Men's Soccer shuts out all opposition

Continuing their dominant performance of late, the Men's Soccer team secured two shutout wins this week, defeating Ursinus, 5-0 and Alvernia, 6-0. With those victories, the Blue Jays improved their overall record to 7-1 and their conference record to 3-0.

The Jays also registered their fourth consecutive shutout and their sixth in only eight contests. They have outscored their opponents by a combined score of 35-4 in games this year. Against Ursinus on Saturday, the Blue Jays got off to a slow start but rallied late in the contest to put the finishing touches on an overwhelming victory.

Hopkins' first goal came in the 14th minute when senior forward Matthew Doran fed to junior forward Daniel Brienza, who scored. After that initial goal, however, the Blue Jays were stymied, waiting until the 74th minute of play before scoring next, when senior midfielder Ryan Kitzen scored off sophomore Rob Morrison's assist. Kitzen's goal began a Blue Jays scoring frenzy that ultimately lasted until the end the game.

They exploded with four goals in a span of four and a half minutes. Less than one minute after Kitzen's goal, Doran followed with his second of the game to increase the Blue Jays' lead to 3-0.

From there, the rout ensued as junior defenders Adam Hack and Greg Mangels each added goals by the end of the game.

In perhaps the most telling statistic, the Blue Jays out shot Ursinus 27-1 in the contest. Against non-conference foe Alvernia, the Blue Jay midfielder Paul Galli joined Tarabolous to score the final two goals of the game.

This week senior forward Aerik Williams set a Johns Hopkins University record for assists in a career. By setting the record, Williams not only claimed a Johns Hopkins milestone but also moved closer to equaling the Centennial Conference record of 33 assists.

Last week, Williams commented on his record chase noting, "I just try to not think about it. I just kind of let things happen."

In addition to Williams' record-setting week, one of the of many bright spots for the Blue Jays continued to be the stellar play of a veteran defense working cohesively with an outstanding freshman goalkeeper.

The defense's unwavering protection has led to more scoring opportunities for the Jays, and freshman goalkeeper Gary Kane, Jr., needed to record just one save against Ursinus on Saturday and another six on Wednesday to preserve both shutouts.

"The team has really responded well since the loss to Arcadia and we look forward to the test against Muhlenberg on Saturday," said Kane.

According to Kane, several key defensive players include Hack and sophomore Rob Morrison. As a result of his dazzling play of late, Hack was named this week to the Centennial Conference Honor Roll after scoring two goals as well as contributing to one via an assist. Kane also mentions Greg Mangels and Mike Cordero as influential members of the defensive unit.

His most valuable contribution, however, has been his standout defensive involvement. Yet, the news was not all good this week for the Blue Jays who saw their ranking in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll fall to No. 17 on Monday from No. 9.

The fall resulted from a loss to Arcadia several weeks ago. Due to the Sept .11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, however, no poll was released last week so the Blue Jays remained at No. 9 for an extra week.

The Blue Jays also dropped from second to third in the Mid-Atlantic Region Rankings. They now trail both Messiah and Drew. They will play Drew in their next home game Oct. 6 at 7 p.m.

The Blue Jays will play their next game, on Saturday, when they travel to Allentown, Penn. to take on Muhlenberg for a 7 p.m. match. The highly ranked Mules will prove to be tough competition for the solid Hopkins defensive unit and wicked offense.