Men’s Soccer Advances to Ivy League Tournament After Rainy 3-3 Draw With Dartmouth

Weekend showers didn’t keep the hundreds of spectators in green, crimson, and raincoats away from Jordan Field, where the Harvard men’s soccer team drew Dartmouth 3-3 in the final minute of a soaked and scrappy match.

Saturday’s matchup was pivotal on multiple levels, as it was both Senior Day for Harvard (4-7-4, 2-3-2 Ivy League) and had a bid to the Ivy League Tournament on the line for both squads.

Both the Big Green (4-6-5, 2-3-2) and the Crimson entered the weekend tied for fourth in the conference with seven points, joined by Princeton (7-5-4, 2-4-1) and Brown (7-5-4, 2-3-2), which also had seven points.

After the draw in Cambridge, the Big Green was eliminated from postseason contention.

Thanks to another draw on Saturday in Providence, R.I., between Brown and Yale (4-6-5, 2-1-4), it all came down to Princeton to determine who would join the first-seeded host, Cornell (11-3-1, 6-0-1), in Ithaca, N.Y for the Ivy Tournament.

The Tigers ultimately fell 3-2 to the visiting Penn Quakers (7-3-5, 3-1-3), who earned the second seed in the tournament. When the final whistle blew in Princeton, it was confirmed that the Harvard Crimson would advance, securing the fourth and final spot in the Ivy Tournament.

The advancing Crimson honored its six seniors: goalkeeper Nicholas Willen, captain and forward Dylan Tellado, forward Yuta Hata, midfielder Ben Kelly, captain and forward Andreas Savva, and goalkeeper Will Sherwood, alongside many family members who traveled for the high-stakes Saturday afternoon.

Harvard opened the match by punting the kickoff deep into Dartmouth’s half, establishing a high-pressing intensity that it carried throughout the game.

Set pieces were aplenty early on, as the two teams combined for four corners in the first four minutes – much in part due to three straight corners won by the Crimson that it was unable to convert on.

It wasn’t until the 19th minute that Harvard opened the scoring, as sophomore defender Alejandro Palacio slotted a spotless through ball into a speedy run by sophomore forward Adam Poliakov down the left wing.

Poliakov’s shot was deflected away by the Big Green’s sophomore goalkeeper TJ Jeffreys, whose deflection fell right at the feet of Savva, looking to strike on Senior Day.

Although Jeffreys managed to deflect the shot once again, this time the ball found its way into the net as an own goal, letting Savva and the Crimson celebrate the first tally of the afternoon.

Poliakov continued to pressure the Dartmouth defense with two more shots. However, the Big Green responded by creating several offensive chances of its own.

With just under 18 minutes left in the half, Dartmouth pushed the ball down the right wing and skipped a pass across the box, drawing a penalty from a tackle by Harvard’s sophomore defender Mikey Cortellessa, which was deemed a foul after review. Big Green senior forward Blake Trenton converted the penalty, burying the shot in the bottom right corner to even the score.

Dartmouth continued to have offensive success through the first half, scoring again twelve minutes later off another long cross into the box. The Crimson equalized just minutes later, however, after winning its own penalty challenge thanks to a Big Green handball.

Freshman midfielder Gil de Souza converted the penalty for the host, sending the keeper the wrong way with a strike to the right side.

After the goal, Harvard re-upped its pressing intensity. However, its only reward was a yellow card called on junior midfielder Shane Lonergan, who made a late tackle while attempting to press the Dartmouth backline.

The halftime whistle blew with the score all even at two.

The rain continued to drench players and spectators alike as the second half began, with plenty of slipping and sliding thanks to the wet pitch.

Dartmouth maintained the momentum for the majority of the second half, scoring a goal just five minutes in that was later deemed offside, and drawing a penalty 10 minutes later. This time, however, the Big Green’s Trenton could not convert from the spot, blasting his attempt way over the bar and into the parking lot.

Dartmouth’s offensive onslaught was finally rewarded in the 70th minute, when junior striker Eidur Baldvinsson capitalized on a pass inside the box to nail the ball into the back of the net and retake the lead.

In the 88th minute, Harvard responded, leveraging a drawn foul to create a corner kick opportunity, which, with only one minute left in the match, sparked chaos.

After a cross toward the goal with practically every player in the Big Green’s goal box — including even Harvard’s goalie — a Dartmouth leg flew up for a bicycle kick, the ball bounced back and forth inside a jumble of players, and two defenders accidentally committed handballs.

Amid this mayhem, the Crimson’s leading scorer Tellado found a way to free the ball, kicking it through legs to score the game-tying goal and, ultimately, with the help of Yale and Penn, propel his team into the Ivy Tournament.

In the first round of the playoffs, entering as the fourth-seeded team, the Crimson will play Cornell on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 3:30 p.m., while second-seeded Penn and third-seeded Yale will clash at 7 p.m. that same night.

The Big Red will enter its playoff matchup undefeated in Ivy League play, having triumphed 4-1 over Harvard back in September in what was the Crimson’s Ivy opener.

Now, just under two months later, Harvard will get another try to beat Cornell this season, hoping to spoil The Big Red’s NCAA Tournament dreams on its home turf.

—Staff writer Leo P. Petropoulos can be reached at [email protected].