Women's Soccer: Home loss to Harvard puts Ivy League chances in peril

The women’s soccer team failed a crucial test Saturday, hurting its chances for the Ivy League title. The Tigers (8-6-0 overall, 3-2 Ivy League) started the day in second in the Ivy League and hoped to move into the top spot with a win over rival Harvard. Instead, the Crimson (6-6-1, 3-2) picked apart the home team and handed Princeton a 4-0 defeat.

“I don’t think we played well,” head coach Julie Shackford said. “I don’t think we ever got into a rhythm at all.”

Harvard took advantage of Princeton’s mistakes and scored an early goal to take the lead in the 19th minute. Melanie Baskind broke through the Princeton defense, picked up Alexandra Conigliaro’s pass and then beat sophomore goalkeeper Kristin Watson one-on-one for the goal.

Shackford said a miscommunication on the defense allowed Baskind to slip through. “Any kind of talk would have solved that,” Shackford said.

It remained a one-goal game until the second half, but the first goal was all Harvard needed, as Princeton could not find the back of the net in the second half either.

“If you don’t score the first goal, in this league, it hurts,” Shackford said.

The Tigers struggled to create chances in the first half, mustering only four shots. The Crimson continued to pressure Watson and the Princeton defense with 10 shots in the first 45 minutes.

“They’re opportunistic,” Shackford said. “They have a bunch of seniors. They capitalized on that experience.”

Harvard’s opportunism shined through in the second half, when the team added to its lead with three quick goals. The Crimson scored its second goal in the 61st minute off a rebound from a Baskind shot. Watson deflected the shot, but Katherine Sheeleigh beat her defender to the ball and put Harvard up 2-0.

Less than four minutes later, Baskind ripped a shot over Watson’s head from inside the 18-yard box to put the Crimson up by three. Unfortunately for the Tigers, that would not be the last time Baskind caused problems for them.

While the women tried desperately to force chances on the other end of the field, they looked frantic and rushed. Harvard continued to challenge on the attack, and only two minutes after scoring her second goal of the game, Baskind tried to make it a hat trick. In a scene that looked all too similar to Harvard’s second goal of the game, Watson deflected the shot wide, but Conigliaro was there to put the ball in the back of the net.

“I think people just lost their focus,” senior midfielder and co-captain Kayleigh Iatarola said. “We had a lot of mental lapses.”

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The Tigers created more chances in the second half, but they always came up a little short. Harvard’s players cut out Princeton’s passes, anticipated their give-and-go’s and shut down sophomore forward Jen Hoy, who is tied with Sheeleigh and Baskind as the Ivy League’s leading goal scorer.

Shackford said the team never recovered from a slow start after allowing that first goal.

“We talk about buttoning a shirt. If you button that first button wrong, it’s wrong the whole way up,” she said.

The squad was disappointed with the result, but was also upset because they thought they could have done better.

“We haven’t played to our full potential,” Iatarola said. “I think we owe it to ourselves to go at them like they go at us.”

There were three or four mismatches, Shackford said, but the team as a whole was responsible for the loss.

“I can’t really point to one thing responsible for the loss,” Iatarola said. “Ivy games, you have to be at your best. Everyone made mistakes.”

Despite the loss, Shackford said she is optimistic the Tigers can recover and finish the season on a high note. Tied for third in the Ivy League, the Tigers still have a shot at winning the league if they win the remainder of their games, and other teams lose at least one game.

The Tigers have two games remaining. The first is away at Cornell on Saturday. Their final game of the season is Nov. 6 at home against Penn.