Harvard–Yale soccer rivalry

{{Infobox sports rivalry

| wide = yes

| name = Harvard-Yale soccer rivalry

| image =

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| team1 = Harvard Crimson

| team1logo = Harvard Crimson logo 2020.svg

| team2 = Yale Bulldogs

| team2logo = Yale Bulldogs script.svg

| sport = College soccer

| firstmeeting = Men:
May 25, 1907
Harvard 1, Yale 1
Women:
November 11, 1977
Harvard 2, Yale 0

| mostrecent = Men:
October 2, 2021
Yale 0, Harvard 0
Women:
October 1, 2022
Harvard 6, Yale 0

| nextmeeting = Men:
October 22, 2022
Women:
2023

| total = Men:
108
Women:
46

| series = Men:
Harvard, 54–41–13
Women:
Harvard, 34–9–2

| largestvictory = Men:
Harvard 6–1 Yale (1977)
Women:
Harvard 6–0 Yale (2022)

| longeststreak = Men:
5, Harvard (1983–1988, 2006–2010)
Women:
13, Harvard (1977–1989)

| longestunbeatenstreak = Men:
7, Harvard (1957–1963)
Women:
13, Harvard (1977–1989)

| currentstreak = Men:
1, Harvard (2022–)
Women:
4, Harvard (2018–)

| currentunbeatenstreak = Men:
2, Harvard (2021–)
Women:
4, Harvard (2018–)

| trophy =

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The Harvard–Yale soccer rivalry is a rivalry between Harvard University and Yale University. The men's series has been played regularly since 1907, while the women's teams have played since 1977. For over fifty years, the annual Harvard–Yale soccer game was played as a "curtain raiser" to the schools' gridiron football game, known simply as The Game. In addition to its varsity soccer teams which compete in the Ivy League, the two schools' intramural soccer champions have regularly featured in the annual Harkness Cup games, named after Edward Harkness, a benefactor of both universities.

History

The soccer rivalry between Harvard and Yale has been compared to the association football rivalry between Cambridge University and Oxford University.{{Cite book |last=Risolo |first=Donn |title=Soccer Stories: Anecdotes, Oddities, Lore, and Amazing Feats |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-8032-3014-9 |location=Lincoln and London |pages=18–19}}

= Early years =

File:Harvard vs yale soccer match 1922.jpg

The early history of the soccer rivalry between the men's sides dates back to the 1870s, and is intertwined with the evolution of gridiron football and rugby union as sports.{{cite web |date=November 13, 2021 |title=Foot Ball Match: Harvard vs. Yale – Today in History: November 13 |url=https://connecticuthistory.org/foot-ball-match-harvard-vs-yale-today-in-history/ |access-date=October 15, 2022 |website=Connecticut History |quote=Then a hodgepodge of soccer and rugby rules, early foot ball took inspiration for its attire from the first American rugby uniforms.}}{{cite book |last=Cohane |first=Tim |title=The Yale Football Story |year=1951 |publisher=G. P. Putnam's Sons |edition=1st |asin=B0007E3JF2}} The two schools finally played each other in 1875,{{Cite book |last=Bunk |first=Brian D. |title=From Football to Soccer: The Early History of the Beautiful Game in the United States |publisher=University of Illinois Press |year=2021 |isbn=9780252052781 |pages=71–73}} after Yale, which had been following soccer rules, agreed to play according to the rugby-style rules adopted by Harvard, and lost, 4–0.{{Cite news |last=Anderson |first=Dave |date=November 20, 1983 |title=The Scene Before The Game |pages=S9 |work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1983/11/20/issue.html |access-date=2022-11-15}}{{cite web |last1=Sweedler |first1=Maya |date=November 21, 2014 |title=FOOTBALL: A brief history of The Game |url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2014/11/21/a-brief-history-of-the-game/ |access-date=October 22, 2022 |website=Yale Daily News}}

