Sports
Men's Soccer kick starts its season with first NESCAC win of the year
By Patrick English '15
October 4, 2012
Just because a team has a rough start to its season does not mean that it cannot improve its game play over time. Before last weekend, the Hamilton men’s soccer team’s NESCAC record was 0-4-1. However, its first win of the season against Bates College changed both the team’s outlook for the season as well as its conference standing.
Bayard Geeslin ’16 scored the first goal of the game against Bates in the 33rd minute on a headed assist from Trevor Bobola ’15 after a corner kick by Leo Nizzi ’14. Erich Marcks ’16 is credited for the second goal after his cross was deflected into the goal by a Bates defender.
Shortly after this, Bates Bobcat Ethan Hirshberg ’13 used his dribbling skills to get the ball past a defender and into the back of the net. Hamilton’s senior captain Anthony Balbo sealed the win with an 88th minute goal off another set piece, a free kick from Nizzi. This assist, Nizzi’s 13th, tied him for second place on Hamilton’s all-time assist list and brought the final score to 3-1.
Hamilton out shot Bates 26-14, including 12-2 in the first half. Despite the great number of shots, Continental goalie Eric Boole ’13 was rarely threatened and only needed to make two saves during the entire game.
The win makes Hamilton 2-4-1 overall, with a 1-4-1 NESCAC record. It ends a two game losing streak to Wesleyan and Amherst, and it is the team’s first conference win.
“This week our coaches put more of an emphasis on improving our fitness. Our improved work rate really helped us get the win this week,” said Marcks.
Balbo feels that the team has improved over the course of the season thus far. “I think that the team lost some traction after our first two NESCAC games against Trinity and Williams. In these games we worked very aggressively and outplayed our opponents for long stretches, but they still ended in late game losses both times. I think that these results may have deflated us a bit leading into our Amherst and Wesleyan weekends. However, this week to prepare for Bates we really worked on upping the whole team’s energy and keeping a positive, focused attitude, and some conditioning of course.”
As a young team with only one starting junior, the Continentals still have room for improvement. Their current ranking as seventh in a conference that includes two of the top twenty teams in the country is solid. However, success in their upcoming games could lead to their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2007, as well as their first showing as a new member of the NESCAC league.
September was a tough month for the team. The Continentals played at home against third place Trinity and undefeated Williams. Their October schedule starts this Saturday with a game at Middlebury (3-4-0,1-4-0 NESCAC).
“This week I believe should feature more of the same hard work, and one particular goal is going to be to post a shutout against Middlebury.” Balbo said.
Team alumni return to Love Field on Sunday, Oct. 7th at noon as part of the Fallcoming Weekend celebration. On Tuesday, Oct. 9th at 4 p.m., Ithaca College comes to Hamilton for a non-conference game.
When asked about his expectations for the Middlebury game on Saturday, Balbo says that he hopes “to go into Sunday’s alumni game with a second [conference] win under our belts. Nothing feels better than playing with the returning alumni when we’re also getting the results we want in conference.”