Men's Soccer Gets Clean Slate in Ivy Play

On paper, the Harvard men’s soccer team emerged from non-conference play in a very similar position to last year’s squad.

Both teams took a beating early in the season, suffering from an inability to get on the board. Last year, the start of Ivy League play marked a turning point that the Crimson was unable to capitalize on, falling flat as it failed to pick up a single win against its Ancient Eight opponents.

As Harvard prepares to take on Yale this weekend in its first Ivy contest of the 2013 season, it has the opportunity to start over with a clean slate. Though troubling in terms of exposing certain weaknesses, the Crimson’s losing preseason will have no bearing on its shot at the Ivy Crown.

With a new coach at the helm and a fresh class of rookies, Harvard’s chances at the outset look markedly better than they did last year.

After winning the Ivy League title in 2009, former coach Carl Junot’s unsuccessful tenure doomed the Crimson to finish no higher than sixth in the conference.

However, following the 2012 season, Harvard looked to shake things up with the hiring of Pieter Lehrer from the University of California, Berkeley.

Through eight non-conference games, Harvard currently has a 1-5-2 record and did not pick up a win until its sixth game after opening the season on a three-game losing streak. Last season’s non-conference record was 1-5-1. With the exception of a 6-0 rout at the hands of No. 2 Connecticut, however, the 2012 squad held its opponents to low scoring victories, taking two of its first eight into double overtime.

This season, the defense is at it again, keeping the team in games that could have easily gotten away. Last weekend, Harvard went down, 1-0, in the ninth minute before locking down to play 80 minutes of scoreless, competitive soccer behind the acrobatic goaltending of sophomore Evan Mendez and senior Brett Conrad. The Crimson goalkeepers rank first in the league with 35 saves, and Harvard is third in the league with two shutouts.

Where the Crimson has truly struggled to find its own is on the offensive end of the ball, despite a talented midfield that sets up opportunity after opportunity.

Going into Ivy League play this weekend against Yale, Harvard ranks fourth in the league in shots, but sits seventh in goals per game.

Watching Harvard play does not feel like watching a losing team. In its home games this season, the Crimson has dominated possession and strung together sustained periods of attack. Countless chances within the six-yard line have fallen short, as headers wide and shots off-target have doomed Harvard to just 0.8 goals per game.

But if Harvard keeps setting up the opportunities, the shots eventually have to start falling. The Crimson is aggressive on offense and has no problem possessing and advancing the ball. Harvard leads the Ivy League in earning 5.71 corner kicks per game, but has been unable to finish. Given the Crimson’s defensive prowess, just one or two of those set pieces falling could be the difference between a win and a loss.

Entering Ivy League play this weekend, the Crimson is not the only team that has taken a beating. Though Dartmouth is undefeated and Columbia and Cornell have five and six victories to their name, respectively, the success stops there. No other Ancient Eight team has more than two wins, and two teams, Penn and Yale, have more losses than Harvard.

The difference will be in finishing those chances. Right now, the Crimson is knocking at the door, and there are some strong contributors early in the season.

Senior defender Ross Friedman leads the team with 17 shots, but only five on goal. Harvard’s limited offensive output has come from a variety of sources, with each of its six goals being chipped in by a different player.

The Crimson has looked to its freshman class to improve and adjust to the college game during non-conference play. Rookie forward Ashi Geberkidane has been a presence up front. He has started all eight games and is second only to Friedman with 10 shots on the season.

With a new coach and new personnel, there is no reason why the 2013 team has to fall like the 2012 team did. The adjustments that need to be made are well within reach for this squad, which excels on defense and keeps itself in games until the very end.

Yes, the Harvard men’s soccer team has problems that it must resolve in order to be competitive in the Ivy League. But they’re the right problems to have.

—Staff writer Hope Schwartz can be reached at HSchwartz@live.com. Follow her on Twitter @HopeSchwartz16.