By Esteban Bachelet
With the referee’s final whistle Wednesday evening, the Lords soccer team extended its winning streak to three games.
Up 1-0 against the University of Mount Union after just five minutes in the Lords’ first non-conference game of the weekend on Saturday, Sept.14, Co-Captain Andrew Parmelee ’14 reached out to tackle an onrushing opponent headed for goal. The ball went out harmlessly for a corner kick, but Parmelee came away limping toward the sideline, holding his hamstring. He would not return ﾗ leaving the Lords without a key member of their squad.
“It was a little bit nerve -wracking when our captain went down about five minutes into the first game,” said Jeremiah Barnes ’16, who provided the assist on the first goal. About two minutes later, the Lords let Mount Union play a ball into the box. After one or two passes, a shot from the top of the box beat rookie goalkeeper Sam Clougher ’17.
“That first goal was kind of cheap. Maybe it took two deflections before it got past our keeper,” Midfielder Rei Mitsuyama ’15 said.
The Lords quickly regrouped riding newly found confidence under Parmelee’s replacement, Josh Lee ’17, and a string of other first years.
Tony Amolo ’17, a speedy forward that plies his trade by running at defenders, scored his second goal of the game and third of the season after the Mount Union keeper mishandled a cross to make it 2-1.
The Lords went on to dominate the Purple Raiders, outshooting them 22-3 by the end of the contest. “Once we adjusted and we started to get the game going, we really dominated the other team,” Head Coach Chris Brown said.
After another mistake by the Mount Union goalkeeper, Alex Christoff ’15 drilled a shot from distance for the Lords’ third goal. Barnes’ connection with towering defender Sam Justice ’15 in the second half sealed the deal at 4-1.
“I put in an awful cross,” Barnes said. He made up for the mistake by whipping in an improved second attempt.
“Thankfully we had a big boy, Sam Justice, come in and put it home,” he added.
After beating Mount Union on Saturday, the Lords returned to Mavec Field to secure a 2-0 win against Otterbein University on Sunday, bumping them up to a 4-2-0 record. Grant Carney ’15 and Mitsuyama scored for the Lords. First-year Jordan Glassman slid in a beautiful assist for Mitsuyama’s third goal of the short season.
On Wednesday, the Lords played their third game of the week, taking on the Wilmington College Fightin’ Quakers.
Amolo scored about a minute and a half into the game, bringing his season total to 4.
Jordan Glassman ’17 added to the lead with his first goal of the season to make it 2-0. Wilmington College fought back to 2-1, at one point shattering the crossbar, but could not break through the Lords’ last line of defense. Amolo fought to win the ball back with the bounce finding Alistair Flynn ’14 one-on-one against the keeper to seal it at 3-1.
“It’s a work in progress. Everyday we get a little bit better at it,” Brown said of integrating a new formation.
A strong core of youthful players will help the Lords ﾗ especially considering that Parmelee graduates after this season.
“There’s a lot of potential amongst that group,” Brown said. “They’ve still got a ways to go, but they are getting better everyday.”
“I think we are doing really well,” Clougher added. “We’ve got four guys playing pretty big minutes right now.”
With Glassman, Lee, Clougher and Amolo, the Lords have a solid foundation. Thus far, the first years ﾗ excluding Clougher who plays goalkeeper ﾗ have accounted for seven of the teams’ 17 total goals.
The Lords hope to continue their winning streak against the College of Mount St. Joseph on Saturday, Sept. 24.
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