The Indy recaps Harvard Athletics from this past weekend.
Football
For Harvard football, the fun just does not stop. In its second Ivy League contest, Harvard defeated Cornell 40-3 behind dominating performances on both sides of the ball. Harvard’s offense put up a perfectly balance 499 yards of offense, and the defense followed up that performance by allowing under 250 yards and forcing four turnovers. The win puts Harvard at 2-0 in the Ivy League and marks the fourth consecutive time that Harvard has won by more than 25 points. Harvard has also climbed to its highest ranking of the year at 18th nationally.
Offensively, Harvard has relied on its ground attack led by senior Paul Stanton. Stanton, who as a sophomore set the single-season Ivy League rushing record, is averaging nearly 100 yards per game and leads the Crimson with 5 touchdowns. Harvard’s running corps has also been boosted by freshman Noah Reimers, who also has accounted for five touchdowns. Defensively, the Crimson remain stout under the direction of senior linebacker Jacob Lindsey and defensive lineman Dan Moody’16. Respectively, both lead the team in tackles and sacks.
Harvard has one final out-of-conference game against Lafayette this weekend before the meat of the Ivy League schedule begins. After Lafayette, Harvard will play its toughest competitor in the Ivy League when they face Princeton at home and will finish the season in New Haven.
Women’s Volleyball
Last year, Yale was Harvard’s kryptonite in women’s volleyball. As the men’s hockey, football, and basketball teams all defeated Yale in postseason play, the women’s volleyball team lost to Yale in a one-match playoff to determine the Ivy League champion. This year though, the Crimson got off on the right foot by sweeping Yale in their first of two conference matches. The win, coupled with a much tighter victory over Brown the day before, vaulted Harvard into first place in the Ivy League standings.
Over the weekend, Corrine Bain’17 and Jocelyn Meyer’19 led Harvard. Bain, used to the spotlight having already set Ivy League records for aces in a season and triple-doubles, was named Ivy League Player of the Week for the fourth time in this young season. Bain had one of her patented triple-doubles again Brown and followed that performance with an eye-popping 20 assists against Yale. Meyer on the other hand just stepped into the limelight with her first two starts last weekend and clearly made an impact as evidenced by her being named the Ivy League Rookie of the Week.
The Crimson will close out their first round of Ivy League matches next weekend before embarking on second round matches. With the consistency of Bain, the emergence of Meyer, and a sweep of their kryptonite Yale, this year’s team just might be super.
Women’s Soccer
In sports, they say talent usually wins out if you just give it time. For the Harvard women’s soccer team, that maxim has proven true. After a rough opening to the season in which the Crimson struggled at times to defend and at other times to score, the overwhelming talent is finally starting to dominate games. Harvard defeated Cornell 2-0 over the weekend behind a goal from Margaret Purce’17 and moved to 3-0 in Ivy League play. Purce for her efforts was named Ivy League Player of the Week.
Purce started off the season slow, which was surprising for someone who has dominated the Ivy League since her freshman year. Within the Ivy League, Purce is in a league of her own as the only player selected to play with the American national team. However, in the last three games, Purce has begun to return to form with five goals including a hat trick in last weekend’s 4-0 defeat of Yale. If Purce can continue this form, the Crimson seemed poise to three-peat as Ivy League champions. If not, it could be a return to the beginning of the season which saw the Crimson go without a win in five straight games.
Men’s Soccer
The Harvard men’s soccer team is still looking for that elusive Ivy League championship. Last year, Harvard finished one game behind a tie for first place. The year before that, Harvard lost to Penn in the final game of the season to lose the Ivy League championship. This year has put Harvard in a place to hopefully end the trend of second place as they currently lead the Ivy League standings through the first two weekends of play. Over the weekend, Harvard beat Cornell 2-0 behind goals from sophomores Sam Brown and Christian Sady. Brown and Sady both members of the American youth national team programs are anchoring Harvard’s midfield unit with another year under their belts.
Defensively, the Crimson remain one of the best in the league due to the leadership of senior Mark Ashby. Ashby was named a preseason All-American and has lived up to the hype so far starting in every game just like he has done since his freshman year. Harvard rode the defense to a 1-0 defeat of New Hampshire last week to end their bid for an undefeated season. If this level of play continues, Harvard may finally climb out of its runner-up shell.
Peyton Fine ’17 (peytonfine@college.harvard.edu) is glad he has the Ivy League Network Digital Subscription. He never misses the Crimson play.