The hat-trick highlighted a phenomenal team performance.
Lianne Yun, Assistant Photo Editor
Last Saturday afternoon, Cardinals fans were treated to a strongest performance as the men’s soccer team took down a strong Bates side by a score of 5-0. The final whistle ended a strong week for the Cardinals, who traveled to Springfield, MA to face Western New England College coming off a well-fought, but ultimately disappointing double overtime loss to Bowdoin on the road.
On Wednesday the Cardinals avenged the previous weekend’s disappointments, dispatching WNEC 2-0 with some ease. Still, the win was a crucial non-conference victory in the Cardinals’ pursuit of a NCAA post-season berth against a side to whom Wesleyan has lost in each of the past two seasons. The Cardinals opened the scoring in the 31st minute, courtesy of Brandon Sousa ’16’s first goal of the campaign, a screamer smashed with his left foot into the right corner. Max Jones ’16 sealed the victory in the 62nd minute with a free kick from just outside the penalty area on the left side. Sousa and Jones both stood over the ball and fancied their chances, but it was Jones who took the opportunity, curling an unstoppable free kick into the top right corner.
On Saturday, the Cardinals faced another tough test in Bates, who were undefeated coming into the matchup, having taken care of Hamilton 2-0 on the road and splitting points with Bowdoin in a scoreless, double overtime draw. However, the Cardinals proved they were ready to pounce on their opponents in the first Saturday home game of the season on Jackson Field.
The spectators waited just under 23 minutes for Wesleyan to open the scoring, as a lovely ball floated over the Bates left back found Komar Martinez-Paiz ’19, who skinned his defender and drove a dangerous, low ball into the penalty area. It was deflected to Sousa, who finished easily from point blank range for his second goal of the week. Adam Cowie-Haskell ’18 opened his tab for the match 12 minutes later, finishing with a clean strike from around 10 yards after a dish from Sousa.
The floodgates fully opened in the first part of the second half, with the Cardinals leading 5-0 only 22 minutes in. Cowie-Haskell put away the third goal just under a minute and a half into the second period. He finished in style: a no-look volley with the inside of his left foot from outside the near post courtesy of a left-footed cross from Jones. The sophomore completed his hat-trick 14 minutes later, as defender Nick Jackson ’18 served a ball from deep to find Cowie-Haskell, who finished with a right-footed volley at the back post. That third goal made him the first Wesleyan player to complete a hat trick since 2008, when Keisuke Yamashita ’10 finished all three goals in a 3-1 victory over Springfield College in 2008.
Eric Gooden ’19 broke another streak with his 67th minute goal, a move completed as Daniel Rubenstein ’17 found Gooden, who beat the Bates keeper to the ball on the ground, touched it by him, and finished with composure into an open net. Gooden’s goal made it the first NESCAC game in which Wesleyan scored five since a 5-0 victory over Colby in November 2009.
Indeed, five goals in any NESCAC matchup is a bona fide rarity and a major statement. Further, the following day, Bates traveled to perennial NESCAC power and Wesleyan rival Williams and won 2-1 in overtime, only adding to what was already a hugely impressive victory for the Cardinals.
Despite the win, the Cardinals will return to training once again with a chip on their shoulders and a sense of unfinished business as they prepare to face 2014 NCAA champions Tufts at home on Jackson Field this Tuesday. The past two matchups against the Jumbos in 2013 and 2014 were both painfully close games. 2013’s matchup saw the Cardinals emerge 1-0 overtime victors on Jackson Field, courtesy of a Daniel Issroff ’15 wonder strike, a volley finished less than a minute into the first overtime. The national champions exacted revenge the next year, giving the Cardinals a taste of their own medicine in a 2-1 overtime victory in Medford.
Tufts has started the season strong, dropping points only in their most recent match, a 1-0 loss to Brandeis, who are ranked 16th nationally. Nonetheless, the Cardinals, who come into the match having scored 12 goals in their past two home games and 17 in all six games this year (just two fewer than 2014’s season total), will come in poised and itching to score more. Even against a tough opponent like Tufts, the reality is often simple.
“Tufts are defending national champions,” said defender Charlie Gruner ’17. “They obviously know how to win big games. If we’re going to get a result, it’s going to have to be a complete, 90-minute performance.”
Holding off and penetrating an impressive and ever-confident Tufts side certainly will require a top-to-bottom performance from the Cardinals, and something special from new heroes looking to seize the moment.