No. 11 W. Soccer Falls to Old Nemesis UConn

Yesterday afternoon was just the wrong time for the No. 11 Harvard women's soccer team to be looking for a win against historical nemesis Connecticut.

One week ago, the Huskies were in disarray, falling out of the national rankings after dropping consecutive Wednesday contests to Yale and Dartmouth.

But on this Wednesday, UConn (13-5-2)--suddenly riding high after a scoreless tie against No. 1 Notre Dame--was back to its powerhouse form in a 1-0 win over the Crimson (10-4, 4-1).

"Regardless of where they're ranked, they're definitely one of the top teams in the country," Coach Tim Wheaton said.

The lone goal of the game came off a corner kick in the 25th minute. The Crimson, completely neglecting the short option, allowed Lauren Naida to receive the kick just outside of the box.

With all the time in the world and plenty of traffic in front to screen her intentions, Naida fired a hard shot towards the left corner of the goal. A Harvard defender who had been guarding the left post tried in vain to stop the shot, which deflected up and into the net.

The UConn goal was the culmination of 15 minutes of consistent Huskie attack, in which the Harvard defense struggled to clear the ball out and the Crimson offense had sub-par success passing the ball.

With the Crimson allowing so many scoring opportunities, it was only a matter of time before the Huskies broke through.

The UConn attack had been keeping sophomore keeper Cheryl Gunther plenty busy. She was fortunate in the minutes before the fatal goal, as the Huskie forwards shot wide on their first few looks. At one point, she was forced to dive for a loose ball with two Huskie forwards barreling down on her.

As in Sunday's loss against Penn State, the Crimson had a number of scoring chances in the opening minutes, but then faded as the initial attacks failed to put points on the board.

On the best chance of the day, sophomore midfielder Amy Cooper sent sophomore midfielder Orly Ripmaster down the right sideline. Ripmaster let loose a beautiful cross from deep in the box that deserved to be put into the net.

Junior forward Colleen Moore was in position to head the ball home, but she just missed. As the ball bounced around in front, sophomore midfielder Katie Westfall had a second chance, but the ball changed directions on her and she sent it far over the net.

"I think that we gave up a goal early, and that took the wind out of our sails a little bit," Wheaton said. "But they're a good team. We had some chances I wish we could have finished but I'm not unhappy with how we played."

The second half began much better than the first ended for Harvard, as midfielder Meredith Stewart earned a free kick from just outside the 18--the kind of shot she had converted twice in the same game against Boston College earlier in the season.

But this time, Stewart's kick was deflected out of bounds by UConn. On the subsequent corner kick, the ball was headed to the right, wide of the goal.

A lack of whistles on the day allowed fights for loose balls to be extremely physical. Sophomore midfielder Caitlin Fisher was among Harvard's best at winning the midfield battles. She succeeded in getting a number of serves downfield that had potential, but ultimately never amounted to anything.

Sophomore forward Joey Yenne pulled out all her stops in trying to maneuver through the UConn defense--at one point taking on three players deep in the Huskie zone--but she was unable to get a clear look at the net all day.

"I think they had a lot of numbers in behind," Wheaton said. "We need to play a little more simply. One of the things that happens when you feel like you're behind and you feel like you need to grab a goal, people try to do a little more, instead of just playing simply."

In the final minutes of the game, UConn solidly executed a prevent defense, kicking the ball out every time it faced pressure in midfield and then watching the seconds tick of the clock. Harvard could only watch in the end.

"I think it's just the little edge that makes the difference," Wheaton said. "We're disappointed to lose that one, but we've got a bunch of good ones ahead of us."

The Crimson's next game is a crucial Ivy matchup against No. 21 Dartmouth (10-3, 3-1 Ivy), who is also ranked second in the Northeast Region.

"Dartmouth's a great team," Wheaton said. "It's certainly our focus because it's the Ivy League."

With a win over Dartmouth, the Crimson would be in secure position to take a share of the league crown with its only remaining Ivy game against last-place Columbia (4-8-2, 0-5).

While this loss to UConn will be of no help to Harvard's national ranking, a share of the Ivy title plus a win at Hartford on Tuesday would likely still be enough to secure a first round bye in the NCAA Tournament and consequently home-field advantage in the second round.

"We've got three games left and three great teams," Wheaton said. "We've just got to keep going."