c/o Georgia Groome, Contributing Photographer

To kick off their 2021 season, the Wesleyan men’s soccer team gifted the full house at the Jackson Field a dominating 2–0 victory over Emerson College. This was the team’s first match following a 700-day hiatus.

The Cardinals started the game strong. The young, energetic team set challenged the opposing defense, forcing most of the action into Emerson’s half of the pitch. The strong connection between striker Dane Harmaty ’24 and left-wing Zach Wheeler ’25 allowed the Cardinals to capitalize on the left wing and attempt three crosses into the penalty box in the opening five minutes of the game.

Meanwhile, Emerson’s midfield attempted to reciprocate the offensive pressure with long balls into the Cardinal penalty box, given that individual players were not able to dribble for long against the formidable Wesleyan defense. Led by captain Nick Wallick ’22 and Liam Devanny ’23, the Cards defense was able to keep the ball out of the dangerous area, ultimately securing a clean sheet. Two close headers to the left post from left-wing crosses in the eighth and the tenth minutes nearly instigated the opening goal for Wesleyan. A dominant performance on the left wing led by Wheeler bore fruit when Wheeler dribbled from the left wing into the penalty box and was poorly tackled by the Emerson defender; this won the Cards a penalty, which Harmaty converted to a 1–0 lead.

After Wesleyan’s goal, Emerson started balancing the ball possession, creating their first real chance in the 15th minute with an outside shot that went through the hands of Devanny. Although unproductive, Emerson overtook the ball possession as the Cardinal defense started laying back. However, Wesleyan still managed to create the most chances, as in the 38th minute a cross coming in from the right wing bounced off the crossbar after Hamarty’s powerful header. Meanwhile, the referee marked his presence during the back and forth, passing sequences in the midfield with his erratic calls.

The Cards had a great chance to double the lead again in the closing minutes of the first half. During a counterattack, Mason Davisson ’23 and Steven Donovan ’24 were in a 2 versus 2 possession against the deficient Emerson defensive line, but Davisson failed to switch the ball to Donovan who was wide open for a one-on-one possession in front of the goal.

The second half also started with strong offensive pushes by the Cardinals as Hamarty earned a chance, but was not able to convert. Emerson goalkeeper Jacob Ramer made a strong save on the shot for a corner kick. However, Ramer wasn’t able to save Emerson’s hopes of a point as Wheeler stole the ball in the 55th minute for a potential counterattack attempt, dribbled it up to the 22-yard line, and scored a screamer right into the bottom right corner, making the score 2–0. He topped it with a cartwheel celebration to charm the delighted fans.

Much as they did after the first goal, the Cardinal defense and midfield laid back after they notched their second goal. Accepting the open invitation to attack, Emerson had their first serious chance of the game with a scramble in the six-yard line, but Devanny quickly closed the shot angle in the wide-open chance and prevented a single goal difference as the game wound down to the final 20 minutes. As the Cardinal offense once again overtook the game, a small brawl occurred between Emerson’s Aidan Ferguson and Hamary as the frustration of the loss kicked in for the Emerson defender, though Ferguson escaped a well-deserved yellow card from the referee. In the last fifteen minutes of the game, central attacking midfielder Lucas Ruehlemann ’25 took over and sent a 25-yard rocket to the Emerson goal, which ricocheted off the crossbar as the game came to its end.

Overall, the Cardinals kicked off the season with a dominant win against the Lions in a game which easily could have been 4–0 or 5–0. Wesleyan displayed front pressure to the Emerson defense in order to take control of the ball and consequently the game. The Cardinal defense also did a near-perfect job to secure the clean sheet. The only, but important, negative characteristic of the Cardinal play was the loss of defensive discipline after scoring both of the goals, opening a window for Emerson  to equalize the game or score a goal that could potentially have cost the Cardinals points.

When asked about how the team prepared for the season, Wheeler, the man of the match for the Cardinals, emphasized the importance of conditioning in preparing for their opening game.

“Two-mile runs every week gave us to condition and energy to go back and forth in the field while still being effective on defense and offense,” said Wheeler.

Regarding coach Geoff Wheeler’s pre-game tactics, Zach Wheeler said that their coach encouraged them to envision what they can do in the field. For his part, Zach Wheeler stated that he ran the scenario that would lead to him scoring multiple times beforehand in his head.

Concerning the whole team’s performance, Zach Wheeler pointed out that there was no weak line in the whole team, with defense helping offense and offense helping defense. Wheeler also gave a shout-out to team captain Wallick for being a second coach and mentor to the team.

In the first 90 minutes of the new season, playing the first game after more than a year, the Red and Black showed promise about what they can achieve and how much potential they have when a certain playing discipline is established—so long as the defense remains tight and focused.
Alp Yucel can be reached at ayucel@wesleyan.edu.