The soccer season is underway and the men’s team spent the weekend at Haverford College for two games. The team came together for a victory over Caldwell College with a 2-0 victory. The team fell short, however, on Sunday with a 1-0 loss to Haverford on their home field, making their record 1-3.
Senior Lincoln Strehle was impressed with the team’s performance. “We played hard and I think we played really well, especially with three or four of our starters out of action,” Strehle said.
Against Caldwell, sophomore Nick Fenton and senior Mike O’Reilly, the team captain, scored to dominate their opposition. Mike Rennie agrees that the team played well this weekend and thinks they are showing progress. Even though they defeated Caldwell on Saturday, Rennie still thinks that the team has time to grow and to work as a team. “We were good,” Rennie said, “but we can be better.” Rennie saw the team working hard on Sunday against Haverford.
“I was hurt on Sunday so I couldn’t play,” Rennie said. “I sat on the bench and watched the whole game. The team played very well and made some really good passes. I think the team is gelling well together.”
Strehle agreed with Rennie on the team spirit everyone is showing. “We played really well,” Strehle said. “Our passing was excellent in both games but we fell short of our goal. We really worked well together as a team in these games and I noticed some of the freshman stepping up in part of the team. That is what we need to see more of. We have 10 seniors, so they’re stepping up and setting an example for the rest of the team. Right now though we really need to get healthy.”
The team will be playing against Widener University on Sept. 14 at Cabrini. Rennie thinks that the team will meet their goal this season. “The goal,” Rennie said, “is to win the PAC and advance the team into the NCAA tournament.”
Strehle agrees, but thinks that there is a goal they need to focus on. On Sept. 28, the soccer team will face the no. 10 team in the nation, Arcadia University, “That’s our big test,” Stehle said. “Their ranking is important and if we work hard this season, we can beat them.”
While the goal of the team is some time away, they are not looking too far and are concentrating on keeping the team going in the present. “We need to take these games one at a time,” Rennie said. “One game at a time and we’ll get there.”
Strehle shares this optimistic attitude about the team and said, “If we play as hard as we can, I think we can beat just about anybody.”
