M. Soccer bests Griffins to remain unbeaten

This past Saturday, the Hopkins men’s soccer team faced off against the Gwynedd Mercy Griffins for the first time ever at Homewood Field, despite the torrential downpour that had ravaged the field just an hour before. The Jays came out strong and wowed their fans with a 2-0 victory, bringing their overall record on the young season to 3-0-2.

Standout freshman midfielder Achim Younker scored both of the Jays’ goals, the first within just a little over 15 minutes into the first half, and the second right around the 70 minute mark. The first goal came off an assist from senior forward Victor Osio, while Younker’s second scoring strike occurred after he had hit the bar on the shot prior. Younker was able to rally to the ball and send the deflection into the back of the net to give the Jays a 2-0 lead. He is now the team leader in goals. So far this season, six different players have scored goals for the Blue Jays.

Hopkins dominated possession of the ball throughout the contest and outshot the Griffins by a 30-5 margin, securing more corners as well.

Senior goalkeeper Bryan See made three saves, making this the eighth shutout of his career and his third shutout in five games so far. He was also named the Centennial Conference Men’s Soccer Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts in goal for the Jays. The award came off a week in which See led the Blue Jays to a 2-0-0 record and recorded shutouts against both Gwynedd Mercy and Frostburg State University. He has a .895 save percentage and a 0.37 goals against average percentage.

“We had a technically sound performance, dominated in terms of possession, but at times lacked dynamic offense, especially in the first half. We are growing as a team though and are on a very positive trajectory,” junior midfielder Drew Collins said.

The Jays have gotten off to a great start, and senior midfielder Samy Ramadane added that the team hopes to keep that momentum going.

“One of our more tangible goals includes winning the Conference Championship, but most importantly we are striving for continuous development as a team throughout our whole season, especially tactically and mentally. Success will undoubtedly accompany these improvements,” Ramadane said.

Head Coach Craig Appleby is understandably happy with his team’s performance thus far.

“We are five games in and have only given up two goals with no losses. The team will be tested this week,” he said. “Hopefully we are up to the challenge.”

Appleby was the first coach in Hopkins history to lead the team to the NCAA tournament in his inaugural season. Hopkins has now gone undefeated through their first five contests in two of the last three years.

The game ended with only five shots on goal for Gwynedd Mercy, who were also able to save 20 shots on goal. The Jays attempted an impressive 31 shots in the contest and only needed to send back three shots in the victory. This is due mainly to the fact that the Blue Jays dominated the ball offensively for the majority of the game.

All in all, it was a thrilling game that sent the stadium of hyped-up fans back to their dorms happy. While the Jays were able to score twice, they also had some extremely close shots by various players such as Osio, junior forward Mike Swiercz and sophomore forward/midfielder Gerrit Church, who were all stifled by the Griffins’ defense.

The Blue Jays will be playing next against the Haverford College Fords on Saturday, Sept. 17. They will be traveling for the first time in two weeks to play the Spartans, and the game is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. on Graham Field.