot attempt with less than a second remaining as Harvard (1-2-1) had to settle for a scoreless double-overtime tie with Alabama (1-3-2).

CONNECTICUT 2, HARVARD 1

Hill provided the dramatics in what proved to be the fifth win in a row for No. 25 UConn in Storrs, Conn. Durack put up a strong performance in net as the Huskies’ offense attacked the Harvard zone throughout the entire contest. The junior made five first-half saves in what remained a scoreless game for nearly 70 minutes.

But just before the 70-minute threshold, Purce buried junior forward Joan Fleischman’s cross into the back of the net to give the guests a one-goal edge. The score held for the next 15 minutes as the Crimson defense bent but did not break against a flurry of UConn shots and corner kicks.

UConn finally broke through in the 86th minute as senior forward Samantha McGuire notched her second goal of the season to tie the game at one. Just when it seemed as though the game was headed for overtime, Hill responded with the dagger. It was the New Hampshire native’s fourth tally of the season, helping the Huskies to their best start since 1998.

While midfielders Haley Washburn and Dani Stollar provided offense for Harvard on Friday night with six shots in total, the pair had to stay back on Sunday to try stymying the Huskies’ attack.

“We’re just figuring each other out more,” Washburn said. “Each game that we have, I’m learning more about her, she’s learning more about me. As a team, we’re learning more about each other.”

The freshman trio of Leah Mohammadi, Niki Young, and Hannah Natanson once again contributed key minutes for the Crimson.

“We love all of our freshmen, and I think they’ve been doing a great job,” Washburn said. “It’s always a tough transition coming in freshman year, but they’ve been really awesome.”

HARVARD 0, ALABAMA 0

Right when it looked like the game was over, Purce provided one last chance for Harvard. It was Purce against the clock as the junior dribbled the ball down the sideline and fired away with under a second to go. As the crowd at Soldiers’ Field Stadium held its breath, the ball clanked off the crossbar, and the Crimson Tide sideline exhaled.

“I never hear anyone, but I could hear people [counting down from] 10 seconds,” Purce said. “[Coach] Ray [Leone] was talking about how he saw a team score with 10 seconds left, and I think our team thought through the whole game we were going to get one.”

Aside from slow starts to both halves, the Crimson kept the ball in the Alabama zone for most of the evening. Stollar played a significant role in the offensive attack, and Washburn and Purce had five shots apiece.

Overall, Harvard outshot the Crimson Tide, 18-9, with seven of the Crimson shots coming on net. Friday marked the first time Harvard had squared off with a Southeastern Conference opponent since the Crimson tied Alabama’s Iron Bowl rival, Auburn, in 2003.

In the first 10-minute overtime period, neither team was able to generate any real scoring chances. The physical play intensified in the second session, with the teams exchanging corner kicks and Harvard gaining two free kicks via Crimson Tide fouls. But in the end, there was nothing to separate the two sides.

Nonetheless, throughout the game, each time Alabama began to swing the game’s momentum, the Crimson was able to generate a chance of its own.

“I’m so proud of my team,” Purce said. “They were absolutely incredible…. In our heads, we were like [a goal]’s coming. We played 110 minutes all the way through, even the last 10 seconds.”

—Staff writer Stephen J. Gleason can be reached at sgleason@college.harvard.edu.