Men's Soccer Battles Harvard to 1-1 Tie
September 22, 1999 | Men's Soccer
The Terrier men's soccer team, playing its fifth overtime game in six outings this year, battled Harvard to a 1-1 double overtime tie at the Crimson's Ohiri Field on Wednesday afternoon (September 22nd). The Terriers are now 2-2-2 for the season.
It was just three days earlier that B.U. played then number-one ranked Creighton to a 0-0 double overtime tie on the same Ohiri Field.
While the outcome was the same, Terrier head coach Neil Roberts felt his team didn't play as well against Harvard as they did against Creighton.
"We weren't mentally ready to play Harvard," said the coach. "Our legs might have been tired, and we still might have been thinking about how well we played against Creighton.
"Whatever the reason, we were sluggish in the first half," said the coach.
Ironically, that was the half in which the Terriers scored.
Sophomore Joachim Kaland (Fonnes, Norway) scored his team-leading third goal of the season at the 36:38 mark of the game. He took a pass from junior Chris Bone (Newcastle, England) in the middle of the field and unleashed a shot from 25 yards out that beat the Harvard goalie.
"We actually played better in the second half," said Roberts.
That's when Harvard scored its goal. Just 2:38 into the half, the Crimson scored off a free kick from 20 yards out that deflected off the B.U. wall of players and found the back of the net.
It ended a shutout streak of 257:38 minutes of shutout soccer by Terrier freshman goalkeeper Matt Smith. Previously, Smith had shut out UMass/Amherst, 2-0, in the only game the Terriers have played in regulation this year. He then blanked Creighton for 120 minutes before going 47:38 of action against Harvard before the Crimson score.
"We had a chance to win the game in overtime, but we missed an empty net," said Roberts.
The Terriers, who have scored just seven goals in six games this year, are off until Saturday when they host the University of Albany at 1 p.m. at Nickerson Field.
