Unlike its counterpart in football, the Harvard men's soccer team could not win its Ivy opener against Brown this past weekend.

While the gridiron gladiators pounded home 35 second-half points to upset the Bears in stunning fashion, the soccer Crimson lacked a similar offensive explosion and fell to the soccer Bears, 2-1.

"Brown is a good team with a lot of talented upperclassmen, but they're still beatable," said freshman forward Spencer George. "We gave it a good effort but it wasn't enough to win."

Brown (4-1-1, 1-0 Ivy) indeed has a great deal of veterans compared to Harvard (2-2-1, 0-1 Ivy). Out of the Bears' 25 players, 12 of them are upperclassmen. In contrast, the Crimson's youthful 28-man roster only boasts seven upperclassmen.

Despite the discrepancy in experience, the Crimson was able to tame the Bears in the early going.

"Overall, I would say we had the better of the play in the first half," said captain Ryan Kelly. "We really played well and hung in with them."

After a 30-minute deadlock in the first half, which saw possession swing back and forth regularly, the game suddenly became volatile.

In the 33rd minute, Harvard was playing deep in the Bears' end after a Crimson corner attempt. As the ball made its way out of the box, sophomore back Michael Cornish stepped in front of his man to play it only to be taken down forcibly by the Brown player.