Freshman forward David Drake's historic two-goal night helped solidify Friday's 5-0 win over the Ursinus Bears and the soccer team's return to first place in the Centennial Conference. The Hopkins win and Saturday's Franklin & Marshall overtime loss gave the Jays and the Diplomats identical 5-1 conference records and puts the two teams in a dead heat for first place in the conference and for the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Junior midfielder and co-captain Matty Carlson put the Blue Jays on the board in the 13th minute against Ursinus with a header, and the team never looked back. Carlson's goal, his second of the year, came off a corner kick from junior midfielder Nick Gauna.
Gauna also added a goal of his own in the 20th minute, his ninth of the season, to put Hopkins up 2-0 going into halftime.
The story of the game, however, was not the two first-half goals, but rather Drake's two-goal accomplishment during the second half.
At exactly the 57-minute mark, Drake tucked a shot into the left side of the net to make the score 3-0. Less than half a minute later, Drake stole the ball and fired another shot behind the Bears' goalie to put the Jays up 4-0 as the clock read 57:27.
The 27 seconds separating the two goals ranks Drake fifth all-time in the Division III record books for fastest time between consecutive goals by the same player. The time ties him with Ben Premo of Brandeis University who pulled off the feat in a 2005 game against Wentworth Institute of Technology.
The Division III record was set nine years ago by Martin Forman of Ohio Wesleyan when he scored two goals in 12 seconds against Oberlin on Nov. 3, 1998.
Drake was pretty understated about his accomplishment when asked. "It's pretty cool to be in the record books I guess,"
he said, unaware he had done anything special. "I didn't realize they were that close together. I thought there was at least a minute."
Drake credits his teammate, junior defender and co-captain Ethan Mulligan, for inspiring him to score the two goals.
"Ethan got on me at halftime," Drake said. "He said 'when was the last time you scored, Drake?' and then I went out and did."
Freshman defender Rob Lehnoff capped off the Jays scoring with his first career goal on a rifling shot in the 82nd minute, which made the final score 5-0. Sophomore goalie Matt Mierley also locked up his third shutout of the year, he only needed to make three saves thanks to a Hopkins defense that barely let the Bears' strikers near the goal.
"We moved the ball well offensively when we needed to and we did a better job of working together and cutting off a side of the field," Coach Matt Smith said. "They did really well, but they still have a ways to go. I'd say we are about 70 percent there."
There is no time for Hopkins to bask in the glory of a well-played game, however, as they have an important showdown this Saturday in Lancaster with the same Franklin & Marshall team listed next to them in the standings.
"We are going to be really challenged over the next four games," Smith said. "The Centennial Conference is one of the top conferences in Division III and this is one of the best Franklin & Marshall teams I have ever seen."
"I know all of our conference games will be close," said Drake of the upcoming Franklin & Marshall game. "They're always closer than the score indicates."
Freshman forward Scott Bukoski had a rare no goal performance in the Ursinus game but has paced the team in goals through the season and currently ranks first in the Conference with 15. He knows how important Saturday's game is.
"This is probably the biggest game of the year," he said. "And it's my birthday on Friday, so I am going to make sure we have everything together."
There's nothing Smith and the rest of the Hopkins team would rather give their leading scorer for his birthday than a win in Lancaster, Penn. and a solo seat atop the Centennial Conference standings once again.
