Women's Soccer Loses in California

Travelling cross country to compete in the University of San Fransisco tournament, the Harvard women’s soccer team faced No. 19/20 California in the opening round. In its first game of the season, the Crimson fell short against the Golden Bears, losing 2-1.

California, who had already played four games this season, struck early against Harvard when Ifeoma Onumonu buried a ball from the top of the box in the third minute.

“We probably were on our heels a little bit,” senior Elizabeth Weisman said. “The first five minutes of the game is a big moment of the game.”

Harvard however, was able to come back and be aggressive, out-shooting California, 12-10.

Although the Crimson put shots on net, California struck next. In the 68th minute, the Golden Bears’ Celeste Boureille finished off a cross from Kaitlyn Fitzpatrick.

The two-goal lead would prove insurmountable for the Crimson.

“I felt like we had possession of the game for most of it, but they had the counter-attack on some plays,” Weisman said.

The possession time finally paid off with Crimson sophomore Lauren Varela coming off the bench to get Harvard on the scoreboard for the first time of the season, finishing off a rebound for a goal.

It was her fourth career goal. It was not enough though, as Harvard was only able to place one more shot on net the rest of the game.

Junior goalie Kanten Bethany had five saves on seven shots on goal for an 83 percent save percentage.

Although Harvard didn’t win, the young team was proud of its performance against a ranked opponent, especially one of such size.

California, a school of over 25,000 undergraduates, is nearly four times the size of Harvard.

“I think a lot of times we and other people see Harvard in a different kind of light as other big schools and we need to consider ourselves like them,” Weisman said. “I think we come out a little bit timid.”

The size discrepancy mattered less to others, including coach Ray Leone, who believed the major difference was the Crimson’s later starting date to the season, which led to less practice time for Harvard.

“The only difference right now is that they’ve been training longer than us, so it took more time to get acclimated to the speed of play,” Leone said.

The lack of any previous games provided Harvard no time to find itself.

“We just want to use the first four or five games to get game fit, to work on our system, and maximize our potential.”

Many freshman earned their first starts Friday.

Midge Purce and Bailey Gary started in their first game in Crimson uniforms and Karly Zlatic came out hot, putting a shot on net a mere 13 seconds into the contest.

“They brought tenacity to the game,” Leone said. “There are plenty of 21 and 22-year-olds in a college game and they will get used to that as they play more.”

The freshmen replace the six seniors lost to graduation last year. All of those seniors started at least a game last season.

“Overall all our freshman have done an amazing job.” Leone said. “I think that we really stepped up to the plate with it being our first official game. We really showed we could keep up with a team like that.”

The Crimson continued its season in the University of San Francisco tournament Sunday, facing the host team. It lost, 2-1. The team has nearly a month to work out kinks and acclimate its freshman before it faces Penn in the Ivy League opener Sept. 27.

Certainly not discouraged, the team believes its first game showed it could succeed later in the season. Two years removed from its last NCAA tournament berth, many current players know where talent combined with chemistry can take a team. Coming off a .500 season, this year’s team is excited, even coming off a loss.

“The potential is good, we are pleased with where we are at this stage,” said Coach Leone. “We have the talent to compete with anyone in the league.

—Staff writer Jacob W. Lynch can be reached at jacoblync@gmail.com