From 1906 to 1925, both Harvard and Yale participated in the Intercollegiate Soccer Football League (ISFL), which included several East Coast colleges that would later be part of the Ivy League.{{Cite book |last=White |first=Edward G. |title=Soccer in American Culture: The Beautiful Game's Struggle for Status |publisher=University of Missouri Press |year=2022 |isbn=9780826274700 |pages=106–107}} During that period, Yale and Harvard each won the ISFL championship twice, based on their win-loss records for those seasons. In 1926, the league became known as the Intercollegiate Soccer Football Association (ISFA). The ISFA declared Harvard, Yale, and University of Pennsylvania as joint champions for 1930, after each team finished the season undefeated, except for losing to each other, with Yale beating Harvard, 1–0.{{Cite news |date=January 11, 1931 |title=Collegiate League in Soccer Divides |page=4S |work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1931/01/11/issue.html |access-date=2022-11-15}}

= Annual sports weekend =

Through the 1980s, the Harvard–Yale men's soccer game was "a big part of the schools' traditional sports weekend"{{Cite news |last=Cadigan |first=Barry |date=November 11, 1986 |title=Redoubling their efforts: Harvard, Yale have NCAA berth, Ivy title in their sights |work=Boston Globe |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/113070845/redoubling-their-efforts/ |access-date=2022-11-14 |via=Newspapers.com}} in November.{{Cite news |date=23 November 1934 |title=Harvard Army Invades Yale: Five Crimson Teams Leave on New Haven Special |work=Boston Globe |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/113074027/harvard-army-invades-yale/ |access-date=2022-11-14 |via=Newspapers.com}} In 1931, the annual Harvard–Yale soccer day took place on the Harvard Business School Field, with matches between their varsity, junior varsity, and freshman teams.{{Cite news |date=November 21, 1931 |title=Harvard–Yale Soccer Day |page=23 |work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1931/11/21/98346042.html |access-date=2022-11-15}} Starting in 1935, intramural teams at Harvard and Yale began playing each other on the Friday before the main varsity gridiron football game, as part of the annual Harkness Cup competition, a series that was "uncommon if not unheard of elsewhere", according to an article in The New York Times.{{Cite news |last=Clymer |first=Adam |date=November 24, 1985 |title=Elis Dominate in Lesser Games |pages=S5 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/11/24/sports/elis-dominate-in-lesser-games.html |access-date=2022-11-15}}

In 1960, The Boston Globe suggested that the Harvard–Yale soccer game might be a bigger draw than the annual freshman football game for the first time, due to the popularity of Christian Ohiri, a Nigerian international who played for Harvard.{{Cite news |last=Kaese |first=Harold |date=November 16, 1960 |title=Olympic Soccer Ace at Harvard Setting Records |pages=41,43 |work=The Boston Globe |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/113102885/olympic-soccer-ace-at-harvard-setting/ |access-date=2022-11-15 |via=Newspapers.com}} In 1962, Sports Illustrated reported that the largest crowds on the Friday before The Harvard–Yale Game were at the soccer game and at the freshman football game, with approximately 3,500 people attending each.{{Cite magazine |last=Boyle |first=Robert H. |date=December 17, 1962 |title=The Harvards and the Yales |magazine=Sports Illustrated |url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f6h&AN=54150693&lang=en-gb&site=eds-live&scope=site |access-date=2022-11-14 |via=EBSCOHost}}

In 1965, Yale defeated Harvard 6–3 in its first win against Harvard in soccer since 1956; they had tied in 1960.{{Cite news |date=November 20, 1965 |title=Eli booters vanquish Harvard |page=16 |work=Boston Globe |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/113096532/eli-booters-vanquish-harvard/ |access-date=2022-11-15 |via=Newspapers.com}} Future United States senator John Kerry, then a Yale senior, scored a hat-trick, which he has referred to as his greatest achievement as an athlete.{{Cite news |last=Hainey |first=Michael |date=August 31, 2004 |title=A Beer with John Kerry |work=GQ |url=https://www.gq.com/story/john-kerry-presidential-election-iowa |access-date=2022-11-16}}

In 1985, The New York Times reported that although Harvard won the annual varsity soccer game, 4–1, Yale won the junior varsity soccer game, as well as the Edward S. Harkness Cup for winning all four matches between the two schools' intramural champions in men's soccer, women's soccer, tackle football, and touch football. It was the 27th time that Yale had won the Harkness Cup in the history of the series; Harvard had won 15 times, and the schools had split the trophy five times.

