Hopkins men's soccer played two games this past week, both Centennial Conference affairs. On Friday, the Blue Jays defeated Muhlenberg at home, 1-0, before beginning a four-game road trip at Gettysburg on Tuesday where Hopkins mustered a scoreless tie. The black and blue now stand at 4-2-3 overall and 2-0-1 in the Centennial action.
This marked the second straight week that the Jays had won 1-0 and tied at zero, with those matches coming against Haverford and York, respectively.
Since Hopkins' 7-0 slamming of Goucher on September 4th, the Blue Jays have struggled to find the back of the net, scoring just four goals in their last seven games.At the same time, their defense and goalie play has been nearly impeccable, surrendering just four goals of their own during that same span, including four consecutive shutouts.
Hopkins' match-up with Muhlenberg was without a doubt their most critical game of the season to date. Muhlenberg entered the game ranked 19th in the nation and was riding a five-game win streak.
As could have been predicted, the game was a close-knit affair. Although it didn't reach overtime like their last three meetings, Hopkins would sweat the victory out until the end of the 90th minute.
With senior forward and team-scoring leader Sean Coleman out with an injury, the Jays spent most of the first half looking for alternate ways of scoring. But in 31st minute, Hopkins was rewarded the break they were looking for when Muhlenberg's Danny Way, the conference leader in shots per game, was red-carded.
Hopkins took advantage of the power-play opportunity, scoring with just under two minutes to go in the first half. Freshman midfielder Kotaro Mitsuhashi, The News-Letter's Athlete of the week, received a pass from classmate and fellow midfielder Rob Heuler, drilling his first career goal to give Hopkins the lead, 1-0.
Mitsuhashi's goal would prove to be the game-winner because of the stellar goal-play of another freshman, Nick Cerrone. Although Cerrone would only be tested twice by Mule shots--Muhlenberg's first shot on goal was not until the 61st minute--his work earned him Centennial Conference defensive player of the week honors.
The win bumped Hopkins into first-place in the conference heading into Tuesday at Gettysburg.
Against the Bullets, the Blue Jays struggled to score once again, drawing a scoreless tie after two overtimes. Gettysburg narrowly earned an edge in shots-on-goal, 15-14, but neither team managed any past Cerrone or Bullet goalie Connor Darrell.
With the tie, Hopkins and Gettysburg are now tied for second-place at 2-0-1, just behind the 3-0 Red Devils of Dickinson.
Hopkins returns to action on Monday at Franklin and Marshall before traveling to Salisbury for a non-conference contest on Wednesday. They will then finish up their road stand against Ursinus October 8.
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