I’ve seen a lot of college soccer games. Some have been bad, most have been pretty good, and some have been very good. And then there have been a few that I would label as true classics—spirited battles between highly competitive teams, loads at stake, many goals, boisterous fans, hard tackles, controversial refereeing, passion, all on a crisp fall afternoon. In short, these are the games that college soccer is all about.
The Brown vs. Harvard game this past Saturday clearly belongs in this “classic” category. It wasn’t always the prettiest soccer (Rhett Bernstein walked off the field and said, “That was the ugliest game of soccer EVER!”) but it was undeniably and endlessly entertaining. For a hundred minutes, it was filled with drama and passion, and for a hundred minutes, no one could look away.
Last year, Harvard handed Brown a good old fashioned spanking, 6-1 at Stevenson Field. This year, Brown entered the game ranked #11 in the country, with Harvard ranked # 9. Both teams were 1-0 in the Ivy League, both had significant wins out of conference, and both knew each other very well. In other words, there was a lot at stake. In the end, Brown emerged the winner, putting itself in sole possession of first place in the league. Combined with the midweek win over BC, they might also be poised to crack the top ten national rankings. Brown continues their season on Saturday, October 20th when they travel to Ithaca, NY to play Cornell.
Now, here is your post-game report:
1st minute – Two teams that looked very relaxed in warm-up begin to play at a furious pace. No one takes more than two touches, and no one seems to complete more than four passes. Tackles fly, tempers flare.
12th minute – Kevin Davies fires a sharp angled shot that surprises the Harvard keeper, but which he manages to save.
17th minute – An incredibly speedy Harvard forward turns and fires a quick left footed shot from fifteen yards out, but Paul Grandstrand holds it cleanly.
22nd minute – Brown strings together several wonderful passes and releases Darren Howerton down the left side, but his first time effort sails wide of goal.
23rd minute - Howerton tosses in a flip throw. The goalkeeper drops the ball, creating a great scoring opportunity, but a Brown player is whistled for a phantom foul. Five minutes later, the same thing happens. What contact are you seeing, sir?
25th minute – Harvard appears to shove as they challenge for every head ball, but the referee blows his whistle selectively. It seems every call is going the way of the home team.
28th minute – Howerton tosses another lethal flip throw into the Harvard box, and several players rise to meet it. The goalkeeper can’t get his hands to the ball, and if falls into the scrum. After a couple of whacks, it comes to Dylan Sheehan, who easily slots a low left footed shot into the goal. The Brown bench explodes to its feet and the Brown coaching staff exchanges fist pumps and high fives. 1-0 Brown.
29th minute – Just fifteen seconds later, Harvard plays the ball forward into the Brown penalty area. Getting good position on defender Matt Britner, a Harvard forward takes a touch toward the end line. Realizing he has pushed the ball too far and has no other options, he slows up to draw contact, and flops to the ground. Unbelievably, the referee whistles for a PK, as the Brown coaching staff sprints down the sideline in protest. As if steered by the fates, the ensuing penalty kick glances off the left post and out of bounds. The law of universal justice is preserved, and order is restored to the cosmos. As the saying goes, “The ball never lies.”
32nd minute –A good turn and quick shot by forward TJ Thompson is saved by the Harvard goalkeeper.
41st minute – The linesman turns to respond to a Mike Noonan inquiry about a hand ball. At that exact moment, the ball is flighted over the Brown defense, and the linesman is caught out of position. Noonan screams, “He’s offsides!” As if mind controlled, the linesman raises his flag and halts a Harvard half-breakaway. We’ll have to take a closer look at that one on the film.
HALFTIME – Brown gets some much needed water. Coach Noonan tells the boys they played great until the last twelve minutes, and they need to keep the energy levels high.
53rd minute – A Harvard player cuts the ball back and serves in a left footed cross from the right wing. A Harvard forward leaps and sends a glancing header just beyond the impressively long outstretched wings of a leaping Grandstrand, into the upper left corner of the goal. The Crimson Crazies celebrate wildly. 1-1 tie.
