This post was written by Hatchet staff writer Ellee Watson.
The Colonials snapped their two-game losing skid Friday thanks to senior Matthew Scott’s first career goal and junior goalkeeper Jean-Pierre Merwe’s first shutout of the season.
The 1-0 defeat over La Salle marked GW’s first conference win of the season.
Scott scored a header into the top left corner off of a corner kick from freshman midfielder Oliver Curry in the 16th minute of the first half to give GW the edge that it held until the game’s final whistle.
Despite holding onto their slim lead for nearly 74 minutes, the Colonials had other chances to get the second or third goal to distance themselves.
Freshman Koby Osei-Wusu, who started alongside freshman Christian Lawal at forward, missed a penalty kick in the 22nd minute, marking the third penalty kick the Colonials have missed this season. The opportunity came after La Salle junior Colman Kennedy pulled Lawal’s jersey as he threatened in the box.
“We can’t always score two or three goals as much as we would like to,” head coach Craig Jones said. “I’d like to score more goals, but today’s a day where we take a one-nil win.”
The Colonials pressured La Salle throughout the game. Jones said starting forward Lawal, along with junior Phillip McQuitty and sophomore Angel Valencia, were “causing problems” for the La Salle defense. Coming into the game, GW knew La Salle was a physical team.
“They’re a more direct team than what we’ve come across in the last few weeks,” Scott said.
From the starting whistle, GW controlled the ball on the ground and dominated possession in the first half.
The Colonials pushed themselves to prevent any off-moments that have led to goals in the past. In previous matches, GW would dominate a segment of the game but would often give wins away late.
“The moments that we did switch off or had one player who switched off we had another guy to cover for him,” Jones said. “Some of the games we’ve lost this year, a player switches off and no one has his back. Today was just a good collective team performance.”
Scott, the team’s co-captain, echoed his head coach.
“It was a definite improvement from the last five games,” Scott said. “We definitely worked hard for it.”
Scott was a member of the team that lost to La Salle at the end of last season, which kicked GW out of the A-10 playoffs. He said that game weighed heavily on him and his teammates, and remained in their minds at the beginning of this season.
“The guys who were here last year remember that game really well. It was senior day, it was the last game of the season,” Scott said. “There was a lot riding on that game and we lost it, so we remember.”
Van der Merwe was not challenged for most of the match in front of goal, making three saves in his first shutout effort of the season.
The Colonials face their next A-10 opponent in Saint Joseph’s on Sunday, and Jones said while they will have to turn around quickly, they’ll enjoy Friday’s win first.
“We couldn’t get that second goal to close it out, but in the end, for me, it was a good game against a good team,” he said.
GW faces Saint Joseph’s on Sunday at the Mount Vernon Campus with a 1 p.m. kick-off.
