Cerrone leads Jays over Haverford, 2-0

This past Sunday, the Blue Jays men’s soccer team welcomed Haverford College to Homewood Field for the opening game of the Centennial Conference. With a quick pair of second half strikes, the Blue Jays were able to dismantle Haverford’s defense, securing a 2-0 victory for the Jays. The win was a perfect way to start off the Conference season and helped the team improve to 3-2 on the season overall. In the first half of the match, neither team took control of the game. Both teams seemed to have equal scoring opportunities without being able to find the back of the net. Haverford had a strong attack force against the Blue Jays in the beginning of the game but were soon neutralized by a solid wall of defending from Hopkins defense and sophomore goaltender Nick Cerrone. With many chances wasted and no goals to show for hard work, the two teams went into halftime deadlocked at 0-0. However, the Jays opened up the second half with solid possessions and a good amount of scoring chances, putting the Haverford defense back on their heels. Finally, senior Nick White scored the first goal in the 60th minute in beautiful fashion for his team leading third goal of the season. The goal was made possible by crafty possession and a perfect cross from junior Danny Reategui who found White at the edge of the box for a header that snuck by far post to give Hopkins the 1-0 lead and the momentum. After withstanding a flurry of shots from the Haverford offense, the Jays struck again in the 73rd minute when freshman Josh Hong crashed the net for a rebound to put Hopkins up 2-0. Sophomore Kotaro Mitsuhashi made some excellent dribbles and kicked a hard initial shot towards the goal. The Haverford goalkeeper got his glove on the ball for a brilliant save, but Hong was left wide open to put away the rebound, giving Hopkins some breathing room to finish out the game. Hopkins’s defense played well and deservs high praise for limiting Haverford’s scoring chances. Haverford ended up firing more shots on goal with a slight 15-11 advantage but couldn’t get on the board. Cerrone finished with five saves on the day and his third shutout of the season after recently being named Centennial Conference Defensive Player of the Week. His recent shutouts against St. Mary’s and now against Haverford certainly make him a worthy recipient of this award. He has been a wall in net and has kept Hopkins in games when it has mattered the most. His statistics in net are excellent: posting a .900 save percentage and a 0.58 goals against average with three shutouts over the first five games are impressive to say the least. Hopkins looks to build off of this recent surge of shutouts in games this coming week against York and Muhlenberg. The Jays have had a solid start to the season posting a 3-2 record. White and Mitsuhashi who lead the team in goals and points scored, have helped tremendously in securing key victories for Hopkins against Kean, St. Mary’s and Haverford. However, the team has also had to overcome tough losses, including an overtime defeat in the season opener against William Paterson and a double-overtime loss to Elizabethtown.