While Halloween night for most students this year meant dressing up and making their way to the streets of Fells Point, the men's soccer team was donning a more familiar costume - their uniforms.
For the first time since 1986, the Blue Jays faced off against the Shoremen on a dark Halloween night. Unfortunately for the Jays, this year's Halloween proved to be all trick and no treat, and after outplaying Washington College for most of the game, the Jays fell to the Shoremen 1-0 in overtime.
The game started off on a bittersweet note as seniors Nick Gauna, Akash Naik, Robbie Carper, Ethan Mulligan and Matt Carlson and their parents were honored at their last senior night. Reminiscently, senior midfielder and team captain Matt Carlson said, "It's sad, but it's also important to remember that it's a time to celebrate my career with the guys I've been playing with since freshman year. I felt really strongly and passionately going into the game that the seniors should inspire the rest of the team, and the guys responded strongly to that."
Intense emotion seemed to overpower much of the first half. The Shoremen opened the game with the ball, but Hopkins had the first shot on goal as captain and midfielder Naik sent a high centered shot over the crossbar. It would be 15 minutes before Washington College would get a shot on goal.
Fouls far outnumbered whistles by the ref, and uncalled penalties by the Shoremen plagued many of Hopkins's breakaway plays, including a missed opportunity by Naik, who was taken down by a Washington College player in the box.
Sophomore midfielder Evan Kleinberg's breakaway play was broken up by a handball penalty, which sent the ball back across mid-field. After a fast-paced half in which neither team seemed to have much control, the Jays returned to the locker room after having outshot the Shoremen 6-3. Carlson attributes the lack of control to the adrenaline that seemed to be surging through the players going into the game. "I think a lot of the guys were excited, it being senior night and all. We had a lot of adrenaline running. We were playing very intensely. We were just overdoing it and needed to settle down."
The Jays did settle down and started the second half looking like a completely different team. However, they still weren't able to capitalize on any of their scoring opportunities.
Their first opportunity, a pass play between Kleinberg and Naik, led to a shot from the box that missed the goal. Hopkins continued to attack strongly from the sides, but crossed passes never seemed to connect with other players, and penalties continued to thwart many of the Jays' scoring opportunities. After outshooting Washington 21-7, regulation ended with the score still 0-0.
"We got a lot more chances the second half," Coach Appleby said. "Their defense was a little more tired, which allowed us to find better spaces to get the ball through on the wings and down the center. Unfortunately, we couldn't finish."
Washington College started overtime with the ball. After only three minutes of play, the Jays' missed opportunities came back to haunt them when Washington College's Brian Schultz broke away from the Hopkins defense and sent a low, unassisted shot past junior goalkeeper Matt Mierley into the left side of the goal.
"We didn't take good care of the ball possession-wise. The ball happened to bounce away for a breakaway, and they were able to just put it in," Mierley said.
The game's anticlimactic ending was a reminder to the Jays how important it is to make the most out of every scoring opportunity. It was also a reminder that, although they have great strength offensively, they need to be equally as strong defensively.
"We pushed forward a little too much and put pressure on our back line," Appleby said. "We need to not take as many chances and make sure that all 11 players are doing their jobs defensively and not give opportunities to the other team."
With the Centennial Conference playoffs coming up next weekend, the Jays look to tie up the loose ends. As the third seed, they will bypass the first round and will take on second-seeded Gettysburg on Saturday. "In the next game, overall we're looking to improve our mentality. We want to go out early and put teams away early. We're looking to finish. If we actually play in the first half, then we shouldn't have a problem beating teams this weekend," sophomore defender Chris Wilson said.
"It should be a really good test of our ability to bounce back. We've shown a lot of character throughout the year, especially in games when we've come from behind. It's also motivation that Gettysburg beat us last week. We want to get them back," Carlson said.
The Jays end their regular season with a record of 11-4-3.
