After a tough loss at rival Williams College, the Wesleyan men’s soccer team loaded the bus again on Wednesday to play the Pride at Springfield College. Hoping to even out its record and prove it could win on the road the Cardinals did just that, shutting Springfield out 1-0.
Both sides lacked intensity on the field during the first half as Springfield hesitated and Wesleyan couldn’t help but play down to the Pride’s level. Things started picking up about 15 minutes in when one of Springfield’s players took down Jared Ashe ’07 inside the box. The Cards looked to the ref for the whistle but he motioned them to play on. This and another similar incident on a shot by Kevin Lohela ’06 indicated that Wesleyan would not be receiving any extras from the refs, but this didn’t affect the team.
After the half, Wesleyan came out hungry for victory. Much to Evan Bissell’s ’05 dismay, it would be impossible to devour an entire Pride. So the Cardinals did a good job at pecking away until Springfield cracked.
A great opportunity arose when Josh Stephens ’07 got a strong cross but unfortunately saw post.
“I was given a perfect ball and had a good opportunity, but the post and the keeper combined forces to make a terrific save,” Stephens said. “It could have been followed up by Julian ‘I have the attention span of a drunken 4 year old’ Canzoneri ’07, but alas…”
The Cards saw many great balls from Stephens and fellow midfielder Evan Berding ’05. Their shining moment came off a free kick from Berding that found Ashe at the back post. Ashe headed it and directed it on goal where Peter “Hooter” Glidden ’07 put the ball in its home.
“When we missed a couple of shots I kept thinking ”go to your home ball, it’s a nice home,“ luckily, it seemed to listen to me,” Glidden said.
The ever-steady defense was doing well to keep the ball out of Cardinal territory until a long clearance saw a Springfield player one on one with goalie Dan Penrod ’05. A great save by Penrod kept the Pride shutout.
“We were a cohesive unit or ”Cunit“ if you will,” Canzoneri said. “We played great and pulled through.”
“It was a good thing for us as a team, winning on the road,” Glidden said. “It showed us that we can get shutouts and win those important one-goal games.”
“We have large heart,” Canzoneri said. “It may not be huge, but we do have huge spleen.”
The heart showed throughout the game, as the referee allowed the Pride to chip away at Cardinal players, only issuing two yellow cards despite numerous opportunities. Although the win was not the prettiest, the men showed they have the character to persevere in a physical midweek game.
The Cardinals play their home opener against Trinity College this Saturday at North College Field at 11a.m. The team hopes to get its first conference win and achieve a winning record in the match against the Bantams.
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