Men’s soccer, coming off of an impressive 2017 season, has opened the 2018 season with a record of 2–1. They dropped an overtime game in their first home matchup on Tuesday, Sept. 11. Last year’s squad had a record of 8–7–2 overall and advanced to the semifinals of the NESCAC playoffs. This year’s team hopes to advance even further and is off to a good start in terms of their NESCAC record with a win on Sept. 8 over conference rival Bates College.
The first game of the season against SUNY Oswego in Oswego, N.Y. on Tuesday, Sept. 4 was a 2–0 shutout for the Continentals. Hamilton historically does well against SUNY Oswego; their record against the school under head coach Perry Nizzi is 14–2–3. Goalkeeper Linds Cadwell ’20 made two saves to blank the Lakers for his fifth career shutout. The junior from Hollis, NH, is on par for a better season than his last two, during which he posted impressive save percentages of .815 (2016) and .716 (2017).
First-year Roth Wetzel ’22 scored a goal 35 minutes into his first collegiate game, giving Hamilton the lead. Noah Giovannelli ’21 picked up his first collegiate point with an assist on Wetzel’s goal. 17 minutes later, the ball was in the back of the net again for the Continentals, with Bobby Chapman ’19 aiming low and scoring the second goal of the match. Aidan Wood ’20 cleverly drew the defenders away from Chapman, giving him time to set up his shot. Hamilton’s defense came up strong in the second half, as SUNY Oswego did not have a single shot on goal in the period.
Next weekend found the Continentals in Lewiston, ME, for their first conference game of the season against the Bates College Bobcats on Saturday, Sept. 8. The game was yet another remarkable shutout for Cadwell, with Hamilton blanking Bates 1–0. A remarkable save came right off the starting whistle of the second half, when Cadwell slid to prevent a Bobcat from making a shot off of a pass.
Wood, who was the NESCAC men’s soccer point leader last season, had the lone goal of the contest. He averaged more than a point per game last season with 19 points through 17 games. At one point in the game, Jefri Schmidt ’20 passed the ball to Wood, who received the ball 30 yards from the net and managed to get into the box for a precise shot to the top corner of the goal. Sebastien Deguines ’19 said that Wood’s play was key in the win against Bates, saying “[he] is looking like an all-NESCAC player like last year.” Defense again was key to the Hamilton victory, as Cadwell only faced one shot through the entire game.
This week was the Continentals’ first home game, and they played Ithaca College on Withiam Field on Tuesday, Sept. 11. The Continentals lost 3–2 in sudden death overtime with Hamilton seeing strong performances from seniors and first-years alike. Defense reigned supreme in the first half, as Hamilton held Ithaca to zero shots through the first 48 minutes. Hamilton’s lone goal of the first half came from first-year Sam Dils ’22 and was the only shot for either team. Wetzel, who had his first goal in the first game of the season against SUNY Oswego, assisted on the goal. It was Dils’ first goal of the season and found the left side of the net to pull Hamilton to a 1–0 lead.
The next two goals belonged to Ithaca in the second half, with Ithaca’s first shot finding the back of the net. The second goal from Ithaca came 69 minutes into the game. Not to be denied a good game, senior Matt Casadei ’19 buried a rebound off of a shot from Rhudi Darko ’20 with less than five minutes left in the game to force overtime. Hamilton did well in overtime last season, only losing once out of four games.
Unfortunately, this overtime was quick and not in the team’s favor. An Ithaca corner kick resulted in a header which beat Cadwell and found the back of the net less than two minutes into the sudden-death overtime. Though disappointing, Hamilton’s 2–1 overall record and 1–0 NESCAC record still represents a fantastic start. The goals from first-years Dils and Wetzel show that the infusion of young talent has helped the team’s enthusiasm and energy. Deguines reiterated this point, saying that “The [first years] have been stepping up immensely. Two different [first-years] scored in three total games.” After a successful semi-final run last season, hopefully these new forwards will bring the Continentals to new heights. In addition, Cadwell’s 0.99 goals against average thus far is encouraging.
Hamilton’s next match will be a home game against conference rival Trinity College on Saturday, Sept. 15 at 1:30 PM on Love Field in Clinton, NY.
