In a disappointing overtime defeat, Hopkins men’s soccer lost to Swarthmore 1-0 last Saturday at Homewood Field, leaving the Jays 0-2 in the Conference.
From the game’s onset, Hopkins exerted tremendous offensive pressure on the Swarthmore Garnet. Gaining possession and maintaining control early on, the Jays focused on staying true to their highly effective game strategy. Junior captain Mike Swiercz explained that the team’s emphasis on possession is one that has guided them over the years.
“Coach Appleby has done a great job of instilling a possession-based strategy that I think has caught on even more this year than in the past,” Swiercz said.
With added possessions came added opportunities to score. In the first half alone, the Jays out-shot Swarthmore seven to one. They also had an additional six corner kicks to Swarthmore’s zero, but failed to capitalize on their momentum.
In the 39th minute of play, the Garnet had a dangerous shot at the Hopkins goal, but after a tremendous save by senior goalie Bryan See, Swarthmore’s chance at ending the first half ahead was quelled.
Hopkins began the second half of the game energized, with a series of near scoring opportunities beginning with a corner kick in the 53rd minute. After an impressive save from Swarthmore goalie Michael Thut, in which he just barely grasped a header from sophomore midfielder Cole Rosenberger. Hopkins made another attempt to score in the 57th minute, as junior defender Jonah Muniz drove the ball down the right side of the field and crossed it into the box. Again, Hopkins was unable to capitalize on this opportunity. A minute later, the Garnet rose again to block a shot from junior midfielder Drew Collins.
Swarthmore fought back with opportunities of their own in the 66th and 73rd minute but failed to finish, and the game remained scoreless. When regulation time was called at the 90-minute mark, the game was still tied at zero, bringing it to a golden goal overtime period.
Despite the Jays’ best efforts in the opening minutes of extra-time, they were ultimately unable to clinch the victory. Just four minutes in, Swarthmore ended the game when the ball popped across the six-yard box and the Garnet’s Tommy Sheehan flicked it into the goal.
The overtime time loss was a tough pill to swallow for the Jays, but as evidenced by Muniz, it also provides a good opportunity for the team to reflect.
“I know many of the guys were disappointed to open up conference play at home with a loss. As a team we are working on improving everyday. We missed a couple good changes during the first and second half that would have changed the game, but in the end we should have done better defensively as well,” Muniz said.
Likewise, Swiercz maintains a positive outlook for the rest of the season.
“I think in the past finishing has been an issue for us but this year we’ve done a much better job of scoring. This was our first time getting shut out all year... we outshot them and it was just unfortunate we didn’t put one away... Obviously the team was disappointed in losing a conference game we thought we should have won, but hopefully we can keep doing what we’re doing and now just win the games we should be winning,” Swiercz said.
