W. Soccer Dominates Vermont in Opener

The Harvard women’s soccer team took its first step towards winning its first Ivy title since 1999 with an achievement it’s lacked in each of the two fourth-place seasons since—a season-opening victory.

Though Vermont may be among the least imposing teams on the Crimson’s schedule in any year, Harvard’s 5-1 victory at Burlington on Saturday offered several assurances that Harvard will fare better this season against more challenging non-conference and Ivy competition.

Crimson senior forward Joey Yenne, Harvard’s leading scorer each of the past two seasons, broke the ice just three minutes into the game, when she received a long pass behind the defense from junior midfielder Caitlin Fisher and finished with a touch and volley.

The Catamounts had no better luck stopping Yenne that afternoon. She tallied two goals and two assists on the day.

The only significant lapse for the Crimson came when Vermont tied the score just 26 seconds after the first goal, as a midfield turnover and backfield miscommunication allowed a through ball to reach Catamount Jamie Koehnlein with a clear path to the net.

But unlike the blown 2-0 lead in last year’s 5-4 season-opening defeat to Colorado College, the Crimson didn’t slip up again.

Junior co-captain Katie Hodel said the team showed character in not getting nervous or flustered after giving up the game-tying goal.

“We talked about [the Colorado College] game the night before,” Hodel said. “It was a pretty ugly game. We knew if we went up two or three goals, we couldn’t let down at all.”

Just 10 minutes after trading initial scores, senior forward Beth Totman put the Crimson ahead for good.

Avoiding the offsides trap set by the three Catamount defenders, Totman ran wide and gathered the ball at the 18 from Yenne. She made one touch to draw the Vermont keeper out of the net, and then tapped it past her for the finish.

Yenne set up Hodel for Harvard’s third goal in the 59th minute.

Yenne, coming down the left sideline, found Hodel square at the penalty mark. Hodel, cool and composed, one-timed the ball into the net for the 3-1 lead.

Yenne’s second goal, followed by the first career goal for freshman outside midfielder Claire Lukeman, rounded out the Crimson scoring.

Lukeman was one of several Harvard players who received consistent playing time off the bench, a departure in strategy from last year’s regular season. Harvard Coach Tim Wheaton started using more substitutes in the NCAA tournament and maintained that philosophy through the current season to the delight of the team.

“He made subs throughout the whole game because everyone can play,” Totman said. “It was awesome because when the forwards got tired people came off the bench and picked up the level of the game.”

Wheaton even split the goalkeeping duties between his two freshman keepers, Katie Shields and Maja Augustdottir. Senior Cheryl Gunther, the Crimson’s keeper for all but a handful of games over the past three years, quit the team during the offseason citing several grievances against Wheaton and the current captains.

The greater diversity in playing time has been a key contribution to improved team chemistry during the preseason, which Yenne, Totman and Hodel each claim is better than any season since they’ve been at Harvard.

“[Wheaton’s] definitely made an effort to get people into the regular flow of practice, and that’s going to carry into the games,” Hodel said.

An additional contribution to this season’s success could come simply in opening the season with Vermont and Central Connecticut as opposed to jumping straight into a difficult portion of its schedule, as the Crimson did two years ago when it opened against Top 25 Texas A&M.

Opening the season against national contenders is especially difficult for Ivy teams, which are typically required to start their seasons later than any other schools in the nation.

“It’s definitely an advantage to not start off with the really tough games,” Yenne said. “Obviously the last two seasons we opened up with losses. It was just nice to have the first win under our belts. It just gives you time to work out the kinks. It gives freshman the time to get rid of their jitters.”

Harvard plays its home opener in the Harvard Invitational on Friday at 1:30 p.m. against Central Connecticut. The Crimson then will get its first shot at nationally-ranked competition on Sept. 15, when it hosts No. 12 Penn State.

The Nittany Lions, who feature National Preseason Player of the Year Christie Welch, proved beatable when they fell to winless and unranked USC this past week.

The Crimson’s last meeting with Penn State was a 1-0 road defeat, a game which Pat Farmer—the Lions’ coach at the time—admitted he was lucky to win.

“We can hang with the top teams,” Yenne said. “I want to actually beat them this year.”