SPORTS BRIEF: Crimson to Duel with Boston College in First Round of Tournament

It took a long and arduous journey for the Harvard women’s soccer team to make it into the NCAA tournament, but the squad won’t have to go far to play its first round match.

The Crimson will travel to Newton, Mass., Friday evening to take on regional No. 2 seed Boston College—the number seven team in the nation. Scheduled for either 4 p.m. or 7 p.m., the game time has not yet been specified.

The two local rivals have tussled once already this season, as Harvard fell to the Eagles—ranked fourth in the nation at the time—in mid-September.

The 4-1 road loss dropped Harvard to a 1-4-1 record, despite the Crimson scoring the first goal allowed by Boston College in its first seven games.

After turning its season around in a major way, Harvard enters Friday’s match having won eight of its last nine games.

The winner of the contest will take on the victor of UConn and BU, two teams that the Crimson took on this fall. The second-round game will also be held at Boston College.

Harvard lost at the same location last year—not to Boston College but instead to Northeastern.

Last year, the Crimson lost an overtime thriller to the Huskies in penalty kicks, an ending that involved a devastating penalty call against goaltender Lauren Mann.