The Elizabethtown College men’s soccer team traveled to Ewing, N.J., Sept. 8 to play Rutgers University-Newark. The ending score was 3-0, Rutgers. Within the first three minutes, the Scarlet Raiders scored the first goal and didn’t stop there.
In the 14th minute, first-year Garrett Winchilla had a scoring opportunity, as did junior Travis Wilson in the 26th minute.
The Jays fit two more opportunities in before the half, one in the 38th minute from senior Mitchell Gochnauer and another in the 41st minute carried out by first-year Massimo Mazzella.
Although none of these shots were successful in putting Etown on the board, the shots were present, just not in the Blue Jays’ favor.
In the end, Etown had more shots than Rutgers-Newark, but the Scarlet Raiders capitalized on three of their goals, sweeping the men in blue in the TCNJ Classic.
The men faced the hosts of the TCNJ Classic the next day and fell 3-1 in a match against the Lions.
Within the first five minutes of the match, The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) had already scored a goal, and about 10 minutes later scored again on a penalty kick.
This put the Jays in a hole early in the game, but senior Cameron Dorr ripped a shot from 25 yards out, capitalizing on the opportunity given to him as he scored his first career goal.
In the last few minutes, TCNJ put the game away with one more goal, locking in their win at 3-1. As the men’s soccer season officially starts, the Blue Jays will play again Saturday, Sept. 15 at 7 p.m. against Lebanon Valley College on home turf.
The Etown women’s soccer team stayed at home to host Gettysburg College on a rainy Saturday, only to suffer its first loss of the season.
The Bullets held most of the possession throughout the game, only letting off two shots total, one being on net.
Gettysburg took a whopping 13 total shots with seven being on-net, testing the Blue Jays’ goalkeeper, sophomore Christine Fox.
To prepare for this match, “Coach Amy Hough set(s) up creative drills to get our minds thinking, which forces us to be more creative on the field,” first-year Gracie Brubaker stated.
In the first half, the Bullets rattled off only two shots against the home team, but they were easy saves for Fox, who made four total saves during gameplay.
However, the second half was when all of the damage was done. The Bullets scored in the 50th minute and then again in the 62nd and 66th minutes to put Etown in a three goal hole and with not much time to catch up.
First-year Leigh Ungerleider had the best chance for the Jays to score in the 86th minute, but the Bullets’ goalkeeper came through to give them the shutout.
“We might have been losing but we did not give up, and I am proud of my team for not hanging any heads,” Brubaker said.
The Jays play Stevenson University Saturday, Sept. 15, at 1 p.m.
