The Hopkins men’s soccer team took on competitor Scranton at Homewood Field this past Saturday afternoon. In a long match that went into double overtime, Scranton scored the game-winning goal in the 108th minute, winning against Hopkins 2-1.
The match began as an action packed game, with both teams having many chances to score. However, the game remained scoreless until it was almost over.
It was not until the 73rd minute when Nick Paganelli from the opposing team put Scranton on the scoreboard first. It was his first goal of the season.
Scranton’s lead did not last for long, however.
Just 46 seconds later, Hopkins junior Mark Spencer crossed a long ball over the Scranton defense to freshman attacker David Adejunmobi who chipped the ball into the goal from about 10 yards out to tie up the score.
The score stayed tied, forcing the two teams to go into overtime. When the score remained tied after the first extra period, Hopkins and Scranton entered into double overtime.
In the 108th minute, Scranton’s Bill McGuiness scored the golden goal from 25 yards out. The hard, low shot beat Hopkins’ freshman goalie Matt Paris to lead Scranton to the 2-1 win.
Paris, who saw his first action on the varsity team in this game, played for 60:51 when he replaced junior starting goalie Nick Cerrone.
Cerrone, after getting a knee to the face, was forced to leave the game at the 46:29-mark with a broken nose. The two-time All-Centennial Conference honoree will hope to be back on the field soon.
In this weekend’s game, Paris made three saves, while Cerrone made four saves before leaving.
“We played really hard the whole game and it was a really tough loss,” sophomore Andrew Park said. “But that happens in soccer, we’ll come back next game.”
Despite losing a long and well-contested game to Scranton, the men’s soccer team returned to action last night against York from Pennsylvania to try to get back on track as quickly as possible.
Defense ruled the night as neither team was able to find twine through much of the game.
With Cerrone still sidelined by his broken nose, Paris once again manned the pipes for the Blue Jays, and filled in admirably. The Spartans outshot the Blue Jays 14-9 while Hopkins held the advantage in corner kicks, five to four.
Despite putting more shots on net than the Blue Jays, Paris’ five saves were key in holding back the York attack.
However, in the 89th minute of the game York entered the Hopkins zone on a 4-on-3 break, bearing down on Paris. York’s Daniel Baxter then played a ball across to Spartan junior forward Chris Weaver who beat Paris on the far post to seal a last minute win for the Spartans while sending the Blue Jays to their second consecutive heart-breaking loss.
“Overall as a team, whenever we step on the field we want to win. We want to get stronger as a team as the year goes on,” sophomore Gary Lawrence said.
Lawrence mentioned that the team hopes to give up less goals than they have in the past on the defensive side.
“Our team really wants to win the conference,” sophomore Kenny Destefano said. “We have good team chemistry this year, a lot better than it has been before because we have a lot of returning players from last year. However, our new freshmen are a great addition to the team. We definitely have a chance to go far this year.”
Later, Destefano commented on the team’s winning mentality.
"We have a winning mentality this year, and we're finding ways to score creatively, especially with new freshmen like David Adejunmobi and Victor Osio. This makes us a fun team to watch, and we thank everybody who has been coming out to our games this year, we truly appreciate the support."
Although the Blue Jays are eight-time Centennial Conference champions, they were picked to finish fourth in the Centennial Conference this year. A predominantly upperclassmen team, the Hopkins men’s soccer team are more experienced this year and are a more seasoned unit. This should help the team find the back of the net in future matches.
The Blue Jays are now 2-2-1, and return to action on Sept. 18 on Homewood field to host rival York. The non-conference game is set for a 7 p.m. start on Wednesday.
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