By Liam O’Murchu (@Liam_0__)
Men’s soccer fell 2-0 to Delaware on a gloomy Tuesday afternoon to move their winless skid to six games.
The Revolutionaries (2-5-3, 0-2 A10) have not scored from open play in 608 minutes and haven’t scored at all in the last 370 minutes. The Blue Hens (6-2-2, 1-2-1 CAA) looked comfortable and confident from the start, controlling the tempo and winning duels.
“Obviously we’re disappointed with the result,” GW head coach Craig Jones said in a video posted to the team’s social media postgame. “We tried to change a couple things up and our downfall again was self-induced mistakes that we made to set up chances for them to score.”
GW started the game in a 5-back formation, a departure from the 4-3-3 we’ve seen them in to start the season. While it clogged up the middle and made it more difficult for Delaware to create through possession at times, they struggled to get meaningful numbers forward to attack.
After the teams had the first 13 minutes to feel each other out, Delaware senior defender Liam Fuller found himself in space at the back post. He took the ball down off his chest and half volleyed it off the slick turf and towards goal. Fortunately for the Revs, senior defender Lucas Matuszewski was there to clear the ball off the line.
Delaware was peppering GW with crosses and the Revs were struggling to effectively clear many of them because of the slippery conditions. This came to a head in the 23rd minute when GW freshman defender John Matlock whiffed on a header and senior forward Justin Ruth found himself in a position to direct a pseudo bicycle kick towards goal. Redshirt senior Duncan Wegner was unable to swipe it away and Delaware was (deservedly) up a goal.
Nine minutes later, Wegner had his best save of the day palming a Rich Monath far post curler away for a corner kick. Monath was a thorn in the side of the Revolutionaries all day, even if he is lying about his height (no way he’s 5’8! Don’t think we don’t notice, Rich!).
GW continued to try and make it difficult for the Blue Hens to play through them and hit on the counter. The Revs most dangerous moment of the first half came in the 42nd minute when freshman forward George Vincent shielded a ground cross at the near post, allowing graduate student midfielder Nacho Alastuey to get on it in a dangerous spot before it was blocked out for a corner kick.
The Revolutionaries didn’t waste any time creating their best chance of the day to start the second half as junior defender Sean Vaghedi stood over a free kick in the 51st minute. He whipped one into the back post and freshman defender Colin Prendergast got a head on it but put the header over the bar.
Delaware had some success getting in behind as the half wore on and GW tinkered with the midfield a bit to find a way to unlock the Blue Hens defense. But in the 73rd minute, UD would put the final nail in the coffin off a free kick given away thanks to an unnecessary and overly aggressive challenge by Matuszewski. Monath stepped up and weighted a perfect ball into the back post and onto the head of a diving TJ Hastings, who snuck behind GW graduate student midfielder Will Turner.
The Revs had a chance to cut the deficit in half in the 87th minute when Vincent held the ball up and switched play towards freshman Louis Saville, who beat a defender but put his shot wide. Alas, the scoreless drought would continue as GW was shut out for a fifth time this season and a fourth time in a row.
A bright spot from my perspective was seeing the students (almost entirely freshmen living on the Mt. Vernon campus near the field) who came out to watch despite the team’s poor form and the rainy weather. Much has been made of increased student turnout at basketball games, but as one of the few students who lives and dies by every soccer game, it warmed my heart to see others in the same boat as me.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the play of Delaware, who was incredibly organized defensively, crucially won duels and second balls, and showed the requisite quality up top to win the game. It is never easy to go onto another team’s field and beat them without conceding, which is exactly what the Blue Hens did. Look for them to compete in the CAA this year.
In terms of the Revolutionaries, they have been tough to watch in recent games. You can get away with being bereft of offensive ideas at times but the issues come when you are conceding soft goals. This is a very young team (46% of the team are freshmen) and they should be given the benefit of the doubt at times. But that doesn’t make them any less frustrating to watch.
“We keep making mistakes and giving goals to other teams,” Jones said. “Other teams don’t give us those goals and it makes it very difficult for us. Hopefully we can cut those errors out and get the confidence back up.”
Despite the doom and gloom, this team still has over 40% of its season remaining and six of their seven remaining games are conference matches. There is very much still time to turn it around and make a run towards the Atlantic 10 tournament. They know what the issues are and they seem intent on fixing them.
GW returns to A10 play on Saturday when they visit a UMass team coming off a 1-1 draw with No. 14 Vermont but sitting in the cellar of the conference standings at 0-2 (just like the Revs). Kickoff is at noon and the game will be streamed on ESPN+.
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