Harvard Football 5-1 Heading Into November
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Harvard VarsityVarsity Club NEWS & VIEWS of Harvard Sports Volume 49 Issue No. 3 www.varsityclub.harvard.edu October 26, 2006 Harvard Football 5-1 Heading into November Penn and Yale still ahead for Crimson by Chuck Sullivan and Crimson defensive tackle Michael Berg ‘07 (Stamford, CT) Director of Athletic Communications burst through the line to block a Princeton punt, se� ing the Har- vard off ense up at the Tiger 20-yard line. In terms of excitement, the matchup between the Ivy League’s Harvard quickly took advantage of its fi eld position as two unbeaten schools suffi ciently matched the pregame expec- quarterback Chris Pizzo� i ‘08 (Reading, MA) dumped the ball to tations. In terms of statistics, it produced the balance that one All-America tailback Cli� on Dawson ‘07 (Scarborough, ONT) on would expect from two evenly matched opponents. a screen pass, and Dawson followed his blockers to reach the end Unfortunately for Harvard, the only terms that really mat- zone untouched, giving the Crimson an early lead. tered were those listed under the schools’ names on the score- Princeton was able to string together a 76-yard drive on the board. Although the Crimson ba� led back from an early defi cit to next series to tie the score, and the Tigers forced a Crimson error take a lead into the fourth quarter, it was Princeton that had the when defensive back Tom Hurley made a diving interception of edge in that category a� er 60 minutes were complete as the Tigers Pizzo� i’s second-down pass on Harvard’s next series. That put the held on for a 31-28 decision at Princeton Stadium on October 21. Tigers deep into Harvard’s half of the fi eld, though Princeton had Harvard head coach Tim Murphy, who saw his Crimson to se� le for a fi eld goal to take a 10-7 advantage. endure its fi rst loss in the Tigers’ 10-year-old facility, off ered Murphy looked to his bench for a spark to start the second no excuses— even if others tried to provide them. Instead, he quarter, and he found it in junior quarterback Liam O’Hagan acknowledged the miscues that the Crimson made while taking (Minnetonka, MN), pride in the team’s ability to get back in a game that could have last year’s starting go� en out of hand. signal-caller who Corey Mazza ‘07 scoring a third “I thought our eff ort was outstanding,” said Murphy follow- was held out of quarter TD against Princeton. ing the game. “But the bo� om line is that Princeton made more the Crimson’s fi rst Photo by Harvard Athletic Communications plays than we did, and we made too many mistakes.” fi ve games of 2006. The game fi gured to be a classic. The last time Harvard and O’Hagan integrated Princeton both entered their annual aff air with each school hold- precise throws with ing at least a 5-0 record was 1922. The schools accounted for 40 his ability to scramble percent of the remaining unbeaten programs in Division I-AA to add a diff erent football and recent history of Harvard-Princeton meetings — fi ve look to the Crimson of the last nine matchups were decided by three points or fewer off ense. — suggested that this one should not be missed. O’Hagan’s With two outstanding units taking the fi eld, the adage holds second drive saw that the team that makes fewer mistakes is probably the one that the Crimson reach wins the game. Princeton made the fi rst mistake a� er Harvard’s the Princeton 8-yard defense forced a three-and-out on the Tigers’ second possession, Continued on page 6 F��� S����� U������ M��’� S���� (11-4-0, 4-1-0 I��) S������ • The Crimson has reeled off fi ve straight wins, four against Ivy T��� H���������: League teams and two on the road against ranked opponents, • The Crimson won at least one rega� a on each of fi ve straight to storm into the national top 25 and a share of fi rst place. Most weekends in September and October. Harvard has taken fi rst recently, Harvard gu� ed out a 2-1 win Oct. 21 at Princeton. place in seven events overall with the latest team win coming •T��� Harvard H���������: took back-to-back wins against No. 19 Fairfi eld Oct. against 13 other schools in the Regis Bowl Sept. 30-Oct. 1. 