The men’s soccer team’s prospects of playing in the NESCAC Tournament last year looked bleak, to put it mildly. Coming off of a heartbreaking 1-0 loss to Bowdoin in the last conference game before the conference tournament, the Cards limped into the NESCACs as the 7th and final seed. To make matters worse, the Cards were faced with the daunting challenge of facing Bowdoin the very next day on the Polar Bears’ home field in the first round of the tournament.
Soon after the start of the Bowdoin game in the first round of the tournament, however, the Cards started one of the greatest playoff runs in Wesleyan history, as they shocked the second-ranked Polar Bears 4-1 in the first round, and then proceeded to knock off Little Three foes Williams College, the first-ranked team, and then fourth-ranked Amherst College to win the NESCAC Championship. The men became the only team in Wesleyan history to win a conference title and landed an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
As the men’s soccer team prepares for the season opener against Williams this weekend, the squad certainly has its expectations set high with last year’s success as NESCAC Champions. According to co-captain Jared Ashe ’07, if the team can replicate its success in the final weeks of last season this year, it should once again be a force to be reckoned with.
“The final four weeks of the season, every player just put everything else to the side, everything out of their minds, and [they were] able to focus on soccer,” said Ashe. “It always takes a little luck for a team in our position; it was really four weeks of brilliance. Everyone was on the same page and committed to success. Everybody was playing their best soccer of the year, from Allie Levy [’09], who didn’t get as much time, to Matt Nevin [’09], who was the NESCAC Rookie of the Year.”
From Ashe’s perspective, the team will need to focus on playing its best from the outset of the season without basking in the glory as the returning NESCAC Champions.
“Early this pre-season, our team has been too comfortable, to be honest,” Ashe said. “We sometimes feel that the title is going to be given back to us. We’ve got to buck up mentally. Like last year, we have to get better as the season goes on. Everyone wants a piece of us, and everyone thinks our title was a fluke, but we’ve got a lot of players including a big group of sophomores who have a good year of experience under their belts.”
“I think personally I’m trying to keep the team grounded and remind ourselves that we got hot at the end of the year and had only a mediocre regular season,” added co-captain David Baharestani ’07. “We’ve got to get hot as soon as possible; we have to work hard and play hard from the start. What we achieved last year means nothing for this year.”
For this fall, the soccer team should be in good shape for another championship run with 16 of 18 regulars from last year’s squads returning. Including Ashe, a second-team all-NESCAC choice last year, Baharestani, and Peter Glidden ’07, the team returns last year’s NESCAC Rookie of the Year Matt Nevin ’09, who led the team in scoring with nine goals. Also returning are the team’s other two leading scorers, Brandon Smith ’08 and Morgan Owen ’07, who combined to score 12 goals for the Cards last season. Another key returning starter is goalie Matt Gnall ’08, who allowed just one goal per game last season.
In preparation for the upcoming season, the Cardinals traveled to Brazil for preseason training, where they played several local soccer teams, in addition to exploring the beautiful Brazilian landscape.
“Playing soccer down there was a great experience,” Baharestani said. “The soccer clubs down there play so much better than we do, but we were definitely able to hold our own. Those Brazilian teams play a beautiful game, we’ll have apply some of the things we learned down there. It was a soccer trip, but also a vacation. We went white water rafting which was great for team bonding, and we went on a jeep tour. We were able to bond on and off the field, which allowed us to get back into the swing of things before the season starts.”
For now, though, the soccer team has its sights set on defending the NESCAC title this weekend at Williams, in a rematch of last year’s NESCAC semifinals.
“We beat them on their own field and handed them one of their harshest losses ever,” Baharestani said. “We’ve got to make sure we’re ready to come out play harder than them. At this point in the season, neither team is where they want to be, so it will come down to which team works harder out there.”
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