Harvard Varsity Club NEWS & VIEWS of Harvard Sports Volume 50, Issue No. 3 www.varsityclub.harvard.edu October 30, 2007 Four Straight Wins Keep Crimson Gridders Unbeaten in Ivy League Action by Jeff Selesnick Lehigh third-down conversion in 11 attempts. The trouble came Athletic Communications Assistant as a result of not being able to finish in the red zone. Even with the lack of scoring, the offense totaled 97 plays to Despite losing two of its first three games in the 2007 season, Lehigh’s 52, and senior backup quarterback Chris Pizzotti racked the Harvard football team (5-2, 4-0 Ivy) has come alive to record up 252 passing yards after entering the game midway through the four straight victories and remain one of only two unbeaten teams third quarter for injured senior Liam O’Hagan. in the Ivy League. “The defense played heroically and we moved the ball well After a in the second half when we had to... we just didn’t finish it off,” solid win over said head coach Tim Murphy. “To lose the way we did was obvi- conference rival ously extremely frustrating. The kids couldn’t have played much Brown, the Crim- harder.” son lost a 20-13 Harvard brought that same intensity to Ithaca, NY, and thriller to Lehigh caused five turnovers in a 32-15 league win over Cornell. The of- in Bethlehem, PA. fense had little trouble getting going in this one as Harvard scored A fumble return the first 19 points of the game. Senior wideout Corey Mazza for a touchdown caught two first-half touchdown passes and moved into second with 30 seconds place on the all-time receiving list. Pizzotti totaled 284 yards in left in regulation the air and sophomore receiver Matt Luft notched a career high sealed the vic- 89 yards on four catches, including a 51-yard touchdown recep- tory for the home tion. Junior Matt Curtis and seniors Steven Williams and John team and capped Hopkins all recorded interceptions, while juniors Andrew Berry a true defensive and Glenn Dorris both recovered fumbles. battle. Harvard The Crimson kept the ball rolling and after two road contests employed a ball- welcomed Lafayette to Harvard Stadium on October 13. Once control offensive again, the defense was the name of the game as the Harvard scheme, held secondary notched four interceptions en route to a 27-17 victory. possession for Hopkins tallied two of the picks and added eight tackles on the Steven Williams ‘08 upped his national-best nearly two-thirds afternoon while Berry recorded a pick in the fourth quarter. Wil- interception total to seven on the year with a pick in of the game and liams also hauled in his team-leading fourth interception of the the game against Dartmouth. did not allow a season. dspics.com Continued on page 5 Fall Sports Updates Men’s Tennis Men’s Golf • Senior Dan Nguyen has had a spectacular fall season, leading • Harvard opened October with a fifth-place finish in a field of Harvard to a 2-1 record at the ECAC Championships and reach- 25 teams in the MacDonald Cup at the Course at Yale. ing the finals of the ITA Regional Tournament to earn a spot in • The Crimson has been led by a number of different golfers this the National Indoor All-American Tournament. season, with sophomore Nick Moseley leading the charge at the • At ECACs, the Crimson defeated George Washington and MacDonald Cup. Moseley finished 29th with a two-round total Penn by 6-1 scores before falling to top-seeded Penn State, 5-2, in of 150 (74-76) and was one of only six golfers in the tournament the final. to record an eagle. • Nguyen went 3-0 at ECACs and 5-1 at ITA Regionals. He upset • The next weekend at the ECAC Championship, sophomores No. 2 seed Peter Capkovic of Princeton, 6-0, 7-5 and No. 5 seed Danny Mayer and Greg Shuman tied for 28th overall with two- Mustafa Genscoy of George Washington, 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-1, before day scores of 154. The Crimson placed ninth as a team. falling to top seed Michael James of Penn State in the ITA final. • The team finished its fall slate with a fifth-place finish at the • No. 77 junior Chris Mershon Classic, where sophomore Peter Singh finished just six Clayton finished the strokes off the winning pace to lead Harvard. Kyle Kovacs ‘08 ECAC weekend with a dspics.com 2-1 record in the second singles position. Women’s Soccer (10-4-1, 3-2 Ivy) • Harvard’s top doubles tandem of • Since its league opener on Sept. 29, Harvard has won five of its senior Ashwin Kumar seven games, including victories over Cornell, Dartmouth and and junior Sasha previously