By Taylor Konyk
Elm Staff Writer
The Shoremen narrowly escaped the McDaniel College Green Terror to maintain their perfect record, now 7-0 (editor’s note: the Shoremen moved to 8-0 after the writing of this article after an 11-10 victory over Haverford College). Battling back after trailing 4-3 in the first quarter, Wasington College finished the day with a 14-12 victory.
After senior Bennett Cord bulged the twine to make the game 2-0, the Terror fought back. The Green Terror gave the Shoremen defense fits by drawing out lengthy time of possession, wearing down the defense. To make matters worse, the defense played with little urgency, and lacked desperation in their clearing game—putting a substantial amount of pressure on goaltender Ted DiSalvo.
With momentum favoring the Green Terror Head Coach Jeff Shirk called a timeout to refocus his men.
“I just stressed speed of play on the D. We were doing more watching,” Shirk said. “We ended up making the stops we had to but we struggled with groundballs.”
Despite defensive breakdowns throughout the match, DiSalvo was quite thankful of his team’s efforts.
“They did a fairly good job,” he said, referring to his defenders, “but let [McDaniel] get a few close shots off,” he said.
WC attack stepped up in a big way to seal the win. Failed clears and turnovers made it difficult for the attack to sustain any pressure, but timely goals by junior Jim Cusick and Cord allowed the Shoremen to stay competitive. Cord’s late second quarter wrap-around goal helped change the momentum in WC’s favor. Defense began outworking McDaniel’s attack, and the midfield started to win more faceoffs—hard work paid off as the Shoremen blasted their way to an 11-7 lead.
Just as it started to look like WC was running away with the score, McDaniel scored three goals in less than two minutes—bringing them within one goal of the tie.
And so began the dogfight. The game got a lot more chippy as every facet of the game became more important.
“I think this game reminded me of the St. Mary’s game,” said Cord referring to the overtime win earlier in the season. “We came back because we settled in on offense.”
Though the attack had some success with its run-and-gun style offense—sacrificed possession put more pressure on the defense. McDaniel, not being as talented as the Shoremen, smartly drew out their possessions to grind the WC defense down.
Naturally, the key to the victory was patience. Patience and goaltending, that is.
On goaltender Ted DiSalvo, Cord said, “He’s stepping up. He’s got some big shoes to fill and he’s playing phenomenally,”.
As has been the story all season, the Shoremen have found a way to get the job done. Their matinee against McDaniel was ugly at times, but that doesn’t forego the fact that they persevered again.
The Shoremen will go on the road playing a Wednesday night game against Haverford, and another Saturday matinee versus Franklin and Marshall. The men have their work cut out for them considering the recent break-downs in the defensive zone, but a tighter schedule may help keep them focused.
The Shoremen, so far, have found ways to win despite their problem areas. Imagine where this team will go when everyone is clicking on all cylinders. As for now, they sit snugly at fourth in the nation.
The Centennial Conference is always supremely talented and will be a challenge moving forward as the inter-conference play progresses. If the start of the season is any indication, the Shoremen will rise to the occasion.