Veteran soccer squads on pace for Ivy titles

After an 0-2 start, women's soccer does a 180 and sets its sights on the Ivy title.

By Darcy Wiecks

JULIA TIERNAN/YH Theryn Gibbons, MC'00, is one of the many veterans who have led the women's soccer team to consecutive victories.

Sometimes slow starts aren't as bad as they seem. After beginning their season with two straight losses, the women's soccer team shot to an early first place Ivy League ranking with a 3-1 victory over Brown. The Bulldogs share the top seed with Harvard, Princeton, and Pennsylvania, however, and they will have to defend their ranking when they host the Crimson at noon on Sat., Sept. 25.

Following consecutive losses to Pacific and St. Mary's two weeks ago, the Bulldogs turned their season around with the crucial win against Brown. "We made no substantial changes, just minor adjustments," head coach Rudy Meredith said. "It is typical that we would play better in our third and fourth games than in our first and second. We are more fit, and we better understand and adjust to one another on the field."

Yale's defense and offense were both lethal against the Bears. Captain Danica Liberman, TD '00, led a stingy backfield that held Brown to only one goal. The offense was solid as well, turning a 1-1 tie at halftime into a victory 45 minutes later. Heather Jones, TC '01, scored two of Yale's three goals, one unassisted, and one off a pass by midfielder Megan MacLeod, MC '01. Defender Jennie Garver, DC '03, set up the third goal with a flawless corner kick that Sara Ruiz, SY '02, headed into the back of the net through a sea of defenders.

After such a convincing win over Brown, the Elis have put their two losses behind them and have begun to focus on their key game against Harvard this weekend. "We were a little disappointed with the start of the season," Sarah Peter-son, PC '02 said, "but we've come together and played well as a team in the past two games, and we are ready for a tough game against Harvard." In preparation for the Crimson, practices this week have focused on fine-tuning offensive play. Meredith said that adjustments made in practice will correct the Bulldogs' problems with scoring. "Our major focus in practice has been finishing and making the shots that we take count," Liberman added. "We have been catering our practices to how we anticipate the game will be, and have been working with different formations to adapt to how Harvard will play."

Harvard is most vulnerable in front of the goal, and Meredith hopes to utilize Yale's offensive speed to "capitalize on Harvard's weakness in the defense." Meredith also noted that the Bulldogs must contain the Crimson's explosive offense if they want to secure a victory. "We will have to have numbers back in our defense to accommodate their strength up front. However, most of our adjustments will come throughout the game depending on what they do and how they play." It is possible that Yale may use three or four different formations. "[We'll have] more use of people up front," Meredith said. "We will find the combinations to help us win whether that means using no substitutes or 20 substitutes."

This weekend is crucial for both Harvard and Yale, because both teams will be vying to maintain their first-place ranking in the Ivy League. A win is even more pivotal for the Elis, however, because a win over Harvard would bring them national attention and would possibly help them break into the rankings. Harvard received a No. 25 national ranking in the National Soccer Collegiate Association of America (NSCAA) preseason polls, and following last weekend's results, they ascended to third place in the Northeast region. The Bulldogs remain unranked in both NSCAA polls and Northeast regional polls.

When the Bulldogs faced off against Harvard last season, the Crimson prevailed, 3-1. The Cantabs ended the 1998 season with a second place finish in the Ancient Eight, and they promise to be formidable opponents again this season. Currently 3-1, Harvard posted its first Ivy victory with a 2-1 decision against Columbia last week. "Harvard is consistently a very good team," Meredith said. "This is our biggest game of the season, and finishing the game with an overall record of 2-0 in the Ivy League would set us up very well." And when the final whistle blows, "we will be able to tell who really is in first place," he said.

The Elis are confident that their hard work and effort will eventually prevail. "We've been working really hard physically to prepare for Harvard," Kate Ling, TD '03, said, "but we know that, in the very end, it will be our mental toughness and heart that will pull us through. We know we are ready."

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