Harbus

Issue date: 3/10/08 Section: News

The HBS Soccer Team got a lesson in supply and demand, overpaying for one-way tickets on JetBlue due to weather, but prevailed in the end, capturing its first Texas Championship in years.

As a young player growing up in North Carolina, Andrew Crawford (OF) dreamed of having the opportunity to play on the world's largest graduate school soccer stage, the Texas Winter Classic. Despite the unpredictable Boston weather, Crawford and his teammates of the Harvard Business School soccer team were able to escape over a foot of snow and head to Austin, TX where the team went undefeated to bring home the first major soccer title that the Shad trophy case has seen since Sisqo's Thong Song was playing on your Sony Walkman. The championship symbolizes the first title for the graduating class of 2008 and marks the end of the "final four" curse that has plagued them throughout their two year career.

Due to the snow delay, the team left a day late and drove directly from the Austin airport to their first game on Saturday. Signs of fatigue and jetlag were more than apparent in the scoreless first 30 minutes of play against the University of Chicago. Co-President Steven Whittingham (OC), whose managerial talents when sober border on Phil Jackson's, inserted Jon Bunt (OC), the team's perennial star at left out, who provided the needed lift for the team when he risked the shape of his beautifully sculpted hair by playing a beautiful header across the box to Gregg Gullinson (NC) who converted for the team's first goal of the tournament. After recovering from his patented devastating warm-up routine, Jamie Parker (NA) let loose and scored three second half goals. HBS ended up winning the game 4-0.

Not more than 60 minutes after the conclusion of their first game, the team was tested by a scrappy Duke Alumni team. This time the team was at full strength, as the flights of the remaining members, Andrew Ferrer (ND), Adam Flake (NC), Carles Cros Segura (NC), Hadi "the Hair" Moussa (OH), Fernando Prieto (OI), Ali "Private" Palmer (OG) and Bryan "Flash" Batista (OH) finally arrived. Midfielder, Paul Attia (OG), was unable to make it out of Boston due to the weather. The late arrivers provided a much needed boost, putting together an excellent second half. The team prevailed with goals from Jay Davis (OC), Parker, and Cros Segura, winning the game 3-0. With the two wins under their belt from Saturday, the team finished first in their group and drew a tough Duke Fuqua team in the first round of the elimination games on Sunday

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