Recovering From a Tough Weekend

September 29

It was a difficult weekend for Vassar soccer, and after only two games we’ve left ourselves in a tough position to qualify for both the Liberty League playoffs and the ECAC championships should we fall short of the Liberty League title. Union is always a difficult opponent, but we’ve performed well against them in recent years. On Friday, we fought hard on a wet turf field, but fell behind 1-0 on a breakaway goal for Union. The big blow came with 30 seconds left in the half, as nobody picked up after a goal kick and Union grabbed a last-second goal to double their lead going into the break. While we attacked for most of the second half, we were unable to find a response and fell 2-0 in our league opener. Despite us getting to halftime against Skidmore with no score, the outcome was similar; we weren’t outplayed but two breakdowns at the back allowed Skidmore to take a 2-0 lead. A late goal by Brian Bianchetti was no consolation as we fell to 0-2 in the league and already 3 points out of the playoff places.

Of course, the season is far from over, and with our last five league games at home there is still time to turn things around. My sophomore year we started 0-3 in the league before two straight victories sent us into the final weekend with a chance to make the playoffs- we were eliminated with a 2-0 loss at home to St. Lawrence but it was a hard-fought game and the result could have gone either way. There has been a lot of discussion amongst the players this weekend and as upset as everyone is we all realize that we can’t give up- we need to push ourselves a little harder both in training and in matches. We’ll have a hard week of practice before Saturday’s game against Green Mountain. This will hopefully keep us in match shape for October 10th, when we resume our Liberty League campaign with a game against Clarkson that is surely a must-win after last weekend’s performance.