By Liam O’Murchu (@Liam_0__)
Men’s soccer finally got back in the win column with a hard fought 1-0 victory over La Salle in Philadelphia on Saturday night.
It was the Revolutionaries (3-9-4, 1-5-1 A10) first win since September 5 and their first win away from home this season. The Explorers (5-7-3, 1-4-2 A10) were fighting for their playoff lives and were eliminated from playoff contention with the loss.
“I don’t think it was the prettiest second half,” GW head coach Craig Jones said. “But sometimes you’ve got to dig in and I think we showed a bit of character tonight that we haven’t in some other games, so I was proud of that.”
The Revs only got to the field 25 minutes before the match was scheduled to start due to heavy traffic stemming from two major accidents on I-95. The traffic was so bad that the team decided to stop at an Olive Garden in Newark, Delaware rather than sit in the standstill traffic. As well as the team played, I would be mistaken not to credit the bottomless breadsticks and pasta for the win. Maybe a pregame Olive Garden trip should become a tradition.
“Credit to La Salle.” Jones said. “They asked us if we wanted to move the kick off a little bit but we were fine. Our warmup is pretty much 24 minutes. So we knew we were on time for that.”
Despite the late arrival, GW was ready to play from the start, snuffing out La Salle attacks and getting forward a bit too. The first chance for La Salle came through senior forward Justin Brunow in the 8th minute, who had a decent look that was defended well by GW freshman defender Joe Liebe and saved easily by redshirt senior Duncan Wegner.
La Salle had another solid opportunity in the 19th minute when senior midfielder Omri Ezra put redshirt senior midfielder Drew Blackwell through on goal. Blackwell put the ball into the outside side netting, but it was clear that the Explorers were not looking to sit back.
Even as they haven’t been terribly resourceful with their scoring chances this season, GW only needed one opportunity to change the tenor of the match. That came in the 32nd minute when freshman midfielder Nico Medina slid in and won the ball before quickly playing it over the top to graduate student Will Turner, who was playing on the right wing instead of his normal central midfielder position. Turner took the ball off the bounce and headed it past an Explorers defender before hammering it past sophomore goalkeeper Filip Sabbati. After six consecutive scoreless matches midseason, the Revs have scored in their last four games.
La Salle lofted in a deep corner kick in the 42nd minute, which was headed back across the face of goal. GW was unable to clear it and the bouncing ball culminated in a shot off the crossbar by redshirt junior forward Sean Yurgel. GW may have gotten away with one but the Explorers were back on the attack as the clock ticked down at the end of the half. Yurgel once again hit the crossbar, this time off a looping header to the far post. The Revs held strong and Liebe blocked the subsequent shot off the line to get to the half with the lead.
The Explorers continued to threaten to start the second half, and GW’s defense looked particularly shaky on set pieces. While La Salle had a bevy of half chances in the opening minutes of the second half, none of them were truly golden opportunities and GW maintained the lead.
GW’s best chance of the second half came in the 60th minute when freshman forward George Vincent found freshman winger Dan Dobrin on top of the box. Dobrin cut in and rifled a shot at goal, which was deflected and then rang the crossbar.
Just moments later, La Salle won a corner and dropped the ball right on top of Wegner, who collected as he retreated into the goal. The Explorers players protested that the ball had crossed the line, but the protests fell on deaf ears.
The pace of the game sped up and it became increasingly clear that La Salle was going to throw the kitchen sink at GW in order to get a result and stay in playoff contention. But every time the Explorers got into a dangerous area, the Revs defense was equal to it. The GW center backs, freshman Colin Prendergast and senior Carter Humm, were particularly strong, winning balls in the air and disrupting the Explorers attack.
“We put Carter in there and I think he’s been our man of the match the last couple of games.” Jones said. “Him and Colin won everything and didn’t give much away.”
La Salle put GW under some serious pressure as the game drew to a close but the Revolutionaries did just enough to relieve the pressure and keep their third clean sheet of the year. In a season that has been filled with frustrating games, this was a gritty result and the type of win this team simply hasn’t had this year. With the win, GW avoids having the first winless conference season in program history. Even if GW cannot qualify for the A10 playoffs, it’s clear that they still have something to play for and the result meant a lot. And crucially, they got to spend the afternoon at Olive Garden.
GW wraps their season up next Saturday at 3 PM when they welcome George Mason to the Vern to celebrate their Senior Day. That game can be streamed on ESPN+.
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