Spring Break
HBS Soccer Wins 19th Annual Yale MBA Invitational Tournament
Andrew Ferrer (OD), Contributing Writer
Issue date: 10/20/08 Section: Sports
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Despite a last minute schedule change requiring the HBS White team to play earlier on Saturday morning instead of Saturday afternoon, the 16 HBS White team players traveled down to New Haven to begin the group play on Saturday October 11. The HBS team was eager to improve upon last year's showing, where it lost in the semi-finals. According to team captain Erik Snyder (OC), "It didn't matter when they scheduled our games, and although some of the RCs were struggling early Saturday morning right after Priscilla, I knew we had a solid squad and I could motivate the players to be on their A game."
Indeed, in group play on Saturday, the HBS White team began with a 1-0 win over Simon (University of Rochester). Jaime Parker (OA) provided the tally to secure the win, with the defense led by Snyder and Ben Thomas (NA) effectively shutting down the Simon offense. The next group game was against Tepper (CMU), and Adam Flake (OC), no doubt bolstered by the cheers of his parents, was true to form and gave HBS an initial 1-0 lead. However, after a rousing half-time speech by goalkeeper Charles Huang (OJ), imploring the team to finish opportunities in the box after squandering several in the first half, Carles Cros-Segura (OC) took the advice to heart and rocketed an own-goal minutes into the 2nd half to gift Simon a 1-1 tie that was literally the goal of the tournament. However, Paul Wang (dual degree HKS/HBS) would not let Charles' speech go in vain, as he proceeded to score two scintillating goals in the 2nd half to lift HBS to a 3-1 victory despite poor officiating. With HBS White securing a spot in the playoff round, the team elected to rest several players (including Derek Brown, OA who sufered a freak injury while swinging through an opponent's foot while trying to get the ball), and yielded a 2-0 loss to Columbia GSB's A team.
After a tour of scenic downtown New Haven for a team dinner Saturday night, HBS White opened the playoffs with a quarterfinal match against Stern (NYU). Despite solid play throughout the game, HBS could not seemingly find a way to score. The crafty veteran Jaime Parker (OA) would not let the game slip into PKs, and scored late in the 2nd half. Adam Flake (OC) also added an insurance goal in the last minute to ensure the advancement of the team. In the semi-finals, HBS played Columbia GSB's B team, and throttled them 4-0 behind goals by Paul Wang and Austin "Crazylegs" Vedder (NA) in the first half, coupled with a cracker from Andrew Rosskam (NA) and a long distance effort from Erik Snyder (OC) in the second half.
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