Men's Soccer snaps nine game win streak

The Men's Soccer team saw its nine game winning streak come to an end Wednesday night in heartbreaking fashion when the Blue Jays fell victim to Richard Stockton, 4-2, in Pomona, New Jersey. The defeat at the hands of Stockton marked the Blue Jays first loss in over a month as their overall record fell to 12-2.The loss also followed what had started as a positive week for the Blue Jays, who beat Moravian, 3-0, on Saturday. The game against Richard Stockton began badly and ended that way for the Blue Jays, who fell behind early by the score of 1-0 and were never able to take the lead. Remarkably, the Jays rallied to tie 2-2 later in the game by virtue of goals scored by junior defensive player Matt Weill and senior forward Matt Doran. However, after the two Blue Jay goals, Stockton pulled ahead for good, scoring two goals in the final 15 minutes to take the lead and ultimately win the game by a score of 4-2. Prior to the contest, Hopkins players understood that Stockton would be a formidable opponent.

"This is going to be one of our toughest games of the season," said sophomore forward Chad Tarabolous before Wednesday night's game.

After the contest, freshman goalkeeper Gary Kane, Jr. described the loss as "disappointing." The results were drastically different against Moravian earlier in the week.

The Blue Jays did get off to a slow start early on,for the most part failing to apply the intense offensive pressure that has become characteristic of the Jays' veteran team, but they prevailed with a 3-0 victory.

The lone bright spot of the first half occurred just under 10 minutes into the contest, when the Blue Jays put themselves on the board by virtue of Tarabolous' unassisted goal. The score marked his eighth of the year and gave the Jays a slim lead that they would hold onto for much of the remainder of the game.

"Besides the early goal, we came out pretty slow. We definitely stayed focused though because Moravian has a good record and they've played a couple of pretty good teams," says Tarabolous.

It was not until the 73rd minute that they scored their next goal when senior midfielder Ryan Kitzen scored unassisted to give the Blue Jays a 2-0 advantage. Tarabolous helped add the final touch when he passed to senior forward Matt Doran for a header into goal late in the game.

Freshman goalkeeper Gary Kane, Jr. did all he could to preserve the shutout, finishing with four saves on the day en route to recording his fourth shutout of the season.

With the win, the Jays ended Moravian's five game winning streak and worsened that team's overall record to 10-3-1.

Despite the victory against Moravian, the Blue Jays also remained ranked No. 11 this week by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA). The Jays' loss against Richard Stockton could have a significant impact on these rankings next week, however, because Stockton is ranked No. 18 and the rankings were released before that game was played Wednesday night.

As a result of the Blue Jays' outstanding play during the season, several Hopkins players also received personal accolades during the week. One such honor went to senior forward Aerik Williams who was named co-Player-of-the-Week for the Centennial Conference.

Last Wednesday in a 4-0 win against Haverford, Williams set the all-time conference record for assists with 34. He eclipsed the team record for assists earlier this season and has scored four goals while adding seven assists this year.

Doran also inched closer to similar recognition. His goals in the Moravian and Richard Stockton games gave him the team leader for goals scored this season; he has totalled already 14.

Additionally, he moved closer to the Hopkins and Centennial Conference records for career goals and assists.

After losing to non-division opponent Richard Stockton last night, the Blue Jays will finish the regular season with three games, all against Centennial Conference opponents. They will play the first of these games at Carlisle, Pa. where they will take on Dickinson College at 12 p.m. on Saturday.

"We're just trying to take things one game at a time," says Tarabolous. "We have to concentrate on winning these last games and finishing the season strong.