For a team that was once ranked as high as 14th in Division III competition, it comes as no surprise to the men's soccer team that recent opponents have increased their intensity when welcoming Hopkins to their home turf. This past Sunday, the case was no different when the Blue Jays traveled to Wilkes University.
"We've been a good team for a while, so [opposing] teams always come out hard against us," senior goalie Danny Coble said. "A win for a regional team like Wilkes can make their season a successful one."
The Blue Jays surrendered only a single goal to the Colonels within the first 15 minutes of play but struggled offensively for the entire game in their 1-0 loss at the second game of the Misericordia Tournament. The devastating defeat snapped Hopkins' four game win streaks, running their overall record to 4-1.
Although their winning streak ended on Sunday, the squad's performance on Saturday against Misericordia was slightly better as came away with a 4-1 win.
"That's the kind of stuff that makes me tear my hair out as a coach," Smith said. "It's hard to come up with ways to motivate a strong start. The season comes at you fast and it is hard to recover between games."
Coble, one of the Jays' team leaders, attributed the poor play at the beginning of the tournament to a lack of focus during pre-game warm-ups.
"It seems like individuals are getting away from what they need to do before the game, so that they can go hard for 90 minutes," Coble said.
"We're usually a calm team, not usually the ones chest bumping one another. But we need to make sure that we're ready to go win that first tackle."
Coble said that his personal routine involves harder, louder music a few hours prior to game-time to get pumped, before relaxing his muscles by switching to some lighter, more soothing tunes.
"My buddy's dad owns a coffee shop and he got me a CD of some nice, lyrical music that they play on the loudspeakers there." Coble said. "But as a goalie, I need to relax once we get close to kickoff."
Since the Jays featured only three seniors in their starting eleven this Sunday, Smith said that the roster's youth might have contributed to the slow starts and weak finishes to the games.
"With our team being so young, sometimes the excitement of playing and being on the road takes away from finding the maturity to get the job done," Smith said.
"We need to get out of the mentality of being freshmen because in college sports there are no class distinctions. You're out on the field because you are good."
Smith also commented that the surplus of talent on the roster should allow for a heightened sense of competition.
"Once guys become too comfortable with their spot being secure, they stop playing with the same sense of motivation," Smith said.
"We need to remember that we're representing the team and the school, not a bunch of individuals."
Following the Misericordia Invitational, Hopkins played host to Frostburg State on Wednesday. Although the Jays treated their guests to the beautiful campus facilities, they were quite inhospitable to their guests in the end, scartching and clawing their way to a hard-fought 2-1 victory. The win was the team's fifth of the season.
So far, the Jays have represented Hopkins in fine fashion, and they hope to continue their success deep into the regular season schedule.
Nevertheless, the men's team must heed the advice of their coach and not get too comfortable as it prepares to take on one of its biggest rivals, Muhlenberg, on Saturday at Homewood.
