Soccer Team Opens Season Icy Hot

The Harvard Business School Soccer club begins its 29th season on a positive note, fielding two competitive teams across the EC and RC classes. Despite the ample acreage of grass on the Harvard University campus, the HBS Soccer Club has not been able to secure a weekly practice site on campus. Realizing that they have no pull with university administrators, the two teams have taken their practices to the streets of Cambridge for the time being, practicing across the river at Hoyt Field, which is a city subsidized park with no soccer goals and a poor drainage system.

Both teams have team have overcome this hurdle and opened the fall season Icy Hot, with the Crimson team sprinting out of the gates to an undefeated start in league play and reaching the final four of the Yale MBA World Cup. With league victories over Tufts (3-1), Harvard Law School (2-0) and Babson (3-0), the team went unbeaten in group play at the annual Yale MBA Cup, with convincing victories over University of North Carolina, Yale School of Management and Carnegie Mellon.

The Crimson team showed flashes of brilliance with great team play and a potent offense that yielded 11 goals in the first 4 games of the tournament at Yale. The midfield was been able to control the pace of the game with Jay Davis (OC), Derek Brown (NA), Erik Snyder (NC), Bryan Batista (OH) Adam Flake (NC) able to distribute the ball effectively to goal scorers, Andrew Crawford (OF) and Jamie Parker (NA). The team has had the luxury of being able to rotate two former college keepers in Charles Huang (NJ) and Marshall Tyler (OI) which has complemented the stingy defense of Kevin Yttre (OD) and marking backs Hadi Moussa (OH) and Garrett Smith (OD) shutting down the opponents. Outside midfielders, Ali Palmer (OG) and Sheldon Wong (OC) have been able to stretch opposing defenses and beat opposing midfielders to create a number of exciting opportunities from the left and right wings. Andrew Ferrer (ND), Paul Attia (OG) and Carles Cros Segura (NC) also made key contributions in shutting down opposing offenses.

The Crimson team will test its ability to travel and play in a hostile environment when it travels to Los Angeles, where it will compete in the annual UCLA Cup over Veterans Day weekend. Vodrazka de Miranda (OH), who was recently seen celebrating his 30th birthday at Gypsy, is expected to make his return to the lineup after being hobbled by an injury against Harvard Law School.

The HBS White team also had a solid start to the season, marking a win in the first week of league play. The team struggled to get numbers during the Columbus Day weekend and suffered a disappointing loss to the Kennedy School. Club Co-President Steven Whittingham wants to get the team back on the winning path and hopes the pool of over 100 club members will continue to show dedication to the team. League games are every Sunday at 2:00 P.M. and all members are encouraged to participate. Both Whittingham and Davis believe that the commitment of Alfonso Alanis-Cue (NI), Gregg Gulinson (NC), and Adam Ireland (NH) has been instrumental in keeping the team going. The club appreciates their efforts and looks forward to future successes of the team.

The team has been practicing twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday and plays league games on Sunday. For more information on how to get your kick on, contact co-Presidents, Jay Davis (jdavis@mba2008.hbs.edu) and Steven Whittingham (swhittingham@mba2008.hbs.edu) or Senior Vice Presidents, Kevin Yttre (kyttre@mba2008.hbs.edu) and Sheldon Wong (swong@mba2008.hbs.edu).