NEW YORK — Two goals in the final 10 minutes brought the Columbia men's soccer team within one shot of Harvard but the Crimson held on, as the Lions fell on Senior Night, 3-2, late Saturday at Rocco B. Commisso Soccer Stadium.
 
Harvard (7-5-3, 2-2-2- Ivy) took a 3-0 lead when Alessandro Arlotti's headed volley found the top-left corner in the game's 81st minute. Thirty seconds after the restart, Columbia (1-10-4, 0-4-2 Ivy) began to rally, first with a right-footed rocket from outside the box from David Walley, then with a right-footed strike off an almost impossible angle from Paolo Primavera. Primavera's tally came with less than three minutes to play and brought the home crowd to its feet. Unfortunately, the deficit just proved to be too much to overcome. The Lions were able to bring the ball deep into the Harvard half during those final moments, but the equalizer never came as the clock hit triple zeros.
 
"I thought our effort to get back in the game and continue to push and get the game back on our terms was really good," Columbia head coach Kevin Anderson said. "When you look at the two goals we scored, those are two fantastic moments for us. To be fair, Harvard's last goal was pretty special too."
 
Prior to the start of the match, Columbia honored the careers of seniors Blake Willis, Andrew Stevens, Sebastian Gunbeyi and Will Todd. All four seniors were four-year members of the program who made significant on- and off-field contributions during that time. All four of them played in at least 40 matches in their Columbia careers.
 
"You see a lot of scenarios where organizations that are struggling start to fray, start to fall apart and start to be less than what you want even from a daily approach to things. I know I can say that you don't see that here," Anderson added. "We have a group of guys that are just as committed to working as hard as they possibly can and valuing their time and opportunity to play here … This senior group has been what's held this team together."
 
Gunbeyi got two assists on his senior night, chesting the ball down for Walley and creating the first pass off the goal for Primavera. Those assists were the eighth and ninth of the Virginia Beach native's career.
 
Harvard went up in the 26th minute on Martin Vician's sixth goal of the season. It was created by a long ball sent overhead from his own half by Alessandro Arlotti. The score remained 1-0 at the half.
 
Midway through the second half, the Crimson doubled their advantage when Willem Ebbinge fired from inside the box and curled a right-footed shot inside the far post.
 
Harvard ended the night with 18 total shots and 10 on goal. Matthew Goodman got the start in goal for the Lions and made four saves in the first half. Michael Collodi came in to start the second half and made three saves. Meanwhile, the Lions put four of their seven shots on target.
 
Columbia concludes the 2021 season next Saturday in Ithaca, taking on Cornell at 4 p.m. ET.

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