As the No. 20 men's soccer team trudged off the field at the end of 90 minutes of play on Saturday at Harvard, co-captain Stephen Sawyer '09 was asked, "Does the coach just not let you win in regulation?"
For the third match in a row, Brown pulled out a golden goal win in overtime, this time giving it a 3-2 victory over the 7th-ranked Crimson. The win moves Brown to 9-1-1, and to the top of the Ivy League at 2-0 in league play. The loss was only Harvard's second of the season and it knocked the Crimson back to .500 in the Ancient Eight, at 1-1.
Bruno came out strong, with no hangover from the two previous overtime games. A number of chances in the first half yielded an early goal. Just 14:26 into the game, midfielder Darren Howerton '09 took a flip throw-in from deep in the Harvard end. The ball flew into the box, was knocked around and finally settled at the feet of midfielder Nick Elenz-Martin '10, who ripped a shot on net. Crimson goalkeeper Adam Hahn made the initial save, but surrendered a rebound that forward Dylan Sheehan '09 scooped up and put in the back of the net.
"We came out and dominated play," Sawyer said. "We had some more chances that we didn't put away."
Harvard had a few scoring opportunities of its own in the first half, but Brown was in control with a 1-0 lead going into halftime. The Bears' defense, led by co-captain Matt Britner '07.5 and Rhett Bernstein '09 in the middle, contained Harvard's dangerous forwards.
In the second half, however, the Crimson played Bruno evenly. Harvard scored the equalizer in the 69th minute as forward Andre Akpan put in his team-leading ninth goal of the season.
Just a minute later, Brown responded when Sawyer crossed a ball in from the left that Sheehan headed on net. Hahn made the initial save once again, but was unable to corral the rebound. Forward Kevin Davies '08 retrieved the loose ball and scored his seventh goal of the season.
The Bears are well-acquainted with pressure situations late in games. Last Saturday, the Bears came back to tie Princeton before defeating the Tigers in overtime, and this week they knocked off Boston College in overtime.
"It's the confidence we have in ourselves," Sawyer said. "We have experience from being there before."
That familiarity became especially important for Brown when Harvard leveled the match at 2-2 in the 82nd minute and sent it to overtime.
"We got too defensive (late in the game)," Sawyer said of the Bears' inability to close out the match.
Head Coach Mike Noonan said the late goal was not as much the result of a defensive letdown as it was Harvard turning up the heat.
"They started pressing," he said. "They took some chances, and we were protecting a lead."
But Brown was not disheartened by allowing the game-tying goal so late in regulation. Just over five minutes into overtime, the Bears put away the game. Another Howerton flip throw-in found Sheehan, who sat at the back post and redirected the ball by Hahn. The two goals in the game gave Sheehan a team-leading eight tallies on the season.
"Every time they tied it up, we weren't worried," Sawyer said.
While the team would prefer not to take the game down to the wire, they will certainly take the win, especially in the Ivy League.
"We are in the driver's seat in Ivies," Sawyer said. "Everyone will be gunning for us now."
The Bears will take their three-game win streak on the road to Cornell on Saturday. The Big Red is coming off two losses and a tie in its last three matches.
