Friday, July 25, 2025



Cardinals lose to Ephs, find success against Lord Jeffs

It was the first of November, but the weather felt more like a warm spring day. Family, friends, and alumni were gathered on the sidelines to show their support for the Cardinals on Parents/Homecoming Weekend. The cheers coming from the fans, however, weren’t enough, and Wesleyan was left in the dust by the Williams College Ephs resulting in a 4-1 loss in the Cards’ last game of the regular-season.

From the beginning, Williams was doing everything right, and the Cards were feeling the pressure. Between the overwhelming purple jerseys and the height of the Ephs, it seemed as though the Cards were outnumbered. The
Ephs were utilizing the entire field and making nice passes from outside to inside in order to work the ball down towards their goal. Wesleyan’s defense was holding strong, but could only take so much until they were finally broken down when the Ephs slipped one by them and into the net.
The Cards offense was trying to make something happen, but when they got the ball on their half of the field the
striker usually found himself without
assistance. The momentum of the game didn’t change, and when the whistle blew to signify the end of the first half, the score was two-nothing Ephs.

The second half didn’t stray far from the first other than within the Cards’ line-up. It seemed as though Coach Wheeler was trying to save some of the regular starters for the play-off game against the Amherst Lord Jeffs scheduuled the following day. The Cards found their window of opportunity off a cross from Chris Feige ’04 that was headed down by Tivon Sidorsky ’04. Co-captain Nick Vincent ’04 found Sidorsky’s ball and pushed it past the Williams keeper. For a while, this seemed to be the ego boost that the Cards needed. However, more substitutes interrupted the flow of the team and the Cards weren’t able to get back on top. Two more Williams goals left the score at 4-1 on the final whistle.

“We played hard [against Williams], but we didn’t want to risk injury before the playoff game we had scheduled for the following day. Williams was just good. They have the best center-mid in the country, let alone NESCAC, and he made his presence known to us on Saturday. Amherst will be a whole different story, nothing will stand in our way [Sunday]” said Nick Vincent ’04.

The loss didn’t prove as detrimental as some for Wesleyan. The Cards definitely wanted to rip t up on the field, but the team also wanted to be able to perform well in their first playoff game on Sunday against the Amherst Lord Jeffs. The Cardinals put the Williams game behind them and took Sunday’s game with a whole new attitude. The sixth-seeded Cardinals dethroned the third-seeded Lord Jeffs, winning the game in a series of sudden death penalty kicks after the game ended in regulation with a 1-1 tie.

The Lord Jeffs jumped to an early lead by scoring the first goal seventeen minutes into the game. The Cards were not disheartened and continued to put forth their best effort until the very end. Tivon Sidorsky ’04, Chris Feige ’04, and Jon Hecht ’04 started to string passes together and keep the Amherst defense on their heels. Going into half at 0-1, the Cards felt it was going to be their day. Wesleyan’s determination paid off in the last minutes of the game when Jared Ashe ’07 scored teh game-tying goal with ten minutes remaining off a pass from classmate Peter Glidden ’07. to send the game into overtime.

Overtime was dominated by the Cardinals and, although the score remained 1-1, the team carried this momentum into the shootout. Dragging past the normal best-of-five standards, both teams scored three of their first five attempts. In sudden-death, Vincent had a crucial shot when Amherst was up in goals. The senior’s years of experience showed as he calmly hammered the ball into the net, giving teammate Gazzah Govati ’06 the chance to score the game winner on the 9th shot, ending the game and leaving the score 6-5 Cards.

The previous meeting of these two teams saw the Lord Jeffs beating the Cardinals 1-0 in overtime.

“The last time we played [Amherst], we lost in overtime on the road. We were confident going to play Amherst,
and we hope to carry that into next weekend. Our apple has been bruised many times and in many ways, but that
builds character. It’s true there are three types of people in the world: apples, oranges, and Chris Brown. Everyone has apples and oranges, but we got Chris Brown ’07 (defender),”
said midfielder Michael Ryan ’05.

This time the Cardinals won where it counted, advancing to the semi-finals to face the Williams College Ephs again on Purple Cow territory in Williamstown, Mass. on Saturday, Nov. 8 at 11 a.m.

“We played very well as a team because everybody knew that we meant business the moment we stepped on the field. Coach told us an inspirational story about how his Highlanders team in Zimbabwe always lost to their big rivals, the Dynamos, but they did the honors in the match that mattered the most and the same thing happened with us today. I didn’t feel any pressure when I stepped up to take the winning
penalty because I knew the whole team was behind me and they believed that I was finishing this. This is just the
beginning of our history making channel in Wesleyan Soccer and we are determined to go further. At this moment we gotta keep our heads up as we prepare for our semi-finals against
Williams next week,” said Govati.

“It was just an unbelievable team effort, every single player contributed. There were so many times we could
have just given up, but nobody wanted the season to end,” said Peter “Hooter” Glidden ’07, “I truly believe that
nobody can handle us now…especially not a bunch of cows. We’ve gone further than we ever have and were not about to stop now!”

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