Ohiri Field, Sept 20
Harvard 1, Columbia 0

Team records:
Harvard:   1-1-1, 1-1-0 Ivy
Columbia:  1-3-0, 0-1-0 Ivy

Game Report

Harvard defeated Columbia today, 1-0, in a tense, physical match that went right down to the wire.  Games against Columbia have not been known for disiplay of finnesse soccer, and today was no exception.  Hard tackling and inconsistent officiating gave the game a choppy feel.  There were lots of hard, fair tackles, and numerous late hits on players.  Fortunately for Harvard, there were no additional serious injuries (that I know of), as this team cannot afford to loose any more players than it already has (Williams, Viders, and Kelly, among others, are out or hurting).

What is ironic, but also an example of what can happen in a soccer game, Columbia seemed like a better team than Penn.  But today the result was more satisfying from Harvard's standpoint.  Columbia has more talented players than Penn, and they come with  speed and size.  They were dangerous at times, but Harvard's defense rose to the occasion, led by Drew Lundquist and Chinezi Chijioke in the back, thwarting each threat.  Jordan Dupuis collected his first shut out of the year, and came up with a huge save with time running out, smothering a ball shot at close range.

The Big Play for Harvard came in the 71st minute.   With the ball moving quickly down the left side of the midfield, and taking advantage of a generous chunk of space provided him by the Lions defense, Juan Carlos Montoy fired a rocket at Matt Napoleon.  He is Columbia's pre-season over-heralded (i.e., Harvard's '96 4-1 drubbing) choice for All-Ivy goalie ("Soccer America, Jordan.  Jordan, Soccer America."), who should have caught it if he could.  Instead it went off his hands, and Paul Cantagallo was there to head it into to the net.  It is his first career goal, one reminiscent of last year's header by John Vrionis against B.U. in the first round of the NCAAs.

The Crimson did what it had to do today.  A second Ivy loss early in the season could have been fatal, if not numerically then psychologically, especially with the injuries that they have.  But as much fun as it was to see Harvard win, it was at times uncomfortable to see game officials let so much stuff go, especially after seeing what went on against B.C.  It's not just calls going against Harvard; they seem to go both ways.  A few minutes after a Crimson shot practically broke a Lion defender's hand inside the 18, Harvard got away with one at their own end.  I would like to think that it evens itself out in the end.  More important than getting the calls right, though, since there is a certain amount of subjectivity in soccer officiating, you want to see these kids protected so they can finish the season in uniform, not on the bench. 

Soccer is better to watch when it's soccer, not a hack-a-thon.  It sure would be nice to see the guys wearing the fancy yellow shirts doing their part.

/glh

Scoring
Harvard:  Cantagallo (Montoy), 71:00.

Season stats

Stats will be posted as soon as they are made available.