By Isabella Sansanelli
Sports Editor
The Washington College Men’s Soccer team faced off in their first conference match of the regular season on Saturday, Sept. 21 at Kibler Stadium against the Gettysburg College Bullets.
Before the match, the Bullets remained 4-2 in overall play, while the Shoremen were 5-2. Both enjoying a relatively successful season as they geared up for conference play.
Gettysburg took the lead at the end of the first half with a goal off of opponent Oladayo Thomas in the minute 36 to shut out the first half with Gettysburg in the lead.
The Bullets ran with the lead going into the second half as additional goals were scored within only 10 minutes of each other at 70:20 and 80:30 by opponents Ezekiel Omosanya and Jack Carroll, respectively.
“They were a great team and they definitely came in with a lot of momentum,” said senior captain Sean Garin. “They had a strong and aggressive offense that we didn’t quite match.”
Sophomore Joe Mutscheller would take the only shot on goal of the night for the Shoremen in the second half. Mutscheller headed the ball off of an assist from junior James Strine, but it was saved at the last minute.
Mutscheller went on to be named the Goose Nation TV Shoreman of the Match for the first time in his collegiate career for his excellent performance.
The Shoremen had a tie for five leaders for shutouts that included freshman Harrison Malone, junior James Strine, juniors Zack Urbanski, Mutscheller, and freshman Ben Strine.
Junior Gavin Campbell led the team with eight saves and said, “The offense for Gettysburg was hard to defend, especially coming into the second half. Regardless, I am happy with how the team played and worked together as a team. It is definitely a match we will work from going deeper into conference play.”
The Bullets maintained a powerful 18 shots, with 11 of them on goal, as opposed to the Shoremen, who fell short with only a mere five shots total. The lack of offensive intensity was detrimental to the Shoremen in their loss, setting them back in conference play.
The Shoremen have now lost to the Bullets 25 times in a longstanding program history that dates back to 1947. The last time the Shoremen were able to best the bullets was the fall 2013 season, where the Shoremen also saw time in the Centennial Conference post-season.
“We had obviously hoped to come out strong and secure our first conference win of the season,” said junior Frank Koons. “It was definitely tough finding opportunities to advance on goal and we would have done a much better job creating those opportunities. I think we can definitely take this loss and work with it as we go forward in the season and gear up for our next match.”
The Shoremen will face off next against the Ursinus College Bears in the Bears’ stadium in Pennsylvania on Saturday, Sept. 28.