This past Labor Day weekend, the Case Western Reserve University men’s soccer team was kept busy with a home game against Otterbein University on Aug. 30 and a road game at The College of Wooster on Sept. 1.
On Friday, the team began with a devastating season opener, falling to Otterbein 0-1. During the squads first game of the season, the Spartans were unable to find the back of the net. The only tally of the match came from Otterbein’s forward Nick Isaac 17:13 minutes into the game.
The first half of the game was not ideal for the Spartans who seemed to struggle with adjusting to the new team. However, just as the squad was picking up the energy and getting in the rhythm of play, they received a red card, forcing them to play the rest of the match down one player.
Fourth-year midfielder Lukas Dalakis commented on the team’s loss.
“Obviously it’s not what we wanted for our first home game of the year. And obviously that red card in the second half wasn’t helpful. It was our first game, so obviously there’s gonna be some nerves, but I think we definitely had a lot of work to do. I think it was better that it happened now and we get that out of the way,” Dalakis said. “I think [being ready for every game we go in with high intensity] is something we struggled with against Otterbein, especially in the first half, we kind of just didn’t look like we were ready to play.”
During the match against Otterbein, second-year defender Cameron Thayer led the squad with 4 shots, out of the team’s 11 shots. And in front of the net, third-year goalkeeper Bradley Winter played all 90 minutes and saved 2 shots.
Despite an unideal home opener, the Spartans remained undeterred and bounced back in their match against Wooster, defeating the Fighting Scots with a 4-0 shutout.
The first tally on the board came during the sixth minute after a strike from fourth-year forward Kysen Kroeger. With the play, second-year midfielder Adam Pluszczyk recorded his first career assist. The Spartans later doubled their advantage with second-year defender/midfielder David Pineda scoring his first career goal, assisted by third-year forward Stephen Vilardo. And with just two seconds left in the first-half, fourth-year forward Brandon Kim added another point to the board, registering his seventh career goal. Second-year midfielder Ohta Kamiya also recorded his first career assist. In the 86th minute, Kroeger scored the fourth and final goal of the match after receiving a rebound from Dalakis’ saved shot, marking Kroeger’s first career multi-goal effort.
On the backline, starters Thayer, graduate student Eshwar Challa, third-year Philip Washington and second-year Cormac Apostolides all contributed greatly to the team’s clean sheet, alongside third-year goalkeeper Bradley Winter who made two saves.
Thayer commented on what he believed contributed to the team’s win on Saturday.
“Our energy and intensity just came out flat and quiet against Otterbein. But then in the second half and both halves of the Wooster game, we’re just firing really high energy, higher intensity, and it translated to the end result.” Thayer said.
The Spartans will look to continue this energy on the road this upcoming weekend, as they will be traveling to Williamsport, Pennsylvania for a match against Lycoming College on Sept. 7. The following week the squad will return for a pair of home games on DiSanto against Trine University and Stockton University on Sept. 13 and Sept. 17, respectively.