Youthful men’s soccer team eager to begin 2014 campaign

| Senior Sports Editor

With only seven upperclassmen on the team, the No. 24 Washington University men’s soccer team, led by 18th-year head coach Joe Clarke, will be relying on young talent to make the postseason after a one-year absence. The journey begins with a tough road challenge on Aug. 29 at Southwestern University in Texas.

Last season: With a 10-4-3 record, the Bears seemed to have proven themselves a playoff team, yet they just missed out on the playoffs despite playing their best soccer toward the end of the season. According to sophomore forward Nick Politan, the pain of last season will provide additional motivation for the returning players.

“It definitely serves as extra motivation considering we did narrowly miss out and we thought we were peaking toward the end of last year,” Politan said. “We are the team with probably the biggest chips on our shoulders in the whole country.”

Key player: Sophomore midfielder Jake Shapiro netted a team-high five goals despite starting just eight games last season, and with a bigger role this season, he will have to emerge as one of the team’s primary offensive weapons if the Bears hope to make the postseason.

Offense: The Bears displayed a balanced scoring attack last year as no player scored more than five goals, but a few of those pieces are gone this season. The team’s assist and points leader, Jeremy Kirkwood, graduated, and so did set piece specialist Michael Flowers. Not all is lost, however, as the Bears return a bevy of young talent. Shapiro returns after scoring five goals last season on limited chances, while senior Jonathan Lipsey, who tallied four goals and two assists last season, provides veteran leadership on the offensive front.

“Offensively, we are a little bit thin just because when you graduate someone as decorated as Kirkwood, it’s definitely hard to fill that role, but we have a lot of capable attacking players, a lot of guys who are very hungry to make an impact this season,” Politan said.

Defense: On the defensive side of the ball, the most notable loss is that of Jono Jebson, who was the Bears’ starting goalkeeper for three seasons. Jebson was first in the UAA last season with an average of 4.17 saves per game, but senior David Wang is expected to start for the Bears after seeing his first varsity action a year ago.

Wang had only a 0.84 goals against average last season, but it’s possible that sophomores Nick Tannenbaum and Daniel Geanon make a few starts for the Red and Green this season. The backfield also lost a few important pieces from last year’s team, but sophomore backfielder Henry Cummings stressed that the defense has the athleticism to succeed—it’s just a matter of whether it develops into a cohesive unit.

“I think we are confidently athletically; we just need to make sure we are tactically sound. Those are the small things that really separate Division III teams because most of them are athletically sound. It’s just how smart of soccer players they are and how cohesive they are as a team, and that’s what we are trying to excel at to separate ourselves,” Cummings said.

Game to watch: Aug. 31, at No. 5 Trinity University

In just the second game of the season, the Bears take a trip to No. 5 Trinity University in Texas for a critical test that could have NCAA tournament implications. Trinity made it all the way to the NCAA Quarterfinals last season and is the highest-ranked team the Bears will face this season according to preseason polls, but the Red and Green could not be more excited for the challenge.

“You can’t ask for a better way to start the year. Generally as an athlete, you always want to push yourself,” Politan said. “We want to see the best competition out there, and getting that the first weekend is going to only help us.”

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