Ohiri Field,
November 16, 1997
Harvard 2, University of Massachusetts 0
| Harvard | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Massachusetts | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Team records:
Harvard: 12-3-2
UMass: 17-5
Game Report
Tim Wheaton, his staff, and his players waited a year to get a chance to set things straight with UMass. Last year at this time the Crimson lost a heartbreaker to the Minutewomen (yes, they are called that...), 2-1, in what is Exhibit A of what can be misleading in a soccer score: Harvard owned UMass in that game, but it didn't matter. UMass went on to loose to UConn, and that was that. Today, on a field that required 5 hours of snow plowing in order to make it playable, Harvard hustled its way to a victory that will match them up with the winner of Maryland-George Mason.
The game began with the question: Erin Who? It ended with the question: Emily Who? OK, not really. But I have to say this: it's is tons of fun to watch freshman Erin Aeschliman wear a Crimson uniform. Among the reasons are
- She hustles like crazy and is determined to make every ball count
- She looks for the goal and can strike it hard
- She scores, often
- She scored both goals against UMass
Keep in mind this Northfield Mt. Hermon graduate didn't even make it on to Tim Wheaton's freshmen radar screen, spending the first half of the season playing JV, and now comes off the bench to pair up quite effectively up front with '97 Ivy Player of the Year Naomi Miller. The whole thing is good.
It was a messy field, slippery, wet. It was hard to get the ball in the air because good footing was not easy to come by. But when the ball was on the ground, it was moved around nicely by Harvard. Devon Bingham owned the middle whenever she wanted to. The back wasn't threatened except at the very beginning of the game, when Anne Browning (another shutout) had to come up with an XL save. It would prove to be UMass's best scroring opportunity.
Next up is George Mason.
Washington Post story on George Mason-Maryland