Men's soccer may finally be in line for Ivy glory

"That was a hard day's night," said men's soccer coach Brian Tompkins of last year's season-ending loss at Princeton. "We knew we had given our best effort over the second half of the season, but at the same time didn't finish out when we had the chance." Had the Bulldogs won that game, they would have won the Ivy League and gone on to the NCAA championships and their first post-season appearance since 1991. Instead, Yale went back to New Haven to regroup and start preparing for the next year.

JULIA TIERNAN/YH Jac Gould, CC '00.

"While it was tough, the loss [to Princeton] gave us a little motivation for this season," said Captain Doug Spelman PC '99. However motivated they were, before this season began the Elis still had to fill the void created by the graduation of leading assist-man Craig Yacks, MC '98, and the departure of freshman phenom Steve Gibbons, ES '01, for his Mormon mission. Both men started every game for the squad last year.

There are, however, more than a few positive gains which offset the negatives presented by the departure of these two.

Eight starters are returning from last year's 11-5-1 team, including forwards Jac Gould, CC '00, and Phil Harris, SM '00, both of whom had eight goals and three assists for the Bulldogs in 1997, and were named first and second team All-Ivy, respectively. In the midfield returns another All-Ivy performer in Hiro Suzuki, BR '00, and David Boehmer, SM '00, who started 10 games in goal last season and allowed in an average of over one goal per game.

Joining the veterans will be one of the most talented freshmen recruit classes in Yale's history. Leading the group is Brian Lavin, PC '02, a high school All-American who was voted the New England Player of the Year last year. Lavin, who will probably play in the midfield, chose Yale over a host of other schools because of the "combination of a good team and great academics". Coaches and players alike feel that Lavin will have an immediate impact on the field and will help to ease the burden of Yacks' departure.

Another freshman to keep an eye on is Joshua Jelly-Schapiro, CC '02, who deferred admission to Yale after graduating high school in 1997. A forward, Jelly-Schapiro spent last year in England studying and playing for a Corinthian club, where no doubt he got a taste of the rabid fanaticism that often characterizes Yale soccer fans.

"The main goal of the recruiting was to gain defensive depth," Coach Tompkins said. Brian Larkin, MC '02, Aaron Faust, ES '02, James Pearce, BR '02, and Miles Haladay, SY '02, will complement the already strong backfield of Spelman, Ryan Berry, MC '99, Kurt Ahlstrand, MC '01, and many others.

While Yale expects to be very strong this year, their Ivy League competition seems to have kept up. "It's hard to say right now," Tompkins said, "We will be in the thick of the race, but any of the usual suspects could win." There are five teams with a legitimate chance of taking the title: Dartmouth, Brown, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale. Both Brown and Dartmouth were preseason national top 25 picks. In addition, Yale has games against perennial powers--including a season opener against Davidson.

Yale officially begins competitive play with two scrimmages. With few practice days left before its season opener against Davidson at the Brown Adidas Classic on Fri., Sept. 11, Yale is gearing up for the tough season ahead. And while Princeton may yet again seem a sure pick for the league title in basketball, it seems that in soccer, Yale's time in the sun may finally have arrived.

Photo of Jac Gould, CC '00, by Julia Tiernan.

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