9 and No. 14 Brown Oct. 14. The Crimson beat the Stags, 2-1, • In the Oct. 17 Sailing World collegiate rankings, the Harvard in double overtime and scored six straight goals for a 6-2 win coeds are ranked third, while the women are 10th. against the Bears. • Senior Clay Johnson (Toms River, NJ) won nine of 13 races to • Sophomore Michael Fucito (Westford, MA) racked up three cruise to his fourth straight NEISA Men’s Singlehanded Cham- goals and three assists in the wins at Fairfi eld and Brown to earn pionship title Oct. 7-8 at Roger Williams. He won the fi rst four selection as the Soccer Times National Player of the Week and Ivy races of the weekend and led the rest of the way. Teammate Kyle League Player of the Week. Kovacs (Pennington, NJ) placed second in the fi eld of 29 sailors, • Andre Akpan (Grand as both Crimson men qualifi ed for nationals Nov. 3-5. Prairie, TX), the nation’s • The women placed second in both divisions of the Regis Bowl, top-scoring freshman, accumulating 42 points in each for a total of 84. tallied two assists at Fairfi eld and two more at Brown. He then W����’� G��� added two goals and T��� H���������: an assist in a 5-2 win at Holy Cross and the • Harvard placed second in a fi eld of 11 teams at the Yale In- game-winning goal vitational Sept. 30-Oct. 1, giving the Crimson one win and two against the Tigers. He second-place fi nishes in its three events this fall. Rain forced won two straight Ivy the cancellation of the ECAC Championships, scheduled for League Rookie of the the following weekend in Williamsburg, VA. Week selections to give • The Crimson shot 306-298--604 at Yale to fi nish just two him four such honors strokes behind winner and defending Ivy League champion for the season. Akpan Princeton. leads the Ivy League • Freshman Sarah Harvey (Forest, VA) led the way for Har- with 1.93 points and vard, carding rounds of 76 and 73 for a two-day score of 149 0.73 assists per game. and third place. Sophomore Emily Balmert (El Cajon, CA) had the low score in Saturday’s fi rst round and took fourth. • The fall season wraps up for Harvard Oct. 30-31 at the Mike Fucito ‘07 Rollins Invitational in Southern Pines, NC. dspics.com W����’� V��������� (9-10, 3-5 I�� L�����) W����’� T����� T��� H���������: T��� H���������: • The Crimson opened Ivy League play with a pair of wins • Tennis players represented Harvard on opposite coasts at against Dartmouth and later picked up a 3-2 win at Columbia. the beginning of the month, with some athletes competing at • Junior co-captain Suzie Trimble (San Juan Capistrano, CA) the USTA National Women’s Invitational in Flushing Mead- pounded 24 kills with just three errors on 33 swings for a .636 ows, NY, and one playing at the ITA Riviera All-America hi� ing percentage in the win against the Lions. It was the Championships in Pacifi c Palisades, CA. middle blocker’s second match hi� ing be� er than .600 with • The doubles pair of senior Preethi Mukundan (Folsom, more than 20 kills. Trimble is hi� ing .405 for the season and CA) and sophomore Laura Peterzan (London, England) averages 3.18 kills and 1.00 blocks per game. placed second in the A Flight at the National Invitational. The • Senior Katie Turley-Molony (San Jose, CA) is also having two were seeded eighth and recorded wins against teams Preethi Mukundan ‘07 a solid season, averaging 2.97 kills per game and hi� ing .243. dspics.com She registered 18 kills and seven blocks in the second win from Boston College, Texas against Dartmouth. Junior co-captain Laura Mahon (Moraga, A&M, and Yale to advance CA) averages 2.27 kills and 3.68 digs per game, and freshman to the fi nals, where they lost Katherine Kocurek (Kingwood, TX) has posted 4.49 digs per to the No. 5 seed from North game. Carolina State. • Freshman Lena Litvak (Bronx, NY) reached the M��’� T����� quarterfi nals of the top singles T��� H���������: fl ight with straight-set wins over athletes from Syracuse • In its only team action of the fall at the ECAC and Duke. Championships Sept. 29-Oct. 2, the Crimson posted two wins • Sophomore Beier Ko (Boca and a loss. Sixth-seeded Harvard was edged by No. 11-seed Raton, FL) lost a hard-fought Manha� an, 4-3, and posted a 7-0 shutout of 14th-seeded St. match to Notre Dame’s Catrina Joseph’s. The Crimson then met No. 7-seed Boston College Tompson in the main draw of and recorded an emphatic 7-0 win. the All-American Champion- • Senior Sco� Denenberg (Trumbull, CT) won all three of ships. his No. 2 singles matches over the weekend, and sophomore Michael Kalfayan (Bristol, England) claimed two wins at No. M��’� W���� P��� 5 and one at No.