54th minute – Thirty seconds later, left back Steve Sawyer takes a touch and nails a right footed laser into the Harvard penalty area. Dylan Sheehan leaps forward and smashes a header on goal, and the Harvard keeper does well to make the initial save. Kevin Davies, however, sniffs out the rebound like a well trained schnauzer and quickly kicks it into the net. The goal comes so quickly after the Harvard goal that the scorekeepers have to announce them together. 2-1 Brown.
57th minute – Rhett Bernstein heads a ball off the left post.
58th to 82nd minutes – The teams go back and forth and back and forth, with plenty of hard tackles and shots.
83rd minute – In a highly controversial series of plays, Nick Elenz-Martin slides and taps the ball, disrupting a Harvard player as he shoots and causing him to blast the ball over the net. The referee wrongly whistles for a Harvard corner kick, then compounds his mistake by allowing them to take the kick while two balls are on the field. As goalkeeper Paul Grandstrand clears the second ball off the field, a Harvard player takes the short corner and sends a hard, driven ball cross across the face of goal. Another Harvard player first times it easily into the net. The Harvard fans behind the net dance and celebrate as Grandstrand stands with his palms upturned, wondering why play had been allowed to continue. 2-2 tie.
100th minute – The fates once again exert their influence on the match. A Harvard player attempts to clear the ball up the left sideline but kicks a large, invisible lump of turf. The player looks down in confusion as the ball rolls out of bounds. How did that happen? As Howerton saunters across the field, Brown fans scream, “Hey Harvard, another flip throw coming at you. Let’s see you deal with THIS!” as Howerton chucks the ball into the six-yard box. Dylan Sheehan rises and nods it on to the far post, where a six-man Brown/Harvard caravan arrives and somehow ushers it into the goal. For the third straight game, the Brown bench (accompanied by a number of fans) rushes the field to celebrate an overtime victory.
And order is once again returned to the cosmos.
Final Score: Brown 3, Harvard 2 (OT)
Overall Record: 9-1-1
Ivy Record: 2-0-0
Next game: Saturday, October 20th @ Cornell
Monday, October 15, 2007
Brown 1, #5 BC 0 (OT)
It seems you don’t want to be ranked #5 in the country when you play Brown. For the second time this season, Brown knocked off the #5 ranked team, beating Boston College on Wednesday night at Stevenson Field. Boston College entered the match with a 7-1-1 record, 4-0-0 in the ACC, with recent victories over Maryland, Duke, and North Carolina. Needless to say, it was a victory that should bring even more respect to Brown and the Ivy League. Or, as Coach Noonan put it, “it should make us stop picking up other conferences’ poop.” That’s verbatim.
Senior Laurent Manuel was the hero of the game, notching his first career goal with a superb strike from 30 yards. Freshman Paul Grandstrand earned the shutout in goal, his third of the season.
Now, here is your post-game report:
1st minute – Brown comes out looking a bit tentative, playing most of their passes backward and sitting deep in their own end.
15th minute – Brown emerges from its shell and applies steady pressure to the BC backline.
16th minute –Darren Howerton ’09 whips in a corner and Rhett Bernstein ’09 heads it just over the bar. Bernstein, who scored seven goals on headers last season, continues to be just off the mark this year.
33rd minute – Columbia transfer Will Lee ’09 plays a delicate ball from central midfield to Jon Okafor ’11. The uncatchable Okafor pulls away from his defender and moves toward goal on a breakaway, but his blast from fifteen yards is saved by BC’s monstrous goalkeeper.
Halftime – Coach Noonan points out that the boys have been in this position before—tied at halftime against a highly ranked team, having outplayed them for the first 45 minutes.
46th minute – Off the kickoff, BC looks hungry. They pick off an errant pass and immediately create a good scoring chance. Don’t play square balls off the kickoff, boys!
