Harvard Women’s Soccer Fends Off Boston University in Cross-River Clash

Harvard women’s soccer (2-2-1) has typically overwhelmed its opponents on the stat sheet this season.

However, when the Crimson crossed the Charles River to face Boston University (2-4) at Nickerson Field Thursday evening, it met a team that matched its offensive productivity.

The Terriers outshot Harvard 11 to eight, while tallying 10 corners to the Crimson’s six.

Where Harvard pulled through, though, was accuracy — landing six shots on target to BU’s two, both of which came in the last 15 minutes.

Freshman forward Molly Vana, who led the team with two shots on goal, and captain Ólöf Kristinsdóttir — who returned to the starting lineup after resting due to injury — each converted their penalty kicks in the first half.

The Crimson’s backline repelled most other scoring chances from the Terriers, and two saves from sophomore goalie Nicole Bidun in the final quarter of an hour were enough to seal Harvard’s 2-1 victory.

“Whenever you play Boston University, especially here, it’s a tough game and never easy. So I’m proud of the result,” head coach Chris Hamblin said.

“I don’t think it was our best performance. We weren’t able to keep possession as much as we would have liked. But in saying that, we created a lot of good chances, and got the two goals and had one pulled back for reasons that we’re still not entirely sure of,” the coach added. “But we did enough to win the game.”

Harvard started with the defensive advantage, with midfield duo senior Jasmine Leshnick, the Ivy League Offensive Player of the Year, and sophomore Elsa Santos López winning several tackles to deter the Terriers’ attacks.

As BU continued to step up its pressure on both wings, senior defender Susie Long and sophomore defender Danicka Miller continued to stand their ground.

The Crimson was soon rewarded with a well-developed counterattack. With 21 minutes remaining, the ensuing corner came off a BU player for a handball, and Kristinsdóttir converted the penalty.

Kristinsdóttir continued her fiery offensive form for the rest of the first half, winning the ball off a defensive corner and working her way to midfield. Her through ball to fellow captain Anna Rayhill broke the Terriers’ defensive line, though their goalie soon collected the cross.

The Icelandic international again embarked soon after on an offensive run to dart past several defenders into the box.

“She’s an out-and-out striker. She knows how to score some goals,” Hamblin said of Kristinsdóttir. “She sat a couple games with a bump, but she’s back and getting on the scoresheet.”

Though Harvard was left on the defensive to close the half, junior forward Lauren Muniz collected the ball from a goal kick and found Vana on the left side. The rookie drove down the wing past her defender until a slide tackle in the penalty box halted her run.

The goalie managed a slight touch, but Vana finished from the spot for the Crimson’s 2-0 lead.

Taking advantage of another set play, captain midfielder Írena Héðinsdóttir Gonzalez took another corner, and the ricochet found Rayhill, who drove the ball home. However, the goal was disallowed due to a foul on BU’s defense.

“If we’re going to give them low-percentage shots and they’re going to shoot from 30, 40 yards and through a lot of bodies, they can do that all day,” Hamblin said. “That’s something that we’ll take. It’s the quality of the shot that is important.”

“At times we’ve taken a lot of low-percentage shots, so we did a much better job of keeping those on frame, making the keeper work, and creating some chances,” he added.

In the 82nd minute, the Terriers seized the opportunity to close the deficit and snapped the Crimson’s two-game shutout streak. A clean defensive clearance sent the ball toward midfield, but BU’s center back sent it right back into Harvard’s defensive third.

A Crimson defender’s header fell to a Terrier attacker, who headed the ball over a charging Bidun and into the net.

“I was actually really proud of how we killed off the game in the last five minutes and didn’t give them much,” explained Hamblin. “But they naturally had a few more opportunities, and I think our ability to clear the ball at times could be better.”

“There’s some good lessons to learn from that because we’re going to be playing some very good teams here quickly coming up, and we’re going to get that stuff right,” he added.

BU’s largest chance to finish the game came just three minutes later. After Long missed a clearance down the wing, the Terriers eventually cycled the ball to the top corner of the box, though the successive curled shot headed for the top corner was pushed to deflect off the crossbar by Bidun.

After starting last season with three losses and two ties, Harvard rebuilt its form with another 2-1 victory against BU last September — soon followed by a three-win run to open its conference play.

“Sometimes soccer is pretty, and you move the ball, and it’s beautiful. Other times you’ve just got to grind it out,” Hamblin said. “We showed a little bit of character and grit today to get that win.”

“We started off the season with two games where we didn’t get the result we wanted, and now we’re two wins and a tie and trending in the right direction,” he added.

The Crimson will seek to defend its three-game undefeated streak as the team faces its toughest opponent yet — No. 6 the University of Alabama (7-0) — away on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. EDT.

Harvard last faced a top-10 ranked team in the second round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament, losing 3-2 to then-No. 3 South Carolina.

“Anytime you can play a top-10 team is a great opportunity to get Harvard soccer out there nationally,” Hamblin said.

—Staff writer Uy B. Pham can be reached at [email protected] or on Signal at ubp.88. Follow him on X @uybpham.