The Washington College men's soccer team captured their first victory of the season on September 12 against the Gophers of Goucher College.
The Shoremen captured their first win on an unusual goal by freshman forward, Dave Dudick, in double overtime.
However, despite the great progress made by the Shoremen in these past few games, they suffered a loss at home to Gettysburg in their first Centennial Conference game.
The game that led to the first victory for WC was won in double overtime at Beldon Field against Goucher. The Shoremen have gone into overtime in three of their first four games.
Senior Chris Hastings hinted that he would like to see the team take their victories during the regulation time.
"I am getting tired of the overtime, I am too old to run more then 90 minutes a game," he said.
"Seriously though, I think that first win will help us build our confidence and jump start a winning season."
On the road to their first win, WC struck first, only nine minutes into the game, when freshman Dave Dudick scored his first collegiate goal. The Gophers tied the score at the 11:53 mark when a re-directed ball off the foot of junior midfielder, Loy McCarl, trickled into the Washington goal.
The game remained tied at one apiece for the remainder of the regulation game, even though Washington got off 16 shots in the second half and overtime.
The game-winning goal began as a pass from Dudick that was deflected by a Goucher defender trying to knock the ball away. The ball was deflected into the goal, giving the game to the Shoremen.
"It was not the best win, but a win is a win and the important thing is we got the first one under our belt," said sophomore Geoff Foltyn. "Now we can move on and start playing the way we know we can. Going into overtime three times in four games proves that we are a tough squad, and we are going to battle everything out until the end."
Despite their victory against Goucher, the Shoremen dropped their conference opener on Saturday, September 15 to Gettysburg College.
The Shoremen lost the battle in a tight one, 2-1 which dropped their overall record to 1-3-1, while the Bullets moved to 1-0 in the conference and 5-1 overall.
The Shoremen, quick to score first, got on the board in just over four minutes, when Dudick intercepted a Bullet pass 40 yards out and beat two defenders to knock in a goal. Dudick has scored Washington's last three goals. The Shoremen lead of 1-0 was maintained throughout the first half.
Gettysburg evened the score at the 47:51 mark when sophomore midfielder, Will Hohman, tapped in a goal off an assist from junior midfielder, Michael Bruno. The score remained tied until the 74:26 mark, when Gettysburg's sophomore defender, Andrew Smith, booted in the unassisted game winner. Bullet junior goalkeeper Steve Kopp made seven saves in the win, while WC freshman Ryan Miller recorded nine.
Gettysburg held a 13-8 advantage in shots on goal.
The Shoremen return to action tomorrow when they travel to F&M at 1 p.m. to take on the Diplomats.
The Shoremen are looking to progress, with more wins, into what has been deemed by many as the toughest part of their season.
"Over the past four games, our team has given nothing short of 120 percent every game," added Brian Kearney. "Everyone on this team is a factor in how we play, and our three over-time games show the tremendous effort that everyone has put forth."
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