Men’s soccer bounces back, defeats Harvard in thrilling fashion – The Brown Daily Herald

Two late goals from midfielder Tanner Barry ’25 and forward Lorenzo Amaral ’27 handed Brown (5-6-1, Ivy 1-3-0) a thrilling 3-1 win over Ivy League rival Harvard (2-5-4, Ivy 1-3-0) on Saturday at home. With just four regular-season games remaining, Saturday’s win was crucial, moving the Bears up to sixth in the Ivy League standings.
“We showed a lot of resiliency in the second half,” Barry wrote in a statement to The Herald. “It’s always disappointing conceding earlier in the second half, but we kept our belief that we could go and win the game.”
Brown’s offense was hot from the start, scoring a goal in the game’s first ten minutes. Amaral blasted the ball from the corner, placing it right in front of the Crimson net where midfielder Jack Cloherty ’25 headed it past the Harvard goalie.
A yellow card assigned to Harvard’s Zachary Sardi-Santos at the 22:48 mark presented the Bears with another promising opportunity: a penalty kick for Barry. He launched the ball toward the top of the Crimson goal. But to Bruno’s dismay, Harvard goalkeeper Lucian Wood swatted the ball away, preserving Harvard’s one-goal deficit.
For the remainder of the first-half, Brown played tremendously. While the Bears did not score another goal, they created opportunities, finding holes in the Crimson defense and taking six shots. Defensively, Bruno stood tall, limiting Harvard to just three shots at the half.
But the second half took an unfortunate turn. Just eight minutes into the half, Harvard’s Juho Ojanen made a kick across the penalty zone at Kristján Gunnarsson, who headed the equalizer past the Bears to make it a 1-1 game. 
Head Coach Chase Wileman elected to stay the course. “We didn’t change anything,” Wileman wrote in a statement to The Herald. “We trusted the guys to come through after conceding the equalizer. We suffered a bit with them putting pressure on us, but we showed great resilience to push through and win the game.”
After a tiring half in which both squads traded shots, Barry ended the scoring drought in thrilling fashion. With less than a minute left in regulation and the game tied at 1-1, Amaral made another excellent corner kick to Barry, who headed the ball past the Crimson for the game-winning goal.  
“The entire team executed the set piece to perfection,” Barry wrote. “The back post had been open on previous corners and the service set me up perfectly to dunk it in. I had the easiest job to put it in the back of the net.” 
But a one-goal lead with mere seconds left was not enough for Bruno. Just thirty-five seconds later, Amaral got a goal of his own — his fifth of the season — providing the Bears with some insurance and extending the lead to two goals. 
Now, the Bears must turn their attention to Cornell (9-2-2, Ivy 2-2-0).
“Our main focus (for Cornell) will be to continue to work on the things we have all season and stick to our process and plan,” Wileman wrote. “We are a very good team capable of competing with anyone in the country.”
Brown will host Cornell on Saturday at Stevenson-Pincince Field. The game will start at 7 p.m. and can be streamed on ESPN+. 
Cooper Herman is a senior staff writer covering sports and arts & culture. He is a sophomore from Alexandria, Virginia studying Economics and International and Public Affairs.
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