Game 2 Keuka College 19/08/14

Tuesday started off with a tour of the Alfred State University that is located on one side of Alfred town. Obviously some of the touring party had had their own "tours" during their time in town, but this time we were led by an alumni of the college who was able to give us a more personal experience of the school.

As has been the case throughout the tour, the daily schedule details were sent out via different forms of social media. Meet times, required kit, colour of uniform for the day. As we gathered outside the college's admin building, it was all set for the first official team tour photo. See if you can see who did not read the message correctly. . .

The tour included a wander around the campus, lunch with the girl's volleyball & men's football teams as well some time in the campus shop where Rob Price decided all of the items he could buy to remember his time on tour, he choose a pink, glittery beanie hat. Upon paying for their goods, the cashiers asked if they could have a whole tour party photo that they could show their friends & families. I'm not sure who they thought we were, but the boys were all more than willing to pose & act celeb like.

When asked if anybody was interested in finding out any information on any particular subjects or faculties, our resident boat captain Jake Hobbs piped up that he was keen on art & in particular "none of this modern day rubbish, but old school portraits." Cue a 15 minute detour via the art galleries to the whole of the rest of the tour's amusement.

Hobbsy wasn't the only tour member that enjoyed his time massively. Coach Chamberlain made a new friend whilst in the engineering & mechanics sector. Having heard that the school have close links to NASCAR & actually build their own vehicles, Chamberlain attempted to engage in polite conversation with the lead lecturer in motor sport engineering.

Due to an earlier than planned finish on campus, we were invited to head to the campus farm where the university milking system is something of an art form. Unfortunately, as with all farms, the area was quite muddy & dirty. This didn't go well with the mixture of new white & grey sneakers that were being worn by our boys. Whilst some went in to get close to nature (& in some cases, get the obligatory selfie with a cow that will do the rounds on social media), others remained in the relatively safe enclosure & looked through the glass at the animals. They also got a good view from there of the cows!!

Harvey made the 54 mile trip South to face their second successive Division 2 opposition in Keuka College. After a fantastic display and result on Monday night against Rochester Institution of Technology, the team were looking to start where they left off come the 4:30 kick-off. 

Again operating the 4-2-3-1, coaches Stevenson and Walton altered the line-up at the expense of Aaron James who they decided to rest after his physio session this morning on his IT band at Alfred State Collage, an injury sustained the week before the tour started. Smith also came into the line-up in place of Hearmon, who was nursing a toe injury from the game vs RIT. Ansell came in for Taggart as the lone striker.



Starting XI - Roche, Nelhams, Davison, Nunn, Price, Donald, Brazier, Maffia, Smith, Taylor, Ansell

Harvey took a while to get in gear, the 28 degree temperature and extremely humid conditions was always going to ask a lot from the players - especially after playing 90 minutes less than 24 hours ago against another Division 2 side. However HGS took the lead when Maffia gambled on a wayward long pass from Donald which was headed back across goal unintentionally by a defender following some miscommunication, he then brought the ball out of the air and with his second touch calmly slotted it past the advancing goalkeeper. James Roche ensured the team would still not concede, denying the striker with a magnificent save with his right foot.

Coaches Stevenson and Walton were forced into some unplanned changes when Hearmon and James were forced off after initial introduction with recurring injuries. 

Kueka came out of the blocks much faster than Harvey, who failed to retain the high tempo they had been playing at in the closing period of the first-half. The rain was now pouring at this point and the players had to fight through to fatigue to prevent the home side from getting back into the game. 

The HGS defence which seemed almost indestructible at this point was then finally broken on the 82nd minute mark when a superb through ball found the feet of the forward, who classily touched and finished into the net for the equaliser. With the momentum undeniably with the home side now, Harvey really faced a big final eight minutes plus stoppages to dig out a result. The quality of passing ensured Kueka kept the majority of possession, the two central midfielders providing flair and creativity which proved difficult to contend with throughout the game, particularly in the final stages when options from the bench were extremely limited. 

In the 86th minute a sublime cross found the feet of the forward who slotted past Roche to surely win the game for the Americans. Harvey hit the floor in dismay and exhaustion, to only see the linesman holding his flag up for offside. Despite a final push, neither side could find a winner, and a draw was probably a fair result in conclusion of the 90 minutes played. 

At the time of the final whistle, both goalkeepers were on the field for Team HGS with the subs bench being made up of players who had taken knocks or were struggling through exhaustion. This makes the grinding out of the draw even more impressive against a side who had 29 players in their squad as it was still the pre-cutting stage of their pre-season.


FT - Kueka College 1-1 Harvey GS 
Scorer - Maffia. 
Man of the Match - Kane Nelhams/Sammy Davison. 

Although the game may feel like a defeat, the boys can take many positives from a spirited performance, especially as previously mentioned on the back off a 0-1 win yesterday night vs Rochester Institution of Technology. 
Next up, Houghton College tomorrow night, 7:00 kick-off. 

Match Report by Ryan Taylor.
Photo Credit - Coach Chamberlain. 
Follow us on Twitter for more updates @HGSSport.