A Tale of Two Halves

September 18

It was a tale of two halves for Vassar on Wednesday as we faced off against Stevens Tech- one of the top teams in the country. They were ranked fifth in the country before a loss to Swarthmore and a close win over New Paltz dropped them to #15, but there was no question as to their talent level. If we ever needed to come out ready to play, it was for this game, and unfortunately we weren’t quite able to do that. Unlike some of the other top teams in the country that we’ve played like Middlebury and Williams, who will tend start with lower pressure and focus on passing the ball around and building up their attack, Stevens has always come out flying from the start. This means that if you aren’t 100 percent focused defensively against them, you will get blown out, as evidenced by our 6-0 loss to them last season.

While I don’t think our early performance was particularly bad, I also don’t think we were as focused and intense as we are capable of it, and we paid for it by doing the one thing we really did not want to do- allowing an early goal six minutes in the game. A couple defensive breakdowns led to two more Stevens goals and we found ourselves down 3-0 at halftime and in danger of completely losing control of the game.

I didn’t hear what was said at halftime as I was helping to warm up another goalkeeper, but there’s no question that our team realized that they had a little more inside of them and committed to performing better in the second half. Sure enough, instead of falling apart in the second period, we fought back and played Stevens much more evenly, keeping the 3-0 intact. Several substitutes came on and made a difference with their work ethic and tackling, and the overall attitude in the second half was fantastic. It was definitely a lesson learned for us, as we will not be able to afford another soft start like we had on Wednesday. However, we showed a lot of character in the second half and were able to leave on more of a positive note. Also, our improved depth this season is showing, as several players who weren’t in the starting lineup put in outstanding performances in the second half, which will undoubtedly leave some tough decisions for our coaching staff this weekend, but this can only be a good thing for us as we go forward this season. We have another tough game on Saturday against Drew, currently 4-1-1 on the season.