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BY TARIQ FISCHER

In print | Published November 4, 2004

Rivalry games are supposed to be close, right?

The men’s soccer team closed out the regular season on Saturday night at Clothier field by unceremoniously obliterating an overmatched Haverford squad 3-1.

The outcome of the game was never in question, as Alex Elkins ‘06 scored off an unassisted rebound in the first 15 minutes of play, leaving Ford keeper Tom Reynolds sprawled out on the ground, staring at the ball in the net. Swat has not blown a lead all season and hammered home two more goals in the first 50 minutes of play to send the 4-14 Fords home with more shame than Eddie Murphy after his run-in with a transsexual Hollywood prostitute. Elkins’ goal immediately quieted the Haverford fans in attendance, fans usually famous for their loud and excruciatingly simple-minded taunting.

The atmosphere around Clothier Field was unusual calm before the 5 p.m. kickoff. For the first time in years, Swat entered the game “knowing that it wasn’t the last game of the season,” coach Eric Wagner said, after his team finished carving up the soft underbelly of the Fords’ defense. “[That] was really great,” he said. The squad clinched a playoff spot last Wednesday against Ursinus. That knowledge may have contributed to the backyard woodshed beating that the Tide subsequently handed Haverford.

“We had a lot of desire, heart, and energy,” Kirk Ellison ‘05 said of the match, "and even though we weren’t completely technically sound, we wanted to win it more than Haverford."

The win was the first ever against Haverford for coach Wagner and the first for Swat since 1995. Wagner expressed a sense of detached relief in the wake of the historic victory. “It’s good to get the monkey off my back,” he said. “Let’s move on to the next challenge.”

The next challenge comes Friday, as Swat takes on McDaniel in the Tide’s first-ever Centennial Conference playoff match at Johns Hopkins. The Garnet was rewarded with the third seed and the accompanying semifinal spot after a 6-2-1 season in conference. Wagner is taking an unusual approach to the postseason, explaining, “we’re happy to be where we are right now.” The team has already accomplished a lengthy list of preseason goals and now, Wagner continued, he “does not want to waste this opportunity.”

The Tide battled McDaniel to a 0-0 draw earlier this season. “They kind of outplayed us a little bit, so we’re going to try to possess the ball a little bit better,” Wagner said.

A victory on Friday night would carry Swarthmore into the finals on Saturday, most likely against Johns Hopkins. The Tide also played two games in two days earlier this season over fall break. “We know that we have to prepare ourselves mentally a little differently than we did before,” Wagner explained. “The guys will remember ‘that was rough.’”

Practice has continued as usual, with a few exceptions. “We’re having fun in practice and keeping each other psyched,” said Brandon Washington ‘08. Goalkeeper Nathan Shupe ’05 has been playing with an injured thumb. Although his level of play has not dropped off, Wagner explained that “it affects how hard we train him.” Manic goal-scoring animal Andrew Terker ’06 was injured on Saturday with a sprained ankle. "I won’t be 100 percent on Friday, but I am definitely going to get out and play," Terker said.

Regardless of the outcome of Friday’s game, this season has been a major step forward for a program on the rise. “The plan is to continue to improve the program every year,” Wagner said. “Ultimately there’s no question that being a Hopkins-level program is something I want to do.”

Terker explained that this season’s success “is a lot more than we expected at the beginning of the year.” Elllison agreed, expressing his excitement about the team’s performance so far and about the possibilities that exist for the Garnet. “It’s been pretty awesome,” Elkins said. “We never expected to do as well as we have. We had high goals, but not this high.”

For all students interested in attending Friday’s match, the Athletics Department will be providing a fan bus which will leave from the field house at 4:30 p.m. Anyone interested can contact the department.

Haverford will not be in attendance.

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