On Friday, Oct. 27, the men’s varsity soccer team lost to Maret in the first round of the Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAC) tournament. The game took place at the Jelleff Recreation Center. The team put up a “good fight,” as head coach Quinn Killy described it, but they ultimately lost 1–0, and their season came to an end.
GDS and Maret played a high intensity game, constantly alternating ball possession. In the first half, senior Matthew Jones crossed the ball to freshman Nathan Tureck, who nearly managed to head the ball into the left side of the goal. The ball just barely missed the goal post.
For the remainder of the half, GDS’ players continued shooting and putting pressure on the Maret defense. Despite significant offensive intensity on both sides, the first half ended scoreless.
After about four minutes into the second half, senior Theo Burns, the GDS goalkeeper, received a yellow card for crashing into a Maret player while diving to save the ball. The foul was inside the penalty box, resulting in a penalty kick for Maret. A player on Maret’s team took the penalty kick, scoring before the referee actually blew the whistle, which meant the goal didn’t count. The player received a second chance, and, after the whistle blew, he shot. Burns dove right, but the Maret player placed the ball just above his hands, giving Maret a 1-0 lead.
In the second half, both GDS and Maret had a number of chances. In one of GDS’ attempts at a goal, the starting striker, senior Christian Charles, injured his ACL; he was taken off the field and unable to play for the remainder of the game. A Maret player was also fouled and injured and needed to be carried off the field. About 30 minutes into the second half, a Maret player received his second yellow card for fouling a GDS player and was forced out of the game by the referee.
Both goalies made numerous saves. Burns had two saves on shots coming from outside of the box. The Maret goalie had some notable saves as well, preventing GDS from tying up the game.
Both GDS and Maret put up a good fight, and, according to Burns, the team “played well, just the chances didn’t fall.”
Looking at the team over the course of the season, Killy said that the team “improved in the way that we played and the system that we played,” and their hard work was reflected in their gameplay in the final match of the season.
The team had to face many obstacles throughout the season. For example, Burns, the primary goalie, got a concussion and was unavailable for three games. According to Killy, games against Maret were always really close, the exception being the 4-2 loss without Burns.