Last Saturday, the men’s soccer team lost to the Illinois College Blueboys in the team’s second Midwest Conference game of the season, 1-0. The Pioneers played ferociously, keeping Illinois at bay with the score at a draw of 0-0 for the majority of the game. However, Illinois managed to score within the last five minutes of the game and scraped by with a victory.
Nevertheless, Michael Hurley ’16 remains undeterred by the loss.
“[This loss] means we have an uphill battle, but it doesn’t mean we’re out of the race at all,” he said. “We’ve seen … that anybody can really beat anybody. We’re trying to look at the positive side.”
Goalkeeper Isaiah Tyree ’15 agreed that despite the loss, the team was far from disheartened. Rather, there was a sense of confidence in the future of the team’s Conference run.
“I think we’re one of the most talented teams all-around in the Conference,” he said. “We have a lot of players who can play at every position, and I think [these upcoming games] will be about showing that and getting the results that we know we can get.”
In the match, Grinnell outplayed the Blueboys in the shots battle, 13-6. Elliott Meyer ’15 took three shots and Hurley, Pearse Narum ’17, Antonio Dimarco ’18 and Joey Brown ’15 took two shots each.
Tyree vigorously worked the goal during the first half, successfully defending the Blueboys from finding the back of the net. The Pioneers rallied together an impressive defense and offense for the majority of the game, and displayed a large measure of coordination and communication in the defense department to shut out the opposition, which had been a weakness identified by team members earlier this week during practices.
Hurley likewise capitulated on the idea of achieving the best results possible instead of focusing on long-term goals for the Pioneers, such as winning the Conference or predicting the outcome of their upcoming games.
“Personally, I don’t want to set any expectations right now because we’re 0-2 in Conference right now,” Hurley said. “We just need to get focused and improve our own play right now.”
With this in mind, the Pioneers have determined to set about improving their gameplay and strategy, focusing their attentions inward instead of outward onto rival teams.
The team will continue its “uphill battle” within Conference and travel to face Lake Forest College, followed by a game against Cornell College on Sunday.