53rd minute – A BC player clears the ball high and into the stands. A cheer swells up from the targeted section as the ball approaches. Perhaps intending to prove that he is in fact the aerially dominant Rhett Bernstein’s father, or perhaps to show his son proper technique (in an attempt to jumpstart his son’s scoring streak), Rhett Bernstein’s father rises to his feet, removes his hat and, with perfect form, heads the ball back onto the field. The crowd erupts in joyful praise. He acknowledges his cheers with a brief wave of the hat to fans on both sides, then puts it on and takes a seat.
The guy who gave Rhett his aerial dominance.
58th minute – Freshman David Walls, whose play as a right back has been simply exemplary all season, goes in on a hard slide tackle and takes a finger to the eye. He jogs off the field, saying he has lost a contact lens. Athletic trainer Matt Culp is unable to locate the lens anywhere in Walls’ eye, and asks if he has a spare. He says no. Freshman Andy D’Avanzo asks Walls what his prescription is, but Walls doesn’t appear to have any idea. “Is it by any chance negative 1.75?” D’Avanzo inquires. “Yeah, that’s it!” Walls exclaims. Without hesitating, D’Avanzo takes out his lens and hands it to Walls, who gives it a quick saline bath and pops it in. Good as new, he steps back onto the field. D’Avanzo watches the rest of the match with his right hand over his right eye.
67th minute – One of BC’s dangerous forwards makes a slashing run, beating two Brown defenders before blasting a ball across the face of goal. It somehow manages to elude all defenders and attackers, and rolls just wide at the far post.
75th minute – A BC free kick takes an unfortunate deflection and falls directly to a BC player twelve yards from goal. With plenty of time, he misfires and sends the ball wide of goal.
82nd minute – Kevin Davies dipsy doodles up the right sideline, cutting inside and outside and inside, then serves a low cross toward goal. It caroms off a BC defender and falls directly to Nick Elenz-Martin. N-E-M’s first time effort flies just wide of goal.
90th minute – The final whistle blows. Overtime again!
OT – David Walls plays an intelligent ball into the feet of forward Dylan Sheehan. Sheehan posts up his defender Shaq-style and holds it for a second or two. He then lays it back to Laurent Manuel, who decides to have a very optimistic attempt from 30 yards. He connects perfectly and sends a low driven shot screaming into the lower right corner of goal, beating the keeper cleanly. In unmistakable ecstasy, he sprints toward the bench, a huge grin on his face, his pointer finger to the sky. For the second straight game, the Brown players flood the field to celebrate an overtime victory. When asked after the game if the shot deflected slightly, and why he didn’t come up with a more creative celebration, Manuel responds, “I have no idea. I blacked out.”
Final Score: Brown 1, BC 0
Overall Record: 8-1-1
Ivy Record: 1-0-0
Senior Laurent Manuel was the hero of the game, notching his first career goal with a superb strike from 30 yards. Freshman Paul Grandstrand earned the shutout in goal, his third of the season.
Now, here is your post-game report:
1st minute – Brown comes out looking a bit tentative, playing most of their passes backward and sitting deep in their own end.
15th minute – Brown emerges from its shell and applies steady pressure to the BC backline.
16th minute –Darren Howerton ’09 whips in a corner and Rhett Bernstein ’09 heads it just over the bar. Bernstein, who scored seven goals on headers last season, continues to be just off the mark this year.
33rd minute – Columbia transfer Will Lee ’09 plays a delicate ball from central midfield to Jon Okafor ’11. The uncatchable Okafor pulls away from his defender and moves toward goal on a breakaway, but his blast from fifteen yards is saved by BC’s monstrous goalkeeper.
Halftime – Coach Noonan points out that the boys have been in this position before—tied at halftime against a highly ranked team, having outplayed them for the first 45 minutes.
46th minute – Off the kickoff, BC looks hungry. They pick off an errant pass and immediately create a good scoring chance. Don’t play square balls off the kickoff, boys!
53rd minute – A BC player clears the ball high and into the stands. A cheer swells up from the targeted section as the ball approaches. Perhaps intending to prove that he is in fact the aerially dominant Rhett Bernstein’s father, or perhaps to show his son proper technique (in an attempt to jumpstart his son’s scoring streak), Rhett Bernstein’s father rises to his feet, removes his hat and, with perfect form, heads the ball back onto the field. The crowd erupts in joyful praise. He acknowledges his cheers with a brief wave of the hat to fans on both sides, then puts it on and takes a seat.
