By Esteban Bachelet

In an up-and-down affair over the weekend at a tournament in Danville, Ky., the Lords recorded a clean sheet against Spalding University with an easy 2-0 win, but ceded two second-half goals against Centre College in a 2-1 loss.

“The system will remain the same. We have to make sure we defend effectively from the front,” said Head Coach Chris Brown in an interview with Kenyon Sports Connection.

Under the 4-1-3-2 formation that the Lords employ, the back four have to stay vigilant and shepherd off opposing attacks until the attacking players can come back and support the defense. “That kind of formation is tough to work with defensively because you have so many people pushing forward,” Co-Captain Andrew Parmelee ’14 said.

The system worked against Spalding University. Though a slow first half, the Lords handled the Golden Eagles by maintaining possession and keeping all the players involved. Tony Amolo ’17 got the ball rolling with a goal early in the second half, followed by a goal by Rei Mitsuyama ’15 with an assist by Alex Christoff ’15.

The positive play against Spalding transferred into a solid first half for the Lords against the Centre Colonels. Jeremiah Barnes ’16 crossed the ball into the box for Parmelee to slot into the back of the net. The Lords took the lead into halftime but came out a different team. Two goals from the Colonels doomed the Lords to a 2-1 loss and a 2-2-0 record.

“We’re too good to be playing scared,” Co-Captain Lewis Williams-Gray ’14 said. “As a team, we hid from the tough things we had to do in the game. We played well, but we are still very young.”

The second-half struggle featured hasty defending and a lack of possession. “We lost our head a little bit,” Parmelee said. “Defensively, we didn’t do as well as we should have. [We] gave up two goals. [It was] a tough away loss.”

Next up, the Lords are scheduled to host the University of Mount Union on Saturday, Sept. 14 and Otterbein University on Sunday, Sept. 15. Even with the ups and downs of the weekend, the Lords still have a lot of soccer left to play in 2013.

“It’s an early season,” Parmelee said. “We are 2-2-0; we’ve played some good competition. We have some winnable games. Hopefully the team feels that way. We set a goal to be 8-2 out of conference, so we have our two losses, and now we need to win the next six.”

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