Last weekend, the Hopkins men’s soccer team stayed undefeated with a 2-0 victory over the eighth-ranked Haverford College Fords in their Centennial Conference opener. The Blue Jays now have a 6-0-0 record thanks to their fifth shutout of the season, their best start to a season since 2007.
“It feels great, giving us more confidence moving forward to face other opponents in the Conference and shows us a glimpse of what we are capable of,” junior midfielder Sebastian Salathe said.
Hopkins did all of its damage offensively in the first half, with goals from sophomore midfielder Achim Younker and junior forward Gerrit Church.
Younker’s goal came in the 25th minute off of an assist from freshman midfielder Alejandro Maclean. Younker has now scored in every game but one this season and he has a team-leading total of seven.
Though the goal would prove to be all that the Jays needed, they added an insurance goal in the 38th minute. After drawing a foul, Church booted a free kick that ricocheted off of a Fords defender and into the back of the net.
Graduate student goalkeeper Bryan See had two saves on the day to preserve his 18th career shutout, earning him the title of Centennial Conference Defensive Player of the Week.
Saturday marked the first time that Haverford had been shutout since Oct. 22, 2016. See attributes much of his success this season to the Jays’ stellar defense.
“An experienced goalkeeper won’t have too many saves to make if he organizes his defense well,” See said. “The chemistry and cohesiveness in our defense is unmatched, we go into every game knowing that we have the ability to shutout the most lethal opponents in the country if we just work hard for each other.”
See also noted how the freshmen are helping the team succeed.
“They came in with incredible amount of skill and talent, but more importantly their desire to win is just as high as the returners,” See said.
He also emphasized how the freshmen have quickly adapted to head coach Craig Appleby’s system.
“It can only get better when everyone has fully grasped onto what we want to accomplish on the field,” See said.
The support of the Hopkins fan base also helped lead the Jays to victory, according to Salathe.
“They were extremely active and loud, feeding into the way we were playing and the success we were having during the game,” he said.
Salathe was grateful for the support and he stressed how important that is for the team.
“It feels good playing at home with that big of a fan base, as we are receiving an active response to the hard work we’ve been putting into preparing for the season and... the game itself,” he said.
Before their victory on Saturday, the Blue Jays had lost six consecutive games to the Fords. The win also propels Hopkins to a six-game win streak to start the season, their longest since the 2007 season. During that year they started off with 11 straight wins. In addition, it put the team in the most recent rankings as the number 16 team in the country.
This victory could eventually prove to be the deciding factor for where the Centennial Conference Tournament will be hosted, as the Fords were projected to finish first in the Conference, and the Blue Jays were projected to finish third.
See expects the team’s success to continue.
“Our winning mentality has never been higher after failing to accomplish our goal the past couple seasons. It really fueled us to strive for a greater success,” he said.
Now playing in his last year of eligibility, See knows what it will take for the Blue Jays to thrive this year and feels that the talent up and down the roster is already flourishing.
“The amount of potential we have as a group is also starting to show,” See said.
Hopkins will next face the Neumann University Knights at Homewood Field on Wednesday, September 20 at 7 p.m.
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