undefeated Princeton. Ermakov topped teams • Katherine Sheeleigh has continued her stellar freshman from Penn and George campaign, bringing her team-leading goals total to eight on the Washington at ECACs season and garnering Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors and reached the quar- twice. terfinals of the Polo • With 16 points, Sheeleigh leads a group of four freshmen All-American among Harvard’s top five scorers. Fellow rookie Gina Wider- Championships Oct. 4. off has four goals, and freshmen have accounted for 15 of the Crimson’s 21 scores this year. • The back line of Nicole Rhodes, Kelli Okuji and Lizzy Nich- ols has helped sophomore keeper Lauren Mann record a league- leading nine shutouts. Mann has allowed a league-low 10 goals, and the defensive unit ranked No. 21 in the nation in shutout percentage (.571). Men’s Water Polo (11-13) Field Hockey (8-8, 4-2 Ivy League) • In a streaky regular season, the men’s water polo team notched • With a 3-1 win over Dartmouth on Saturday, Oct. 27, the Crim- 11 wins, including four straight wins to start the season and a 14- son stayed in contention for the Ivy League title. Harvard needs 13 overtime win over then-No. 19 California Baptist. to win its regular-season finale at Columbia Nov. 2 to clinch at • Junior goalie Jay Connolly kept Harvard in many matches this least a second-place finish. A win and a Penn victory over Princ- season, and tallied 15 saves in the regular-season finale against eton would tie Harvard for the league title. No. 19 Brown. In that game, the Crimson rallied to force over- • Harvard won its first three league games, including a 3-2 time, but the Bears picked up an 8-7 sudden death victory. decision at Cornell Oct. 7 on an overtime goal by senior captain • The Crimson won three straight matches in mid-October, Devon Shapiro. The Crimson fell in double overtime at Yale topping Fordham, 10-5, and Iona, 12-9, Oct. 13 and downing Oct. 13 and dropped a 3-2 overtime decision to No. 20 Princeton Connecticut College by a 14-4 score five days later. Eight differ- a week later. The Princeton game was one of three straight losses ent players scored against Connecticut College, including junior to ranked teams, with two coming by a single goal. David Tune, who had three goals. • Freshman Maggie McVeigh assisted junior Kayla Romanelli • Harvard is seeded third in the Northern Championship Nov. on a pair of goals in the win against Dartmouth. McVeigh, a two- 3 at MIT and hosts the Eastern Championship Nov. 15-17 at time Ivy Rookie of the Week, leads the Crimson with 14 points Blodgett Pool. and eight assists, while Romanelli has matched classmate Tami Jafar with five goals. • Sophomore Kristin Bannon ranks second on the team with 13 Sailing points on four goals and five assists. Harvard has 33 assists on • Senior Kyle Kovacs won the New England Men’s Singlehand- 28 goals and has ranked among the national leaders in assists ed Championship Oct. 6-7 at Boston College to earn his second throughout the season. consecutive berth in the national championship regatta. He won three of the final five races of the weekend to take the overall Women’s Tennis title and was named NEISA Sailor of the Week for the second • The Crimson had a strong showing in Flushing Meadows, N.Y., time. Freshman Tedd Himler placed sixth in the event and was at the Billie Jean King National Tournament at the beginning of followed by sophomore teammate Drew Robb. October. Freshman Agnes Sibilski won her first two matches of the • Harvard had a pair of second-place team finishes in October. tournament before bowing out to the No. 2 seed in the quarterfinals The first was at the Lane Trophy Team Race Oct. 14 at Tufts, of the “A” singles draw. Senior Stephanie Schnitter also went 2-1 in where the Crimson posted a 7-2 record. the “A” draw. Schnitter and Sibilski swept the doubles consolation • The Crimson also took second at the Oberg Trophy Oct. 20- round in the “A” draw, taking down a pair from Boston University 21 at MIT. The junior tandem of Jon Garrity and Kerry Anne in their final match. Bradford finished fourth with 121 points in the A division, while • Freshman Eunice Lee took down two Brown opponents after Robb and freshman Grace Charles garnered 100 points for third dropping a match to the No. 2 seed in the “D” draw. place in the B division. • Schnitter and Sibilski both advanced to the third round of the • Kovacs and junior Megan Watson will compete in their respec- ITA East Regionals later in the month at Old Dominion.