= From the 1990s to present =

In the 1990s, the Harvard and Yale men's soccer teams' seasons ended earlier than the gridiron football teams' seasons, contributing to the decline in fanfare surrounding The Game.{{Cite news |last=Powers |first=John |date=November 16, 1993 |title=The Game just isn't the same |work=Boston Globe |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/113098717/game-just-isnt-the-same/ |access-date=2022-11-15 |via=Newspapers.com}} While a 2000 article in The Harvard Crimson acknowledged that the women's soccer rivalry between the two schools "isn't as intense as the football version",{{Cite news |last=Cacace |first=Rob |date=October 16, 2000 |title=Yenne's Hat Trick Sinks Yale, 3-1 |work=The Harvard Crimson |url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2000/10/16/yennes-hat-trick-sinks-yale-3-1/ |access-date=2022-11-22}} the same newspaper reported in 2013 that coaches for both the Bulldogs and the Crimson agreed that the annual game between the two rivals' men's soccer teams "brings a special excitement beyond just a regular conference game."{{Cite news |last=Hebert |first=Theresa C. |date=October 4, 2013 |title=Men's Soccer Heads to New Haven |work=The Harvard Crimson |url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2013/10/4/Mens-soccer-preview-yale/ |access-date=2022-11-16}} In 2011, the Yale Daily News noted that the Jonathan Edwards College men's soccer team was representing Yale in the Harkness Cup series for the second consecutive year after defeating Harvard's Kirkland House on penalty kicks in 2010.{{Cite news |last=Guardado |first=Maria |date=November 17, 2011 |title=Harvard-Yale rivalry extends to IM games |work=Yale Daily News |url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2011/11/17/harvard-yale-rivalry-extends-to-im-games/ |access-date=2022-11-16}}

In 2019, The Harvard Independent reported that "The Harvard women have proved themselves to hold power over the Yale soccer program, losing only once to the Bulldogs over the past 12 years."{{Cite news |last=Gummer |first=Elizabeth |date=November 21, 2019 |title=The Harvard-Yale Rivalry, Beyond Football |work=The Harvard Independent |url=https://harvardindependent.com/2019/11/the-harvard-yale-rivalry-beyond-football/ |access-date=2022-11-22}} At the time, the Harvard women's varsity team had a 32–9–2 record against Yale; the men's team was at 55–39–12.

As of 2023, the Harvard and Yale varsity men's soccer teams have met 109 times, while the women's sides have played 46 times.

Men's results

{{Sports rivalry series table

| format = compact | series_summary = yes

| team1 = Harvard

| team1style= {{NCAA color cell|Harvard Crimson}}

| team2 = Yale

| team2style= {{NCAA color cell|Yale Bulldogs}}

| cols = 4

| May 25, 1907 | Cambridge, MA | Harvard | 1 | Yale | 1

|November 10, 2023|Cambridge, MA|Harvard|0|Yale|4}}

Source:{{cite web |title=MSOC Record Book (2022) |url=https://gocrimson.com/documents/2021/12/16/MSOC_RecordBook_2022.pdf |website=gocrimson.com |publisher=Harvard University Athletics |pages=9–17 |date=December 16, 2021 }}

Women's results

{{Sports rivalry series table

| format = compact | series_summary = yes

| team1 = Harvard

| team1style= {{NCAA color cell|Harvard Crimson}}

| team2 = Yale

| team2style= {{NCAA color cell|Yale Bulldogs}}

| cols = 3

|October 28, 2023|New Haven, CT|Harvard|5|Yale|2}}

Source:{{cite web |title=Women's Soccer Record Book |url=https://gocrimson.com/documents/2022/8/9/SOW_Record_Book_22.pdf |website=gocrimson.com |page=20 |date=August 9, 2022}}

References

Category:College soccer rivalries in the United States

Category:Harvard Crimson men's soccer

Category:Harvard Crimson women's soccer

Category:Yale Bulldogs men's soccer

Category:Yale Bulldogs women's soccer