By: Mira Diamond Berman
diamondb@grinnell.edu
The men’s soccer team won their last Midwest Conference game last Saturday Oct. 30 against Lake Forest College, pushing their conference record to 6-2 and propelling them into the conference tournament. This Friday, the team takes on Cornell College in the Midwest Conference Semi-Final match.
“It’s basically win or go home from here,” said Noah Guyton ‘23 who plays right-back on the men’s soccer team. “We haven’t played a game that has really meant that much since early on in conference.”
The teams only two conference losses were given by Knox College and Cornell early in the season; the results were 0-2 to Knox and 1-4 to Cornell. “We were hopeful that we could win conference but we lost those two pretty early on, so we had to fight for the 3rd or 4th spot,” said Guyton.
“If we win, we move on to the final and if we lose, our season is over. So, it’s a big game,” said men’s soccer captain Jasper Yang ‘22 who plays forward and midfield.
The team has built up a lot of momentum from their past 8 games, which will help with their energy in the Cornell game. In the past 8 games their only loss was 0-1 to St. Olaf College, a nationally ranked team. “A lot of confidence has come from how we’ve been playing recently. I think we’ve won 7 out of our last 8 games with the only lost being an overtime loss to the number 10 team in the country,” said Yang
Even though the game with St. Olaf ended with an unfortunate loss, it gave the team confidence about their potential in future games. “St. Olaf just really gave us the confidence and momentum to know we can play with a team like that. Not even that we were just sitting in the back playing defense the whole game, we were possessing. We had chances to score,” said Guyton. “We could have won that game, so [we] know that we can play against a team like that, that’s probably going to be in the national [tournament].”
If the men’s soccer team beats Cornell and advances to the Conference final, they will face the winner of the other semi-final bout between Lawrence University and Knox College.
Their ultimate goal is to win the conference tournament and advance into a national tournament. “We’re hoping for sure to win the Conference tournament,” said Guyton. “And to have a national tournament appearance. We don’t expect a whole lot of games in the national tournament, but you never know.”
The pioneers semi-final game is slated for 2p.m at Galesburg Highschool against Cornell College.
