For GW’s men’s soccer team, there has been no such thing as an easy game recently, which makes an easy win out of the question. The Colonials’ last six games have been decided by one goal, but due to an ugly injury suffered by sophomore midfielder Luke Wildy, Saturday’s 3-2 overtime win against Mount Saint Mary’s may have been the hardest yet.
Wildy went down early in the second half, rolling in pain and holding his right knee near midfield. George Lidster, GW’s head coach, said a referee told him he had heard a pop, a tell-tale sign of an anterior cruciate ligament injury. Wildy tore his ACL in the same knee last season, but he will have to wait until the results from an MRI come back to know the extent of this injury.
“When he goes down, it definitely became a ‘win it for Luke’ kind of thing.but after the game it’s hard to see,” senior captain Greg McKay said about Wildy, who was on crutches after the game.
The game was tied at two when Wildy got hurt and remained that way until freshman Marcus Ranney scored his first collegiate goal in the second minute of overtime.
The win broke a two-game losing streak for the Colonials who have played close matches all season. McKay said the competitive out-of -onference matches provide good preparation for the Atlantic 10 season, but Lidster said the team has regressed a little since the beginning of the season.
“It’s indicative of the fact that we’re still a very young team,” Lidster said. “We’ve got a lot of sophomores and we don’t know how to put a team away. We give up some horrible, horrible goals so that’s what has made it hard this year, giving up some very bad goals.”
One of those bad goals came in the 32nd minute when senior goalie Greg Yahr misplayed a high-bouncing ball in the right side of the goal box. The ball bounced over Yahr’s head and was tapped in by a Mount Saint Mary’s player to give his team the 2-1 lead. Yahr laid facedown immediately after the goal, frustrated by his mistake.
McKay’s second goal of the season came in the first half but was the game’s offensive highlight. After controlling a Mount Saint Mary’s attempt to clear the ball, McKay lined up a shot from about 35 yards out and struck it past goalkeeper Chris Davis in the right corner.
“Half the time (Lidster) gets mad when I take those shots, but when they go in he’s happy,” McKay said, noting that Lidster tells him to take more shots.
Lidster said many of McKay’s goals come from outside and he expected the Maryland native to have two or three such goals at this point. For a team that suffered the loss of one of its best players though, Saturday’s win was a welcome sight.
“It was important to us to just get a win somehow, even if it was ugly,” Lidster said.
