As the first kick sent the ball flying downfield, the Hamilton men’s soccer team battled the Wesleyan Cardinals for possession in Saturday’s conference match-up. The first half could have been anyone’s game, as both teams were seemingly equal in skill and speed. Hamilton made great maneuvers, showcasing expert skill and field sense, ultimately out shooting the Cardinals in the first half 7–6. Both goalies played phenomenal games, making key saves to end the half 0–0.
The second half proved to be even more of a fight for the Continentals. Twelve minutes in, Wesleyan scored the first goal of the game off a fast breakaway. Despite this slight upset in momentum, the Continentals continued to contend for a goal. The need to score led Hamilton to make impressive plays and once again they outshot the Cardinals 19–3 in the second half. Then, with just 10 minutes remaining, Aiden Wood ’20 received a header from Eli Lictman ’18 for a swift goal.
Now tied, the Continentals worked to maintain possession from Wesleyan who fought furiously to make another goal. Luke Eckles ’20 played unnerving defense, repeatedly denying throw-ins and stealing the ball back for Hamilton with his expert footwork. As the time expired in regulation, both teams knew they would have to be mentally, as well as physically, strong to pull out a win in overtime.
When asked how the team prepared for such an evenly matched overtime, Eli Morris ’18 said, “we knew we needed to come out for overtime with a killer mentality: we needed to set the tone early, never hesitating. Everyone needed to dig deep and give 100 percent, if that meant running through balls, winning every 50/50 ball, or sacrificing your body to block a shot everyone who stepped on the field had to push themselves.”
And push they did. With only 41 seconds passed in the ten-minute overtime, Eckles stole the ball from Wesleyan, sending it to Wood, then to Sebastien Deguines ’19, who passed it to Jefri Schmidt ’20. Schmidt passed it back to Wood who worked it up field. Then, a pass from Deguines offered the perfect opportunity for Morris to shoot and score.
As the ball hit the net, the team stormed the field to congratulate Morris and celebrate their win. Coach Nizzi reflected on the game and season saying, “I thought we controlled most of the match against Wesleyan. Unfortunately, this season we have outplayed all of our opponents except Tufts and have not gotten the results we deserved. When it got late in the Wesleyan game and we had missed good scoring chances and again we had run into a HOT goalkeeper for Wesleyan, I was afraid we would lose another game we should have won. The boys fought gamely ’til they were able to tie the game and then carried their strong momentum into OT for the quick victory.” Pleased with the results, Coach Nizzi looked to the game against Tufts the following day with hope for a similar outcome.
As the reigning national champions, Tufts is the team to beat. As the game got underway on Sunday afternoon, Hamilton held the Jumbos well, playing some of their best defense and putting up a strong attack as they looked to overtake the champions. The Jumbos have allowed just one goal this season and despite a good front by the Continentals, Tufts continues to dominate the season. Coach Nizzi said he felt that the team “knew it would be another very tight game. Tufts being 2016 National Champions, and even better this year, would be a handful for sure. I knew it wouldn’t be easy as they had not lost consecutive games in the last few years. I felt if we could get the first goal we could do it. We had a couple early chances to score, but their goalkeeper and defense came up big.”
Hamilton maintained significant control of the ball throughout the game and while they took many shots, they simply could not capitalize on their opportunities. Hamilton continued to battle for possession, right down to the last seconds of the match, even when Tufts scored their first goal of the game 14 minutes into the second half off of a goalie rebound.
Despite another loss, Coach Nizzi remains optimistic and feels that it “was a strong showing for Hamilton men’s soccer over the weekend and again proved that if they can get into the NESCAC tournament this season they would be very strong and able to again return to the championship game like last season.” When players were asked for their insight coming out of the loss, Wood said, “We always say never too high never too low, so coming out of the loss was a low. It always stinks to lose, but we have a really experienced team and coach. We all know we can play better and will have to in order to make the playoffs.”
With high hopes for the rest of the season, the Continentals are set to face the Amherst Mammoths this Saturday, Oct. 7 at 1:30 p.m. on Love Field.
