After three contests, the loss column remains empty for the Washington University men’s soccer team. In what some described as, “a domination,” the Bears shut out Webster University in their season opener on Wednesday, Sept. 1, and defended their record at a Labor Day tournament in Birmingham last weekend.

Wash. U. 7, Webster 0

In the Bears’ rainy home opener, the story of the night was offense. The Bears scored three goals within the first 20 minutes of play and did not let up.

“We’ve been pumped for this game for a couple months now,” senior defender Harry Beddo said. “We knew that we wanted to get on them right away, and if we hadn’t scored early they would have had more and more confidence, but we had three goals on them relatively quickly.”

Six Bears scored: Beddo, sophomores Zach Query, Matthew Shelton and Brian Wright, and junior Pat McLean each tallied one, while junior Kevin Privalle doubled his goal total from last season, connecting with the back of the net twice.

The Bears effectively controlled possession the entire game. Few shots threatened the Red and Green net, and the ball remained in the Gorloks’ half.

“We’ve been focusing a lot more on attack this year,” Privalle said. “We’re returning lots of starting defenders and then we have some new freshmen defenders coming in, and all of them are skilled, so in practices we can focus a lot more on finishing and shooting drills and I think it definitely showed.”

Each player who dressed for the game saw playing time, which head coach Joe Clarke noted how substitutions kept Webster at a disadvantage.

“We worked really hard with the first group, we have a lot of depth,” Clarke said. “The second group came on and played with just as much fire and intensity and I think that kind of wore the other team down.”

Wash. U. 0, Birmingham 0 (OT)

After an evening of offense in their first game of the season, the Bears had trouble finding the net in the second game against Birmingham Southern. The team recorded only 11 shots, four coming on goal.

According to junior midfielder Michael Chamberlin, the Pumas’ formation made offensive opportunities difficult to find.

“They play with five guys in the midfield, it was more of a challenge to knock the ball around,” Chamberlin said. “Both sides had some chances, some good chances, obviously neither team put any chances away.”

Query added that Birmingham Southern’s talent was at a higher level than teams Wash. U. had previously faced. “They were very physical, very fit. They for sure were the best team we’ve played thus far,” Query said. “That kind of game, that kind of physical game is what we’re going to face later in the season, so it was a good early test.”

Two goalies, senior Andrew Serio and freshman Jonathan Jebson, continued to split time in the net. Serio played the first half, while Jebson was in the game for the second half and the duration of both overtime periods. In their first three games, the Bears have allowed only one goal in 290 minutes of play.

“Defensively, we’re very solid this year. [On our back line]…we have a lot of studs,” Query said “If we can just score this year, we’re set.”

Despite the draw, the Bears the team resolved to improve performance with a day of practice. Query noted that the team spent the ensuing practice day focusing on technical improvements.

“There’s a lot of things tactically that [coach] Clarke has been really emphasizing. It’s early in the season so we haven’t had a lot of time to put them into practice,” Query said. “We were just a little bit sloppy in the first game…in the next game we had a full day to focus…it really came through.”

Wash. U. 3, Sewanee University 1

In the final game of the tournament, the Red and Green jumped to an early lead. Query opened the scoring in the 17th minute, and Privalle, recently named University Athletic Association athlete of the week, followed with another goal just over four minutes later on an assist from sophomore Brian Wright. Query described that most of the goals came off of pattern plays discussed in practice.

“[An early lead is] really important, it’s really nice, it’s something we’re trying to do this year is jump out on teams we should be able to beat,” Chamberlin said. “Our forwards have been doing a great job helping to get those goals in early when we’re getting those chances.”

The Bears allowed one goal in the 55th minute when senior forward John Duncan was charged with a yellow card, allowing the Tigers a penalty kick. Tiger Samuel Edoung-Biyo failed to convert his shot, but capitalized on the rebound to cut the Bears’ lead to one.

Less than five minutes later, however, the Bears sealed the game when a pass from Duncan connected with Chamberlin in front of the net. The score was Chamberlin’s first for the season.

“The first goal is always special, to break the ice a little bit. It was a play that we’ve gone through in practice a few times,” Chamberlin said. “Duncan crossed an excellent ball in a perfect spot and I was able to beat the keeper to it, and that was all I really had to do.”

Ending the tournament with a win gave the team a positive impression of its play for the weekend.

“We were very pleased with the results,” Query said. “We learned a lot about ourselves…last year we would have played well but tied or lost. This year it’s nice to have the results on our side as well.”

The Bears are back at home for this weekend’s games; tonight they face Greenville College at 7 p.m. and Sunday’s game against Rhodes is set for 3 p.m.