The guy who gave Rhett his aerial dominance.
58th minute – Freshman David Walls, whose play as a right back has been simply exemplary all season, goes in on a hard slide tackle and takes a finger to the eye. He jogs off the field, saying he has lost a contact lens. Athletic trainer Matt Culp is unable to locate the lens anywhere in Walls’ eye, and asks if he has a spare. He says no. Freshman Andy D’Avanzo asks Walls what his prescription is, but Walls doesn’t appear to have any idea. “Is it by any chance negative 1.75?” D’Avanzo inquires. “Yeah, that’s it!” Walls exclaims. Without hesitating, D’Avanzo takes out his lens and hands it to Walls, who gives it a quick saline bath and pops it in. Good as new, he steps back onto the field. D’Avanzo watches the rest of the match with his right hand over his right eye.
67th minute – One of BC’s dangerous forwards makes a slashing run, beating two Brown defenders before blasting a ball across the face of goal. It somehow manages to elude all defenders and attackers, and rolls just wide at the far post.
75th minute – A BC free kick takes an unfortunate deflection and falls directly to a BC player twelve yards from goal. With plenty of time, he misfires and sends the ball wide of goal.
82nd minute – Kevin Davies dipsy doodles up the right sideline, cutting inside and outside and inside, then serves a low cross toward goal. It caroms off a BC defender and falls directly to Nick Elenz-Martin. N-E-M’s first time effort flies just wide of goal.
90th minute – The final whistle blows. Overtime again!
OT – David Walls plays an intelligent ball into the feet of forward Dylan Sheehan. Sheehan posts up his defender Shaq-style and holds it for a second or two. He then lays it back to Laurent Manuel, who decides to have a very optimistic attempt from 30 yards. He connects perfectly and sends a low driven shot screaming into the lower right corner of goal, beating the keeper cleanly. In unmistakable ecstasy, he sprints toward the bench, a huge grin on his face, his pointer finger to the sky. For the second straight game, the Brown players flood the field to celebrate an overtime victory. When asked after the game if the shot deflected slightly, and why he didn’t come up with a more creative celebration, Manuel responds, “I have no idea. I blacked out.”
Final Score: Brown 1, BC 0
Overall Record: 8-1-1
Ivy Record: 1-0-0
Brown 2, Princeton 1 (OT)
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When Brown and Princeton meet in any event, there seems to be a culture clash of sorts, and it often leads to an especially heated battle. Now when you put Brown and Princeton on the soccer field and make it an Ivy League opening match, you have the recipe for an especially spicy salsa.
In a match filled with several truly classic moments, Brown eventually emerged victorious. Nick Elenz-Martin scored the winner in OT, and Jarrett Leech earned the victory in goal. The Bears are now 1-0 in Ivy League play and back in the habit of winning.
Here is your post-game report:
Minutes 1-39 – The two teams scrap and battle and kick and fight with typical Ivy League game vigor. Players from both teams swarm the ball, leading to lots of turnovers. It might not be pretty, but it certainly is spirited.
40th minute – Princeton plays a ball over the Brown back line. Goalkeeper Jarrett Leech leaves his penalty area and decides to play it safe, blasting the ball out of bounds. Enter Coach Ryan Levesque’s U-13 Bruno United team, stage left sideline. For the record, the Bruno U13 boys are very good at soccer (4-0-1, 1st place in MAPLE Division 1). But they are even better at ball boy-ing. As Leech makes contact with the ball, one of the lads is already in position and tosses his hot potato to an onrushing Princeton player, who immediately chucks it inbounds. A teammate spots Leech out of position and lobs a first-time shot over his head. It curls up and away, toward the goal, and eventually rolls into the open net. Leech stands with his hands on his hips, coaches and fans consider the bittersweet irony of the goal, and the scorer’s table credits the ball boy with an assist. 1-0 Princeton.
