BY JASON HONGIN YUN

In print | Published October 30, 2008

Despite the inclement weather, the Garnet men’s soccer team (12-2-1, 6-1 CC) defeated the McDaniel College Green Terror on Saturday, October 2, moving into first place in the Centennial Conference.

In a match cut short due to lightening, the 25th-ranked Garnet took full advantage of the weather throughout the game. “The key to the game,” team captain Jeff Kushner ’09 said, “was taking into account the rain and puddles throughout the field.” The Garnet focused on having as many shots as possible and pressing the opponent’s defense. Defensively, the players successfully restrained the Terror while the offense placed balls to the corners and limited the number of back passes. As a result, the Garnet dominated the Green Terror and controlled the flow for the entire game. McDaniel was kept busy kicking the ball out of their field for the majority of the match.

Four different Swarthmore players scored a goal each, leading the Garnet to a 4-0 victory over McDaniel. The first score of the night came at 28:44 when Garnet captain Dylan Langley ’10 broke away from the Green Terror defense and sent a long cross to forward Evan Nesterak ’09. Nesterak slid into the ball and sent it into the right corner of the net for his sixth goal of the season.
David Sterngold ’12 doubled the advantage four minutes later. The Garnet sent a through pass to the box that was one-touched into a shot. The Green Terror goalie cleared the shot, only to be re-collected by Sterngold who shot the ball in the middle of the net to tally the second goal for the Garnet.

Swarthmore’s domination over McDaniel became ever more apparent in the second half. Garnet’s third goal was the result of a penalty kick drawn by forward Ladule Lako Lo Sarah ’09. In the 64th minute, Lako Lo Sarah dribbled into the penalty box but was taken down by the McDaniel defense in the box. Ladule was injured and was substituted, but captain Rory Stackpole ’09 took the penalty shot and collected his first collegiate goal.

Midfielder Stu Leon ’09 scored the last goal of the game. At 65:43, Leon redirected a missed clear by the Green Terror, and the ball found the back of the net. Leon posted his first goal of the season and thirteenth goal in his Garnet career. “Stu Leon dropped the hammer and got his first goal of the season,” Kushner said.

Swarthmore’s unstoppable domination of the field continued until the game was called with eleven minutes left on the clock due to lightning and severe weather. The contest had reached the ‘reasonable point of conclusion’ of seventy minutes, as per NCAA guidelines, and the result was therefore declared final.

Various statistics clearly indicate Swarthmore’s domination over the Green Terror. The Garnet outshot the Green Terror by a 22-6 margin, with 11 shots in the first and second half each and 11 shots on goal in total. The Garnet had four corner kicks to the visitors’ zero. The McDaniel goalies, Michael Radcliffe and Benjamin Knight, made three saves in the first half and four saves in the second half, respectively. The Green Terror failed to produce any significant threat, making only one shot, comfortably saved by the Garnet Goalie David D’Annunzio ’12. D’Annunzio registered one save, collecting his fourth shut out of the season.

Head Coach Eric Wagner expressed deep satisfaction with the team. He did not hide his excitement with the team’s performance this season. Wagner commented that the 2008-2009 men’s soccer team shows depth incomparable to previous teams he coached at Swarthmore. Additionally, the fitness level of the team leaves almost no room for improvement, and confidence level is high after consecutive wins in the Conference. (The Garnet won six consecutive games in September and October.) He was especially impressed with Senior Jeff Kushner’s performance on Saturday. “He did [an] awesome job controlling the game.”

This huge win against McDaniel put the Garnet in first place in the conference over conference rival Johns Hopkins (5-0-2 CC) with two matches left in the regular season. The Garnet now have 18 points in Centennial action this season, and clinched their fourth Conference playoff appearance in the last five seasons. The six wins tie the program record for Conference victories and extend their current overall win streak to seven games in a row – the last time the Garnet won seven games in a row was in 2005. McDaniel falls to 4-9-1 overall, 1-5-1 in the Centennial Conference, while Johns Hopkins runs 11-2-3 in overall and 5-0-2 in the Centennial.

The next match for the Garnet will be in Allentown, PA where they will take on Muhlenberg on Wednesday, October 29 for a Centennial Conference contest. “We have a real tough test against Muhlenberg on Wednesday evening at their place. It’s a huge match because it could determine if we remain in first by season’s end. We are expecting a tough battle but if we play our game, we should be fine,” Kushner said.

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