Crucial Liberty League Weekend

October 10

After four second-half goals to clinch a 5-0 victory over Bard on Tuesday, Vassar soccer heads into its most important weekend of the season so far, as we resume our Liberty League campaign at home against Clarkson and St. Lawrence.

This afternoon we take on Clarkson at 4 PM. Clarkson was our only league victory last season, and currently sit in last place at 0-3. They are also currently the only Liberty League team (5-5-1) to not have a winning record overall. However, we have heard that they are a tough and hard-working team that will bury you if you don’t come out focused and ready to play. We learned this lesson all too well my sophomore year, in our final league game of the season. While Clarkson came in at 0-6, we had just been knocked out of the playoff race the day before and the disappointment clearly caused us to come out flat. Clarkson ran away with a 6-2 rout. Last season was much better, as we won 2-0 in a game that possibly could have been worse if not for a fantastic performance by Clarkson goalkeeper Jonathon Rushing. It will be difficult to keep them off the scoreboard this year however, as striker Scott Desmond is second in the league with five goals and has twice won Liberty League Offensive Player of the Week.

On Saturday at 2 PM we play St. Lawrence, historically one of the top teams in the league and the region. They won the National Championship in 1999 and the Liberty League championship in both my freshman and sophomore year. They also made the NCAA tournament every year from 1998 to 2006. Their absence from the tournament last year was somewhat perplexing after holding the top seed all season before losing in the league championship game to Hamilton. Despite this daunting record, we’ll have to find a way to win this game and we’ve had some success against St. Lawrence in the past. Vassar has a 2-4-2 all-time record against the Saints despite a 4-1 loss last season. My freshman year we tied them 2-2 after managing to score two own goals on ourselves, a game we absolutely should have won. St. Lawrence has some good upperclassmen, including goalkeeper Emilio Coletta and leading scorer Emmanuel Mbong. They also have a host of young players who contribute, including freshman Brendan Gorman (5 goals, 5 assists). It will be a tough weekend for us, but we need points to stay alive in the playoff race, and we may very well need all 6 points from these two games.