By Josh Niswander
Elm Staff Writer
Last weekend Washington College men’s soccer participated in the Dickinson College Tournament in Carlisle, Pa. WC played two games total. Their first game was on Saturday afternoon versus Gordon College, and their second was Sunday afternoon versus Lycoming.
In the game against Gordon College, sophomore goalkeeper Jonathan Luciani got the start at goalie and made 15 saves. Unfortunately, those 15 saves were not enough to secure the win, as Gordon was able to score twice and prevail with a 2-0 victory.
The Shoremen were outshot 31-10 in the game. WC’s first shot on goal was not registered until the 51st minute when junior Brian Graham had his shot stopped by Gordon’s goalkeeper. Sophomore Griffin Bull had a team high six shots for the Shoremen, but was unable to find the back of the net with any.
On Sunday, Lycoming was also able to get the better of the Shoremen, prevailing with a 3-1 victory.
WC secured the opening goal of the game with roughly 27 minutes left. At the half, senior defender and captain, Michael Holowesko, was able to score off of a corner kick from freshman James Strine.
“We were playing our best soccer at the time,” Holowesko said.
WC could not take the early lead into halftime as Lycoming knotted up the score at 1-1 with just under 15 minutes left to play. The first half was a physical contest that saw both teams combine for 21 fouls and 15 shots, 10 for Lycoming and five for the Shoremen.
In the second half, Lycoming pounced early and scored roughly three minutes in to push their lead to 2-1, a lead the team would not surrender. Lycoming extended their lead to 3-1 off an unassisted goal with about 32 minutes to play. Freshman goalkeeper, Gavin Campbell, in his first collegiate game, recorded eight saves along with three goals allowed in the losing effort for WC.
“We played much better this weekend than we have in previous games. We are improving every game and just need to clean up our small mistakes. We have been moving the ball well around the field and it showed this weekend. It was unfortunate we could not get the results this weekend, but they will come,” sophomore Kyle Gaeffke said.
The Shoremen fell to 0-4 on the season with the two non-conference tournament losses last weekend.
“It is important that we bring a lot of intensity and focus to our practices and games, regardless of what is happening off of the field,” Holowesko said.
Last season, the Shoremen began the year 1-4, before turning their season around by securing a playoff berth after finishing the year with a record of 10-7-2.
WC plays three of their next five games at home, where they were 7-3 a year ago.
“We just have to keep the energy up that we have at the beginning of the game going for the full ninety minutes,” Bull said.