46th – 86th minutes – Brown controls the match and creates a number of good scoring chances. Princeton’s backline, however, stands strong.
87th minute –A corner kick lands in a mess of people. Princeton is unable to clear as a brief scramble ensues, and the ball eventually falls to midfielder Chris Roland. Roland, whose typical warm-up involves shooting the ball as hard as he can before stretching, fires the ball on goal. It finds its way through traffic, perhaps taking a slight deflection, and powers into the side netting. Given Brown’s crescendo of forays, it seems like the kind of equalizer that HAS to lead to a winner. 1-1 tie.
90th minute –Brown wins a throw-in with 0:01 left on the clock. The referee blows his whistle, puts both hands above his head to stop the clock, and announces to an oddly silent stadium that, “Because Brown’s BALL BOYS got the ball to Princeton so QUICKLY on their GOAL, I’m going to add 15 seconds to the clock for this throw-in.” Princeton’s bench goes totally and completely bananas, as well they should. Where, they demand, is this rule?!? The referee looks it up in his internal rule book (located in his lower right gut) and ignores their protests, showing them a palm to suggest they settle down. The scorekeepers look at each other and shrug their shoulders, then obligingly add 15 seconds to the clock. Fortunately for the game and the referee, Brown does not score on the throw-in.
(OT) 98th minute – Like a delicious flank steak marinated in soy, Worcestershire, honey, ginger and lemon juice (try it), the ball rolls to Nick Elenz-Martin on a proverbial silver platter. Licking his freckled chops and trying not to get TOO excited, the talented midfielder connects, launching the hunk of meat from 25 yards. His drive spirals, screams across the face of the goal, beats the goalkeeper, ricochets off the underside of the crossbar, bounces down, and bounces back up into the net. It is, literally and figuratively, a golden goal.
And it just might have saved a 13 year-old boy’s life.
Final Score: Brown 2, Princeton 1 (OT)
Overall Record: 7-1-1
Ivy Record: 1-0-0
Next Match: Wednesday, October 10th vs. Boston College
When Brown and Princeton meet in any event, there seems to be a culture clash of sorts, and it often leads to an especially heated battle. Now when you put Brown and Princeton on the soccer field and make it an Ivy League opening match, you have the recipe for an especially spicy salsa.
In a match filled with several truly classic moments, Brown eventually emerged victorious. Nick Elenz-Martin scored the winner in OT, and Jarrett Leech earned the victory in goal. The Bears are now 1-0 in Ivy League play and back in the habit of winning.
Here is your post-game report:
Minutes 1-39 – The two teams scrap and battle and kick and fight with typical Ivy League game vigor. Players from both teams swarm the ball, leading to lots of turnovers. It might not be pretty, but it certainly is spirited.
40th minute – Princeton plays a ball over the Brown back line. Goalkeeper Jarrett Leech leaves his penalty area and decides to play it safe, blasting the ball out of bounds. Enter Coach Ryan Levesque’s U-13 Bruno United team, stage left sideline. For the record, the Bruno U13 boys are very good at soccer (4-0-1, 1st place in MAPLE Division 1). But they are even better at ball boy-ing. As Leech makes contact with the ball, one of the lads is already in position and tosses his hot potato to an onrushing Princeton player, who immediately chucks it inbounds. A teammate spots Leech out of position and lobs a first-time shot over his head. It curls up and away, toward the goal, and eventually rolls into the open net. Leech stands with his hands on his hips, coaches and fans consider the bittersweet irony of the goal, and the scorer’s table credits the ball boy with an assist. 1-0 Princeton.
46th – 86th minutes – Brown controls the match and creates a number of good scoring chances. Princeton’s backline, however, stands strong.
87th minute –A corner kick lands in a mess of people. Princeton is unable to clear as a brief scramble ensues, and the ball eventually falls to midfielder Chris Roland. Roland, whose typical warm-up involves shooting the ball as hard as he can before stretching, fires the ball on goal. It finds its way through traffic, perhaps taking a slight deflection, and powers into the side netting. Given Brown’s crescendo of forays, it seems like the kind of equalizer that HAS to lead to a winner. 1-1 tie.
