Anthony Jacuzzi
The men’s soccer team earned its greatest win of the season so far in their first University Athletic Association matchup this past Sunday, Sept. 23. The Bears defeated the defending conference champion and archrival Carnegie Mellon University, 2-1, on the Tartans’ own turf, improving their record to 3-2-1. The Tartans, who went 14-3 (6-1 within the UAA) last season, fell to 2-1 overall.
WU’s next challenge comes against Case Western Reserve University at home this Saturday, Sept. 29, at 10 a.m., as they seek a second consecutive UAA win. If this game plays out like the last, it will be a challenge, but one that the Bears will ultimately contain.
“It was definitely a close game that probably could have gone either way,” said midfielder freshman Josh Farber of the recent CMU battle.
However, the early lead helped WU gain confidence.
“I played a ball to the left side of the field, across the field through some defenders, to our left back, [freshman] Matt Twardowski,” said midfielder James Ward “Then he played it up to [senior midfielder] Casey Lien, who beat a defender and touched it past the goalie.”
Midfielder sophomore Nate Reller felt that the team was rather nervous and did not play particularly well in the first half. But in the second half, “we were more organized, comfortable and got more into the game.”
Despite WU’s quicker movement of the ball and tighter defense, CMU tied the game at 1-1 midway through the second half. Tartan junior Adam Hibshman slipped a shot past junior WU goalkeeper Giles Bissonnette, who has played all 90 minutes in each of the team’s six games and has posted two shutouts. However, the Bears quickly answered.
From within the six-yard box, an opponent deflected a WU corner-kick out towards Ward. From about 13 yards out, Ward knocked the ball towards teammate Farber, who headed it in.
“It bounced right to me, and I flicked it over the goalie,” said Farber. “I was really excited because it was my first college goal, and it gave us the lead. We just knew we had to hold on for the last twenty minutes.”
Unlike the two previous games, the team would continue to monopolize possession and clinch the victory. Two weeks earlier, the men had lost 2-1 against both University of the South and Rhodes College, as each opponent put one past them towards the end of each game.
“We played very well in the games we lost; we just couldn’t find the back of the net,” said Ward. “That cost us winning two games that we had dominated and should have won.”
The victory over CMU has made it easy for the players to get past those upsets and focus on the opportunities ahead of them.
“It was possibly the most important that we will play for the majority of the season because it set the tone for the next set of UAA games to come,” said Ward. “It definitely boosted the team’s mentality because now we’re going into another conference game with a win behind us instead of a loss, and knowing we still need a win but didn’t lose the last game.”
Though a rookie, Twardowski knows that traditionally Case Western has not been a very strong team, but he considers it possible that they recruited a talented freshman class. WU posted a 3-0 shutout against a Case Western team that finished 4-12-2 last season, but is currently sporting a 4-2-1 record. As long as the Bears improve upon the intensity level they displayed in later half against CMU, they feel they should prove the better team Saturday.
But no one can argue that the team has anxiously awaited playing at home on Francis Field.
“We’ve been on the road every weekend so far,” said Reller. “We traveled three of the four weekends to hotels and one Saturday we were gone all day to Jacksonville, Illinois. Also, it will be nice to sleep in our own beds this weekend.”
Due to the unfortunate events of Sept. 11, the men’s first home game against Westminster College set for the following day was cancelled.
Trying to look at the situation in a positive way, Ward said, “I feel like now that we’re finally at home we’re apt to perform even better. Hopefully we’ll get some people to come out to watch us and support us too.”
As of now, the team has six more home games scheduled during the month of October. And after Saturday, the men will have five more contests against teams within the conference.
Usually, a team must win six of seven UAA matchups to earn the conference title, which is based solely on a team’s conference record. WU has won the title six of the last 14 years, most recently in 1999. As usual, this season the team has a goal of regaining the conference title, thus qualifying for the NCAA Tournament, and advancing from there.
Luckily for the Bears, last Sunday’s win put them one step towards that goal, and a win this Saturday morning would only move them closer.