Hanover, New Hampshire, November 2
Dartmouth 3, Harvard 2

Team records:
Harvard:  6-5-3, 2-2-2 Ivy
Dartmouth: 8-2-3, 4-0-1 Ivy

Game Report

A silly Dartmouth goal in the final minute of play ended Harvard's chances of a successful defense of its Ivy League title in 1997.  Harvard showed soccer fans some of the best soccer it has played all year, even under difficult weather and field conditions, at times controlling the ball brilliantly from end to end---all of which made the result a particularly bitter disappointment for the boys.

While Harvard cannot get an automatic bid to play in the NCAA tournament, the have clearly established themselves as, at worst, the third best team in New England.  One of the three, Brown, who won over the weekend and is now 4-1-0 in the Ivy, will host Harvard next weekend.  It is not out of the question that an at-large bid is possible for the Crimson, but it will have to include wins against Maine and Hartwick as well as Brown.

The scoring began in the 17th minute, as Will Hench capitalized on a loose ball, with Chineze Chijioke and Tom McLaughlin getting assists on the goal.  [Hench was dominant in the middle all day long, and had what was perhaps his best game of the year.]  Harvard kept the pressure on the home team.  Within 2 minutes of the first goal, Ryan Kelly headed a cross from Hench and saw it deflect off the crossbar.

The second half started with Harvard controlling the game.  Midway through the period (the times are a little uncertain in the second half, since the electricity blew out at the field) a scramble in front of the Dartmouth goal provided Harvard a close-range shot at a virtually open net.  The ball went over the crossbar, though.  Within a minute of that play, Dartmouth converted on a broken play, and suddenly they were in the game.

To make matters far worse, while Harvard was scratching its head to figure out what went wrong, Dartmouth drove the ball down the field and scored---less than a minute after its first goal.  The crowd became a factor at that point, but instead of packing it in and mentally heading for the bus, Harvard persevered with crisp passing and patient playmaking.

As the period was nearing the end, Harvard was awarded a free kick from about 25 yards out (and in that play a Dartmouth defender was awarded his second yellow card, and went a man down; had Harvard won, I would spend more time on Dartmouth's arrogantly physical style, but some other time).  Tommy McLaughlin nailed the shot into the lower right corner to tie the game.

The final goal came in the final minute of play when Harvard's defense failed to clear the ball out of the area just above the box, stunning a Harvard team that had the game going their way for most of the afternoon.

Jordan Dupuis, Ryan Kelly, Hench, Matt Edwards, Tommy, to name just a few, all had fine games today.  I will post some other comments tomorrow, but that's all for now.

I don't know what the game stats will show [not that soccer is a game that can be easily analyzed with stats anyway, which in part explains why I am slow to post them on this site].  But I can tell you Harvard was not only in the game: they made this cocky Dartmouth team feel they were lucky to go home with the win.   And, more important, Harvard demonstrated they are capable of playing as well as nearly any team they have faced all year.

Season stats

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