The men’s soccer team is about halfway through their season with a track record of 7-3; 5-0 in NCAA’s Division III Northwest Conference. Their longest win streak is six games in a row, most of which happened on the home field.
Fresh from their 3-1 win against Linfield College, the Loggers played against Whitman College on Oct. 5.
The team has a high percentage of juniors and seniors, a handful of sophomores and only a few freshmen.
This distribution is typically an advantage for sports teams because it allows the players to become a more cohesive unit and truly understand each others’ skills and weaknesses.
The Loggers have had a fairly good season this year. They have won games by a wide margin and have only lost two games by one goal—which means the teams were evenly matched.
Currently, the University of Puget Sound is number one in the Northwest Conference, while Whitman College is in third place with a 3-1-1 score in the same division.
The Saturday game took place at Puget Sound on a clear, sunny day. The teams were tied 0-0 at the first half with both sides attempting shots at the goals.
Junior Nathan King (Preston, Wash.) was the starting goalie for the Loggers and Stewart Ellsworth was the starting goalie for Whitman.
Five minutes into the game, Logger senior Carson Swope (Portland, Ore.) started off with a shot that was saved by Ellsworth. Soon after, Whitman player Logan Grime countered with a shot that was saved by King.
At one point in the first half, the Loggers tried to take advantage of the three corner kicks all led by senior Luke Sandblom (Scottsdale, Ariz.). After a few more shots and fouls awarded to both teams, Puget Sound junior Sean Ryan (Mill Creek, Wash.) changed the pace of the game with a high header shot.
The second period of the game started off a little slower with two fouls on Whitman and a corner kick for the Loggers by senior Eneko Bereziatua (Boise, Idaho). Ryan made the first shot for Puget Sound a little more than a third of the way into the second half, but it went wide.
By the start of the second half, Whitman had 10 fouls compared to the Loggers’ conservative five. A little over 10 minutes into the second period, the Whitman team also took many opportunities to score with three corner kicks by Junpei Tsuji, all within two minutes of one another.
As the game approached the 90-minute mark, neither team made a goal.
However, just before the game ended, only couple seconds before the whistle blew, Swope took a wide shot.
After a long and tiring game, the game went onto overtime, which means that both teams play 10 players including the goalie (as opposed to the usual 11). The goalies did not change for either team throughout the game and into overtime.
Four minutes into overtime, Whitman received a red card, which merited the Loggers a penalty kick. Swope scored his sixth goal for the season, which was also the first goal for the Loggers against Whitman. His penalty kick goal gave the Loggers the lead with a score of 1-0. The roar of the crowd after Swope’s goal rang throughout campus, clearly demonstrating the fans’ pride in and enthusiasm for their team.
The men’s soccer team is off to a great start in their conference season, as they are now at the top of the leader board with a record of 5-0.
Students, faculty and community members will have multiple opportunities to cheer on the Logger men’s soccer team. The Loggers had a game last Sunday, Oct. 6, against Whitworth and have an upcoming game Oct. 12 against Pacific Lutheran University.
