In the second half, Harvard pressure in the BigRed zone created several near-miss possessions, asthe Crimson was able to lock down on Cornellthrow-ins and prevent the backs from clearing outeffectively.
Soldo picked up a long ball behind the lastdefender in the 48th minute and beat Barton with alob shot on net, but the Big Red recovered andknocked the potential goal aside.
Eleven minutes later, freshman forward JonathanOslowski was stoned on a low, hard shot at theleft post--but a Crimson chance materialized on anoffensive trap off a throw-in.
Sophomore midfielder Ryan Kelly finallysupplied the equalizer with his team-best fourthgoal of the season with 26:15 remaining. Kellycollected a loose ball in the Crimson backfieldand streaked up the middle to the Cornell zone,before dishing to Hench on the right side.
Hench found Soldo in the box, who bounced thepass back into the middle where Kelly, completinghis run, slipped a six-yard shot past Barton.Hench's game-winner completed the win the Crimsonhad, in truth, established much earlier.
Throughout, the match was testimony to thegradual success of Locker's rebuilding campaign.Harvard's rookies--in particular Lenichek, Soldoand Oslowski--all of whom rank in the top five inpoints on the squad--provided several sparklingruns on the offense, while beginning to integratetheir games impressively with veteran strikerslike Hench and Petruccelli.
"I think the freshman are gelling wonderfully,"Locker said.
And aside from one first-half lapse, seniorsLundquist and back Lee Williams marshaled aneffective defensive unit, allowing only five shotson goal.
"We're taking steps ahead, and we learnsomething with each game," Locker said. "We're ateam that's rebuilding, but we're rebuilding inthe right way."
The Crimson hosts Northeastern tomorrowafternoon before travelling to Holy Cross onSaturday for a non-league contest. Its next Ivyaction is October 24 at Princeton.
HARVARD, 2-1 at Ohiri Field
Cornell 1 0 -- 1Harvard 0 2 -- 2
Scoring
Cor--Stimpson (Brown) 23:28.
Har--Kelly (Soldo, Hench) 63:45.
Har--Hench (Lenichek, Hutcherson) 80:43.
Saves: Cor--Barton 4; Har--Dupuis 3.