Isabel Abarca
Senior Staff Writer
The Wooster men’s soccer team (5-10-1; 3-6 NCAC) concluded their season this past weekend at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Ind. The Scots played a tough game, battling back in the second half after falling down 4-0 early in the game. Although the men ended with a 4-2 loss, they had a successful season overall. The Scots finished sixth place out of 10 teams in the conference, which is vastly improved from last year when they placed ninth.
One thing that seemed to help the men’s soccer team this season was the unity within the team.
“I believe that the main strength we posses as a team is just that, we are a team,” said captain Philip Charnley ’15. “We know each other, we work for each other and I believe that that showed on the field and helped us work past different adversities.” This atmosphere resulted in each player contributing equally to the team, creating a close group of men on and off the field. In addition to their strong chemistry, they also possessed a disciplined defensive line and work ethic that played a vital role in their success.
These strengths were highlighted within conference play. Unfortunately, the Scots were up against very good teams during the first three conference games, including DePauw University, Kenyon College and nationally ranked Ohio Wesleyan University. This did not slow the Scot’s down, though; they went on to have a three-game winning streak late in the season with victories against Allegheny, Wittenberg and Hiram.
“While it was a hard challenge and resulted in three losses, we faced it as a team, and we proved to ourselves (especially versus OWU) that we were a good team,” said Charnley. “I believe those games pushed us to work harder and led us to a three-game winning streak in the last four games of the season.”
Prior to conference games, the team faced a handful of disadvantages that they had to overcome. Injuries were prevalent throughout the team, which made their difficult schedule even tougher.
“Since our schedule was so tough in the beginning of the year, I think we lost belief in our abilities,” said Lucas Hunt ’16. “Looking at our record and seeing a bunch of losses was not good for our confidence.”
While they were able to gain confidence in their late conference winning streak, the Scots ended their season with bitter feelings in a loss to Wabash College.
“The Wabash game will be one that will not be easy to forget. We didn’t come out to play and it cost us as they scored three goals in the first 10 minutes,” said CJ Polak ’17. “It was a rough way to end the season.”
Although the team did not get the outcome that they hoped, they are looking back at the season as a good improvement and expect to continue into next year with even more success.
Hard work will be the main focus of the team’s offseason training.
“We’re just going to keep working hard to get better both individually and as a team. Lifting, conditioning and playing are going to be key for us to be ready for next season,” said Charnley ’15. “As a team we see the off-season as a long preseason to get ready to get off to a good start next season.”