CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The 2025 Harvard women's soccer season comes down to the final weekend, as the team will take on Columbia in a critical Ivy League contest. The Crimson (5-5-3, 3-2-1 Ivy) will need to take at least a point away from its matchup against the Lions (5-6-3, 3-2-1 Ivy) in order to have a chance at clinching a 2025 Ivy League Tournament spot in what has become an extremely tight race in the league table. With three teams fighting for the two remaining spots in the tournament, the Crimson's postseason hopes rely on the outcome of Saturday's fixture.
Harvard will now travel to the concrete jungle this weekend to battle the Lions at Rocco B. Commisso stadium on Saturday (Nov. 1) at 2:00 PM. All the action will stream live on ESPN+.
The Matchup
Harvard and Columbia are set to compete in a win-and-in contest to decide who goes to the Ivy League Tournament. Each team will look to defeat the other in what will decide one of the two remaining bids into the year-end tournament. The Crimson has historically had success against the Lions, holding a 32-4-3 record against the opponent in the series history. Columbia earned the win in the most recent meeting, however, with a 2-1 result in last year's contest at Jordan Field.
Scouting Columbia
The Lions come into its final regular season matchup with a 5-6-3 record and a 3-2-1 mark in Ivy League play. After an 0-4-0 start to their season, the Lions have turned in a few impressive results including a 1-0 win over St. Johns (Sep. 4), a 2-1 win over Brown (Sep. 27) and a 3-0 win over Yale (Oct. 18). Overall, Columbia is being outscored by its opponents, 18-16, but is outshooting its opposition, 142-123.
Senior Maia Tabion leads the team with 11 points off three goals and five assists and is followed closely by junior Maia Beltran who owns three goals and two assists. Sophomore Samantha Mahoney leads the goaltending effort with her .600 save percentage and 1.23 GAA.
Ivy League Tournament Race
With 10 points in league play, Harvard sits tied for fourth place in the league table with Columbia. Princeton (14 points, 1st) and Dartmouth (11 points, T-2) have both clinched spots in the league tournament which leaves the Crimson, Columbia and Brown fighting for the remaining two spots. For the Crimson, the team would automatically earn a spot with a victory over the Lions on Saturday. If the team was to tie the Lions, Harvard would need Princeton to defeat or tie Brown to earn the final spot.
Harvard also has an outside shot of hosting the Ivy League tournament and earning the No. 1 seed if Princeton and Brown tie and Cornell beats or ties Dartmouth.
Last Time Out
The Crimson suffered a losing result in its last match against the Penn Quakers despite outplaying the Ivy foe in the contest. Harvard outshot Penn 24-4 in the contest but could not get past the Quakers who won a 2-1 result over the Crimson.
Anna Rayhill scored the team's goal in the contest to extend her goal-scoring streak to three matches.
Lauren Muniz led the squad with three shots on goal while Rayhill,
Jasmine Leshnick and
Audrey Francois each tallied two attempts on target.
Rayhill is on Fire
Junior forward and team captain,
Anna Rayhill, has begun to break out in her junior season, owning four goals and one assist to total nine points on the year. The New York native has now scored in three consecutive games and leads the team in scoring in Ivy League contests. With seven goals and three assists in her career, the junior sits just three points shy of the 20-point milestone.
On the Stat Sheet
- Jasmine Leshnick leads the team with 10 points off four goals and two assists.
- Anna Rayhill is now tied for the team lead with four goals.
- Elsa Santos López and Leshnick are tied for the team lead with six goal contributions.
- Rhiannon Stewart ranks third and fourth in the Ivy League (among goalies with 10-plus starts) with her 1.23 GAA and .746 save percentage, respectively.
- Harvard is outscoring opponents 18-16 on the season and outshooting them 161-137.
