Men’s Soccer Suffers A Close Defeat to Williams

MATEO VAZQUEZ’21
SPORTS EDITOR
 
This past homecoming weekend many of The College’s athletic teams were out in full force to represent that Bantam pride. Unfortunately, the men’s soccer team lost a very close game to Middlebury College on Saturday, which put them at a 2-11 overall record for the season. The Bantams had an early start to the game driven by the large support from the homecoming crowd the energy was evident on the field. Very early on in the 19th minute of game play sophomore Alistair Matule (Charlestown, MA) was able to sneak behind the Middlebury defense and in turn received a perfectly placed through-ball from classmate John Mullin (Falmouth, ME). Excelling in the moment to deliver a surprise strike on goal against the Panthers, Matule quickly delivered a bent shot on goal. The shot was able to go perfectly around the keeper and place the Bantams at a 1-0 lead early on in the game. As if that was not enough, the Bantams found another moment to excel on the field and continued the lead over Middlebury in the first half. Recognizing that the Panther defense was lacking, the necessary communication to stop the Bantam offense the team rallied to score another goal in the 24th minute of game play. Once again, Matule was able to maneuver his way around the Panthers defense and place himself in another excellent position for a through-ball from rookie Logan Peterson (Nottingham, MD) which placed Matule just outside the Panthers goal box and in perfect striking distance for a second goal. However, after the last drive by the Bantams, the Panthers quickly fixed the gaps that were occurring in their defense and rallied to score a shot from a loose ball in Trinity territory. Continuing their effort, Middlebury found a moment where they had possession to break away down the line and ended up drawing the keeper out, leaving an ample opportunity to tie the game at 2-2. Then as a result of a penalty outside of the Trinity box, the Panthers were able to work from the foul and score a goal which sealed the game at 2-3. Throughout the second half, there was a lot of back and forth ball action. However, there was not one moment were either team dominated over the other. It was for the most part a largely defensive half. With the lack of shots on target and sheer number of chances that the Bantams were able to benefit from the score held at 2-3 and the Bantams dropped a match to the Middlebury College Panthers. The final matches for Bantams are this Sunday (Oct. 24) against Wheaton College and the following Wednesday against Amherst College.