Landon Green tries to evade a defender in a home game last season. (Lydia Nicholson | Student Life)

In the last 15 years of men’s soccer matches between Washington University and Webster University, the Bears boast an impressive 11-0-1 record against the Gorloks, outscoring them 31 goals to five. The Gorloks have failed to beat WashU in men’s soccer since Oct. 16, 2002. On the night of Saturday, Sept. 14, the Bears continued their longstanding series of victories against Webster, putting together a comprehensive performance to win 7-2. 

Three days later, on Sept. 17, the Bears continued their dominance with a 5-0 win over Principia College. Coming off a 5-0 victory against Greenville University on Sept. 11, the Bears’ wins continued to build goalscoring momentum with two games remaining before University Athletic Association (UAA) play begins. 

Against Webster, the first half showcased WashU’s aggressive attack under new head coach Andrew Bordelon, with plenty of possession, progressive passing, and pressure high up the pitch. After only six minutes, senior midfielder Eugene Heger, who displayed his distribution and playmaking abilities throughout the night, opened the scoring. Webster equalized nine minutes later, but the Bears then roared back with two powerful, well-placed shots from junior forward Zach Susee and sophomore midfielder Colin Link to give WashU the 3-1 advantage. However, WashU’s dominance was slightly spoiled by another Webster goal from a low-driven free kick just before halftime.

 After 45 minutes of being on the front foot, with the Bears notching 15 shots to the Gorloks’ five, the 3-2 scoreline was closer than the Bears and Susee would have wanted.  

“We outplayed them in the first half pretty substantially. We just gave them two kind of crap goals, to be honest…we felt like we should have been on five-nil at halftime, and, you know, it was a one-goal game,” Susee said after the match. 

Coach Bordelon shared this sentiment.

 “I thought we had a lot of good goal-scoring opportunities in the first half, and we knew we would get more in the second half too,” he wrote to Student Life.

However, the second half did not start off the way the Bears wanted. Webster displayed relentless pressure, getting off two shots in the span of five minutes. However, this was the bulk of Webster’s second-half activity as WashU increased pressure down the stretch. 

 “I’m glad we were able to keep our heads up, come out, and bury them in the second half,” Susee said. “I think it’s something we can really hang our heads on from this game.”

This continued pressure led to the first goal of the half as sophomore Ethan Wirtschafter found the net. From here, the game looked like it would end 4-2 as the Bears continued to apply pressure on the Gorloks but could never seem to find the net. They lost possession in the box countless times, and Susee and others kept hitting the post. After the game, though, Susee would say he was proud of his team’s efforts following this first goal in the second half. 

“Getting that next goal, going up 4-2, and kind of proving to ourselves that we can be a lot better than this team. I’m proud of our response because it’s easy to get deflated when you feel like you didn’t get the result you earned,” Susee said. 

It was only a matter of time before the Bears would find the net again. WashU used the final five minutes to not only score one insurance goal, but three of them. First, Wirtschafter scored his second goal of the half by drilling a ball into the back of the net following a rebound on a shot from first-year Jamie Lee. The next two goals would come from set pieces, both balls from Susee that were handled beautifully before finding the back of the net. Jamie Lee scored the first goal after receiving the ball at the left post, using his chest to control before turning around and shooting. The last goal came with 10 seconds left on a corner that sophomore Nik Avillo headed in from the far post, just past the hands of the keeper. WashU ended up winning 7-2 in an absolute beating. 

However, the motto of this team is “always hungry, never satisfied.” According to Susee, the team needs to stay focused on areas to improve. 

“We just need to stay sharp and focused in these transitional moments; when we lose focus like that we are going to give up goals. We need to make sure we are keeping our focus all 90 minutes and not 85,” Susee said. 

“There are always areas we can improve on, but we are in a really good spot right now and improving daily,” Bordelon added. 

WashU geared up for their second game in the span of three days with the Principia Panthers, a team they have beaten in every one of their last eight matchups. This night was no different, as Wirtschafter found the net after a beautiful pass into the box from junior forward Tyler Allred just one minute into the game.

 “I am proud of their willingness to adapt to new philosophy and approach. We have a very strong group that is hungry to improve every day,” Bordelon said.

 The next 20 minutes were dominated by the Bears, who put up eight shots in that span while allowing zero. The 1-0 game would become 2-0 after Link’s shot from outside the box found the back of the net. The team continued to play relentlessly and went into halftime leading 3-0 after a goal by Susee with five minutes remaining in the half. The second half was more of the same story, with WashU continuing to apply pressure while the defense remained a stalwart behind them. This was highlighted with 28 shots (16 on goal) versus the Panthers only having three shots and not a singular shot on target. The Bears would tack on two second half goals from graduate students Jesus Tadeo and Cole Hutson, with the final score being 5-0.

 “I think we have had a strong start to the season and we will look to keep positive momentum going into our next matches and UAA,”  Bordelon said. 

The Bears move their record to 5-1-1 and have their next game on the road this Saturday against the Wheaton College Thunder. Wheaton are coming off a draw against Chapman and are currently sitting at 1-3-1 for the season. Last season, the Bears beat the Thunder 3-0, but lost to Wheaton the year before.

This article was originally published on Monday, Sept. 16, and was updated on Wednesday, Sept. 18 after the game between WashU and Principia.