M. Soccer looking forward to Centennial

Men's soccer returned to reality after last week's 7-0 routing of Goucher College with three hard fought matches, resulting in two losses over the weekend and a win last night.

Last Friday saw Hopkins face off against The College of New Jersey in a close 1-0 defeat. The Jays conceded a foul early in the second half, which led to TCNJ's Taylor Gregory to score his second goal of the season.

Hopkins's goalkeeper, sophomore John Belanger, made three saves, while his opposing number blocked three as well.

The next day, the Blue Jays fell foul to another set play when a free kick in the last ten minutes of the goalies match against Richard Stockton led to Hopkins conceding the only goal of the match, another 1-0 defeat. Hopkins dominated the shots-stats with 11 to Stockton's five, but it wasn't enough to put one in goal and earn a win.

Hopkins returned to winning form Wednesday night when the Jays visited St. Mary's (MD) and managed a 2-1 victory. It was St. Mary's first defeat of the season.

Freshman forward Matt Carey ended Hopkins's goalie's streak, which had extended to over 180 minutes, with a cracking goal in the 43rd minute. The shot was also his first goal of his collegiate career.

Senior forward Sean Coleman scored ten minutes into the second half to bring the score up to 2-0.

St. Mary's scored a conciliatory goal in the 69th minute but didn't manage an equalizer as the Blue Jays soared to their only victory of the week.

It was a physical game with 13 fouls and six yellow cards. The majority of the statistics supported the result: Hopkins had more shots and corners. Freshman keeper Nick Cerrone made six saves versus his opposite number's eight.

Hopkins moved to a 2-2-1 record after this week's games. Although none of these games were conference matches, they do contribute towards the Blue Jays' national ranking.

"Right now we're heavily focusing on conference games," sophomore defender Chris Douglas said. "Obviously we were expecting to do better than we did this weekend but we played a lot better [last night]…We turned a corner from the blips last weekend. Hopefully it will carry over from last night."

There is plenty of season left for the Blue Jays to show their opponents what they're made of. It would be rash to think that their record reflects the level of skill the team possesses.

Look for their next results as they return to action at Haverford this Saturday.