This post was written by Hatchet reporter Barbara Alberts.
Down two goalkeepers on the depth chart, men’s soccer looked toward a freshman walk-on to mind the net Wednesday afternoon.
Will Desautels – filling in for sophomore Atlantic 10 shutout leader Thor Arne Hofs, who sat out the game as a precautionary measure for an injury sustained at Robert Morris Sunday – tallied 4 saves in 90 minutes of action against St. Francis Brooklyn.
His commanding collegiate debut helped the Colonials to a 2–1 win over the Terriers, good for GW’s third straight victory.
“What a great performance for a kid who’s not even expecting to play this year,” head coach Craig Jones said. “We got a freshman, a walk-on kid, who ends up starting a Division 1 game, and honestly, he deserved to get a clean sheet.”
The Colonials battled through the rain Wednesday to win their final non-conference contest and will now enter A-10 play Saturday with a 5-2-3 overall record.
The Terriers came off the bench strong in the first half with senior forward Yussuf Olajide attempting a shot on goal less than a minute into play.
“I think in the first five minutes we struggled to get onto the ball,” senior midfielder Spiros Tsakos said. “But once we found our groove, we started to control the game. We showed a lot of patience, a lot of character. We won our tackles, and we were attacking the goal at speed.”
Overall, the Colonials played a smooth game, easily passing around St. Francis Brooklyn and connecting plays.
“We’ve played well the last two games away from home, so today was about continuing that momentum,” Jones said.
Despite intermittent downpours throughout the game, Jones saw the rain as an advantage for the Colonials.
“The surface today, with the rain, it helped us,” Jones said. “It was a question of can we move the ball quickly, can we possess it and get it into wide areas where we’ve been dangerous and hopefully convert some of our chances.”
After a late first-half substitution, sophomore forward Dylan Lightbourn sneaked a shot into the lower right corner off of a deep pass from freshman midfielder Alexy Boehm, scoring the go-ahead goal for the Colonials 34:11 into the first half.
Lightbourn’s goal tied him with senior forward Christian Lawal for most goals on the team, each with three a piece on the year.
The second goal for the Colonials came just after the beginning of the second half, when a cross from senior midfielder Garrett Heine connected with senior midfielder Oliver De Thier, who shot into the low-left corner, giving De Thier his second goal of 2016.
A late second-half push by the Terriers spelled trouble for the Colonials when, with a little more than four minutes left in the game, a penalty kick for the Terriers robbed the Colonials of their sixth shutout this season and gave the Terriers their only goal of the game.
The standout player today, however, was Desautels.
“My mindset going into the game was being nervous isn’t going to help so might as well try to get past that,” Desautels said. “I just focused on what my strengths are and what I can do well.”
“Our freshman came in with a lot of maturity,” Tsakos said. “They play like veterans, especially Will today.”
GW continues its homestand on Saturday at 2 p.m., when the team opens league play against the Fordham Rams. The Colonials won the conference’s regular-season title last year after going 6–2–0 against A-10 opponents.
Hofs, who owns a league-leading 0.61 goals against average, is expected to return to the starting role in net against the Rams.
“With everyone’s positive attitude and the excitement building up, I think we’ll go (into conference games) really strong,” Tsakos said. “The most important thing is to come in with a one-game-at-a-time mentality.”
