Bring On The Terriers...

After a stretch of 3 tough road games in New York and scenic Indiana, Brown Men’s soccer returned to our home turf this week to regroup for our next match against Marist University. Although Marist usually isn’t a game highlighted on the schedule, the boys knew this game had to be a statement. With results not going our way, it was time for us to stand our ground. For the next week of practice, Marist was all there ever was, it was the most important game of our season.

From a cold dark Tuesday morning to a clear Thursday night, we put in a tireless and concentrated effort. Whether we were working on our shape, honing our skills, or running end line to end line again and again, there was no feeling sorry for ourselves only a hunger. A drive to win. There are few stronger motivations than upholding the tradition of Brown Men’s Soccer.

A wise man would not approach a bear backed into a corner… A small chill of an otherwise perfect night under the lights at none other than Stevenson field was the setting of Friday night’s game. Not the largest of Brown soccer crowds, but a strong parent contingent kept the air buzzing with Brown pride. It seemed like names were still being announced and the reserve one touch game had yet to declare a winner, before Brown was already knocking down Marist’s door. Our pressure proved a problem early forcing a late tackle from a Marist defender awarding Brown a penalty kick in the first 5 minutes. A mother sending her last kid to college is a good analogy for how Voltaire looked giving up the ball to Pepe to take the penalty kick, but all worries were instantly abided once Pepe’s deft run up sent the keeper diving the wrong way. 1-0 Brown! 

Now if you’re familiar at all with Brown Men’s Soccer you’re saying to yourself “Might as well settle in, belt my pants up, and get ready for some hard knocking defend the Alamo defense as we grind this 1-0 win out.” Well you’d be corr- completely wrong! Not 3 minutes later, Jack G-Baby Gorab sent a beautiful free kick set between the Marist keeper and Tariq Akeel. I know who my money is on.  Tariq Akeel heads home his first career goal. After many close calls last season, the ribs of Tariq not being able to score in a real game are over. Sorry Ben! He wasn’t done either. At this point there were murmurs along the Brown sideline “Wouldn’t it be crazy, if we scored every 5 minutes?” well in the 13^th minute Voltaire (feeling extra generous after relinquishing the pk) offered one of his more stylish assists, ally-ooping a header off the crossbar for –you guessed it-  Tariq to send into the net. It must have taken all the composure in the world for the coaching staff to fight back their smiles as they set to work reeling us in to play a focused game… with good measure there were still 75 minutes left! But the Brown Bears ever true kept fighting on. As the old men began to tire out in the closing minutes of the half, the next goal came from a freshmen connection Jason WonderTouch Pesek to NateBro Pomeroy for Pesek’s 2^nd assist and Nate’s first goal of the year. 4-0 halftime, not too shabby. 

It’s not easy to keep intensity after 4-0, luckily it’s also not easy to create intensity when you’re down 0-4. After a short-lived surge by Marist to open the half Brown’s defense settled in and took control and Brown resumed its onslaught. It was about the 80^th minute when someone realized: There are no Juniors on the scorecard! The Junior class immediately realized their folly and Dan Taylor drove a long ball into the box for a classy one touch finish from Tom Arns to send Marist home with a 5-0 defeat. A cool and collected performance earned the back line and a shared performance by Josh Weiner and Mitch Kupstas, their second shutout of the season as well as some valuable playing time for the entire “healthy” team.

While the victory was sweet, it was back to business the very next day for Brown Men’s soccer. A good win, but it won’t be Marists in our way as we claw uphill towards the post season. Our eyes’ now train on Boston University as they come to town Tuesday night. Will we see flashes of pale white like last year? One can only hope!

Signing out.. Mitch Kupstas