This post was written by Hatchet staff writer Ellee Watson.
After upsetting the country’s No. 22 team earlier this week, men’s soccer fell flat against Saint Francis on Saturday, losing 2-1 at home.
Sophomore Tobi Adewole scored his first goal of the season off a set piece, but head coach Craig Jones said the Colonials were sluggish and never regained momentum after giving up the game winning goal just out of halftime.
“We’re disappointed,” Jones said, “I thought we were second best in every area of the field today.”
GW never tested the Red Flash, getting outshot 14-6 and never forcing the Saint Francis goalie to make a save. The Colonials also lost out 12-2 on corner kicks, facing constant pressure in the box.
Both goals for the Red Flash came after passing around the ball and penetrating GW’s left flank.
St. Francis’s first goal came just eight minutes in when Red Flash junior Andrew Hajec scored from the right side of the box. Saint Francis’ left midfielder carried the ball along the end line and passed to the top of the box to senior Pablo Medina who laid it off for Hajec to score.
GW’s Adewole countered just seven minutes later, but Saint Francis brought the game to its final score of 2-1 in the 49th minute on a penalty kick by sophomore Francis de Vries. The kick came after GW left-defender, sophomore Miles McClearn, fouled while trying to recover his defensive position after being outrun.
“Our left midfield player might have been a little bit high,” Jones said, “I don’t think that, in the first half, our left defender was getting the support from his centerbacks or the midfield players – we left him exposed a lot of the time.”
GW’s goal was similar to the one that pushed Navy of its No. 22 national ranking last week. Senior co-captain Andri Alexandersson shot a free kick that hit the crossbar and rebounded down to Adewole who headed it downwards and into the strings.
The set piece goal finish against Navy won them the game after a hard-fought battle, but today’s goal did not come as a reward.
Jones said the Colonials were slow throughout the game: slow to fight for balls out of the air, slow to make decisions, and slow to run routes. The Red Flash were similarly lethargic, but they combined passes to hold possession and challenged junior goalkeeper Jean-Pierre van der Merwe who had to make four saves.
GW’s coaching staff continued to play around with the team’s formation and line-up to try and find a spark. Junior forwards Jonny Forrest and Phillip McQuitty earned the start along with left-midfielder sophomore Garrett Heine, but substitutions included junior Ross Higgins who played 27 minutes, sophomore Angel Valencia who recorded 11 minutes, and sophomore Spiros Tsakos who got 22 minutes of play.
“We tried every little thing we could think of as coaches: we switched guys on, we changed the formation,” Jones said. “This season we’ve been getting a spark from the guys coming into the game, but I thought today we just never were able to get that spark from anybody, and that’s the way it goes sometimes – it’s just a bad day at the office.”
