The men’s soccer team cruised past the competition last weekend, as it defeated Bates College, 6-1, on Saturday, before playing to a 7-0 win over Suffolk University on Sunday. Rejuvenated by the pair of wins, the Jeffs will hit the road in their return to NESCAC competition against Bowdoin on Sept. 27.
Amherst easily controlled Bates in its first home game of the season. The Jeffs outplayed their opponent, dominating nearly every game statistic. They outshot Bates, 20-6, and had a plus-seven advantage in corner kicks. The Jeffs also played with renewed intensity, as evidenced by the 19-9 advantage in fouls. Bates did give the team a brief scare in the second half, making it onto the scoreboard with a goal in the seventy-seventh minute, but with a 5-1 deficit, it was too little, too late.
“The Bates game was a huge game for us,” said tri-captain senior defender Grayson Holland. “The team was energized after a good week of practice for the home opener. There is something special about weekend home games, and since we don’t get many during our time here, we all wanted to make the most of it. We needed to win. That was our goal. We had to take steps forward after last weekend. We did that.”
The men kept the momentum rolling into Sunday as they blew past Suffolk in a shutout. The Jeffs again outshot the competition, this time by a far wider margin. Amherst held the advantage with a whopping shot ratio of 33-5, with 18 of those on goal.
Tri-captain forward Jake Duker ’09 earned NESCAC Player of the Week honors for his performance over the weekend. Duker scored five goals in the two games, with two goals coming against Bates and a hat trick against Suffolk. First-year forward Jae Heo also had an impressive weekend. Heo had four goals, netting two goals in two consecutive games. Meanwhile, senior goalkeeper Jeff Grover made his return to the starting lineup and notched five saves in each game, earning his first shutout of the year against Suffolk.
The Jeffs complemented their outstanding individual play with exceptional team cohesion. The strong showing over the weekend restored the Jeffs’ spirits after the tough loss to Middlebury last weekend.
“The team morale is great right now,” claimed first-year midfielder/forward James Mooney. “Middlebury feels like so long ago and we are just looking forward now to keeping up our proliferate scoring. The team played great during both games as we came out fired up and with a whole new feel. We had a certain fire and connection between us we didn’t have against Middlebury.”
Since the Middlebury game, the Jeffs have rededicated themselves to practice, working to improve team unity and prepare themselves for whatever challenges the upcoming games may bring. Their efforts have paid off so far, as seen in last weekend’s results. However, the wins will not change the Jeffs’ strategy. One of the few bright spots of the loss against Middlebury is that it taught the Jeffs not to be complacent.
“The team is focused on the next game against Bowdoin,” said Holland. “League games are very important and we want to take care of business. We feel good about our performance this past weekend, and we’ll carry that into the next weekend. On Monday our focus shifts to Bowdoin.”