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BY BEN RAPHEL

In print | October 5, 2006

One bad break in the final minute cost Swarthmore in what otherwise was a very competitive game against Centennial conference rival Franklin & Marshall last Saturday night. F&M forward Brandon Corday scored the game’s lone goal with 36 seconds remaining by striking the ball from 35 yards out, lofting it over the head of Garnet goalkeeper Zach Weimar ’10 and into the net.

The men’s soccer team came into last Saturday’s home game knowing that F&M was a much-improved squad that would be gunning for a crucial conference victory. Last year the Garnet had defeated the Diplomats, giving F&M even more incentive to knock Swarthmore off this season.

The Garnet started out the game with some early chances that would fall short. Midfielder Evan Nesterak ’09 had a clear shot at the goal in the 15th minute of play, but his shot bounced off the post. Neither team could get the ball into the net, leaving the game scoreless after the first 45 minutes.

In the second half, Swarthmore again could not find the back of the net. At one point, it looked like midfielder Ladule Lako Lo Sarah ’09 had scored for the Garnet. But because he was ruled to be offsides, his goal was overturned, silencing the large home crowd of 380 people. Unfortunately, Swarthmore could never capitalize on its other chances, something that would haunt the team after the last-minute F&M goal that would give the Diplomats a 1-0 victory.

“The biggest thing about this game was that we didn’t put away the chances we had,” captain Patrick Christmas ’08 said. “We did a great job of keeping the ball away in the backfield, but we just needed to create more opportunities.”

On Tuesday, Swarthmore traveled down Route 320 to face local non-conference rival Widener. The team fared slightly better than on Saturday, but was only able to earn a 1-1 tie. After a scoreless first half, the Pioneers struck first in the 66th minute. The Garnet evened the score four minutes later though, when Darren Johnson ’08 scored his first career goal off a corner kick. An exciting moment for both teams occurred in the 80th minute, when Weimar collided with a Widener player who would then be carried off in an ambulance. Weimar was charged with a yellow card after the collision.

After 90 minutes of regulation and two 10-minute overtime periods, the score remained at 1-1, so the Garnet had to settle for its first tie of the season. Goalkeepers Weimar and Ryan Sutcliffe ’08 combined for six total saves.

“We came out a little flat, and as a result we allowed them to get the upper hand on us in the second half,” head coach Eric Wagner said. “Had we played to our potential, we could have won.”

Swarthmore had better success at Washington College, another Centennial conference opponent, on Sept. 27. The Garnet came away victorious against the Shoremen, 2-1. Midfielder Yoi Tibbetts ’09 scored his third goal of the season in the 22nd minute off an assist from midfielder Dylan Langley ’10 to give Swarthmore an early lead. However, Washington tied the score shortly after this, and at halftime the game remained 1-1.

Swarthmore was able to break this tie with 20 minutes left in the second half. Langley, a first-year standout for the Garnet from Hawaii, scored the game-winning goal off a header from Kushner. The win gave Swarthmore its second conference victory of the season.

The team has had two very good goalkeepers this season in Sutcliffe and Weimar, both of whom are still splitting time in the net. “Neither one has established himself as the best keeper yet, so we’re trying to give them equal time since both of them are doing well,” Wagner said.

The Garnet (6-3-1) return to the pitch in a conference match against Muhlenberg on Saturday at Clothier Field. This looks to be another challenging contest for Swarthmore. Last year, the Garnet lost twice to Muhlenberg, both in the regular season and in the conference playoffs.

“We’re 2-2 in the conference right now, so there’s not much more room for error in the conference games for the rest of the year,” Michael Bonesteel ’08 said.

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