mens history

The History of Men's Soccer
at Harvard University

Men's Soccer Awards

Written by Buffy Clifford
Assistant Sports Information Director
Cambridge, Massachusetts, Fall 1995.

Harvard soccer, from the beginning of the modern

era in 1903 until the present, has been marked by success.

In fact, Harvard has won 499 matches and sports an

overall winning percentage of 59 percent.

Harvard Soccer, 1912

Since that first victory, a 2-1 win over Columbia

in 1904, the Crimson has been graced with great

players and standout teams. The 1913 squad, under

coach Charles Burgess, won the Intercollegiate

Association Football League title paced by four

All-Americans: goalie Brayton Nicholl,

fullback Elwyn Barron , right halfback Eugene

McCall, and outside right Daniel Needham.

One of Harvard's most successful coaches was

John F. Carr, who had captained the team during

his senior year. Carr's first squad went 7-2-2,

and the second finished at 8-1. Two of the big

names on these teams were John Bland, a three-year

Harvard Broadbent '33 (L) and Coach John Carr '28, 1932

All-American, and Harvard Broadbent, a scoring

phenom who tallied 29 careergoals-a Harvard

record for 30 years. Carr kept winning, with

his 1938 combine producing the Crimson's

first undefeated season at 8-0-1.

After a period of years in which the team was very

competitive, but did not produce the best records,

1955 marked a resurgence in Harvard soccer.

Harvard won the New England championship,

and the athletic department, duly impressed,

elevated soccer to major sport status. The Crimson

resurgence also coincided with the advent of formal

Ivy League play in the sport. Coach Bruce Munro's 1958

team went 10-2-1 to capture the Ivy title and set a

Coach Bruce Munro

school mark of 36 goals in 13 games. The 1959

season produced a 9-1-3 record and a third straight

Ivy title, led by the play of All-Americans

Lanny Keyes, Marsh McCall and Tom Bagnoli.

These seniors could boast of a four-year record of 40-4-3.

While the 1960 record of 7-2-1 was a surprise,

the focus was not on the varsity, but on the Yardlings

and their standout Chris Ohiri, a flashy athlete from

Chris Ohiri '64

Nigeria. From 1961 to 1963 Ohiri and his teammates

compiled a 16-4-1 mark in league play, winning one

Ivy title outright and sharing two more. That gave

Harvard a piece of six Ivy crowns in nine years of

league competition. In that time Ohiri set every Harvard

and league scoring record possible, breaking the

previous records by the end of his junior year.

Munro's 1969 squad boasted a hybrid team of domestic

and foreign talent leading the way to Harvard's first

unblemished regular season record of 12-0.

Solomon Gomez and Charlie Thomas, who sparked

Solomon Gomez '71

the offensive firepower, netted 16 and 15 goals,

respectively. Bill Meyers had eight shutouts during the

regular season and added two more in the postseason

for a school mark of ten that still stands. Against

Hartwick in the Eastern final, the crowd was not

disappointed as the game remained scoreless well

into the second sudden-death overtime, when Gomez

and Thomas found senior John Gordon all alone in

John Gordon after Hartwick game

front of the net and cashed in on his first goal of the

season and a trip to San Jose, CA, for the national

championships. It was there that the season would

end at the hands of St. Louis, the eventual champion, 2-1.

The 1970 squad followed with another undefeated regular

season. In the NCAA Tournament, Thomas rang up four

goals in a win over WPI and two more in a 2-1 victory

over Brown. The Crimson met Hartwick again, and this

time the Hawks prevailed, 4-3. The 1971 season

produced new faces such as goalie Shep Messing,

who would later play for the 1972 U.S. Olympic team

and the New York Cosmos, and sophomore forward

All-America back Chris Wilmot '72

Felix Adedeji, who set the Harvard record for goals

in a season with 18. This squad would return to the

NCAA semifinals by sweeping Southern

Connecticut (5-0), Brown (3-0), and

Hartwick (4-1) in regional matches. It was deja vu as

the eventual champion, Howard University,

stopped the Crimson by a 1-0 count.

Coach Jape Shattuck's 1984 combine, led by the scoring

of All-American John Catliff and Lane Kenworthy,

brought the Crimson past the NCAA regionals for the

Lane Kenworthy '86

first time in more than a decade, before dropping a 2-0

verdict to UCLA in the quarterfinals. But the best

two-year run in Harvard soccer history may have been

put forth by the 1986 (11-4-4) and 1987 squads (14-1-3),

which both made NCAA semifinal appearances.

Catliff would return for his final season in 1986

joined by a roster of players from the United States (9),

Canada (5), Great Britain (3), Scotland (2), and

West Germany (1).

After 110 minutes of scoreless soccer in the first NCAA

game against Yale, the contest came down to a penalty

shootout. Goalie Chad Reilly saved four of Yale's five

Chad Reilly '89

attempts, while Paul Baverstock and Catliff scored on the

first and third attempts for a 2-1 Harvard win. After coming

from behind to defeat Boston University 2-1 on goals by

Catliff and freshman Derek Mills, the Crimson netted two

second half goals by the same pair in a 2-0 triumph over

Hartwick. In the semifinals on Duke's home field, Harvard

gave up two goals in the first 17 minutes and was unable

to overtake the Blue Devils in dropping a 3-1 contest.

The 1987 edition was mentored by new coach

Mike Getman, and captured the first Ivy title in 17 years,

completing the regular season undefeated. In the

New England NCAA Regional Final, the Crimson

traveled to Connecticut and took one from the Huskies

on David Kramer's overtime goal. In the NCAA

quarterfinals Harvard drew a home berth and a 3-1

victory over Adelphi on a goal by Nick D'Onofrio

and a pair by Baverstock. The season ended for the

Paul Baverstock

Crimson with a 2-1 loss to San Diego State in the

NCAA semifinals.

In 1994, the tradition of excellence continued for

Harvard under its 11th coach, Steve Locker. The Crimson

captured its eighth Ivy crown and made its ninth

appearance in the National Tournament, falling to

Boston University, 2-0, on Ohiri Field before 3,800 fans.

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