90th minute –Brown wins a throw-in with 0:01 left on the clock. The referee blows his whistle, puts both hands above his head to stop the clock, and announces to an oddly silent stadium that, “Because Brown’s BALL BOYS got the ball to Princeton so QUICKLY on their GOAL, I’m going to add 15 seconds to the clock for this throw-in.” Princeton’s bench goes totally and completely bananas, as well they should. Where, they demand, is this rule?!? The referee looks it up in his internal rule book (located in his lower right gut) and ignores their protests, showing them a palm to suggest they settle down. The scorekeepers look at each other and shrug their shoulders, then obligingly add 15 seconds to the clock. Fortunately for the game and the referee, Brown does not score on the throw-in.
(OT) 98th minute – Like a delicious flank steak marinated in soy, Worcestershire, honey, ginger and lemon juice (try it), the ball rolls to Nick Elenz-Martin on a proverbial silver platter. Licking his freckled chops and trying not to get TOO excited, the talented midfielder connects, launching the hunk of meat from 25 yards. His drive spirals, screams across the face of the goal, beats the goalkeeper, ricochets off the underside of the crossbar, bounces down, and bounces back up into the net. It is, literally and figuratively, a golden goal.
And it just might have saved a 13 year-old boy’s life.
Final Score: Brown 2, Princeton 1 (OT)
Overall Record: 7-1-1
Ivy Record: 1-0-0
Next Match: Wednesday, October 10th vs. Boston College
Brown 0, BU 1
Entering last week’s game against Boston University, the Brown Bears were 6-0-1 and ranked #14 in the country. They had won their own tournament, they had beaten two ranked opponents, and they had played a lot of good football. They had also beaten BU each of the last two seasons. So what exactly was going to motivate them for this non-conference, midweek game in the middle of midterms?
The answer, sadly, was nothing.
BU outplayed, outhustled, and outclassed the Bears and, in the end, handed Brown a much-deserved 1-0 loss. There was, however, a silver lining: the loss might also have been much-needed, the way a good beating can make a boxer fight with more heart.
The highlights were few and really far between, so instead of the usual minute-by-minute summary, I instead offer this report on the twelve hours after the game, as provided by Assistant Coach Ryan Levesque.
“We didn’t think we had played WELL but we thought we had at least played OKAY. Then, the next morning, Coach Noonan walked into the office looking really pale, like he was sick or had seen a ghost or something—he had just watched the film. Then we watched the film together, along with footage of Princeton, and we concluded that, if we played like that against Princeton, we would definitely lose.”
Princeton, the school that puts the “P” in “H-Y-P” and the “I” in “I am better than you” usually provides motivation naturally. But just to be sure the boys avoided another lackluster performance, Coach Noonan and Co. thought they should watch some film. So watch some film they did. And by “some” I mean a lot.
And, like a battered fighter, the motivation returned.
The answer, sadly, was nothing.
BU outplayed, outhustled, and outclassed the Bears and, in the end, handed Brown a much-deserved 1-0 loss. There was, however, a silver lining: the loss might also have been much-needed, the way a good beating can make a boxer fight with more heart.
The highlights were few and really far between, so instead of the usual minute-by-minute summary, I instead offer this report on the twelve hours after the game, as provided by Assistant Coach Ryan Levesque.
“We didn’t think we had played WELL but we thought we had at least played OKAY. Then, the next morning, Coach Noonan walked into the office looking really pale, like he was sick or had seen a ghost or something—he had just watched the film. Then we watched the film together, along with footage of Princeton, and we concluded that, if we played like that against Princeton, we would definitely lose.”
Princeton, the school that puts the “P” in “H-Y-P” and the “I” in “I am better than you” usually provides motivation naturally. But just to be sure the boys avoided another lackluster performance, Coach Noonan and Co. thought they should watch some film. So watch some film they did. And by “some” I mean a lot.
And, like a battered fighter, the motivation returned.
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