Soccer does not miss a beat, beats Colby 3-1

Author: Andrew Schlegel

The men's soccer team maintained its high level of play and stretched its season-opening undefeated streak to six games with a 3-1 defeat of Colby on Sept. 29. The Panthers hosted the Mules, showing yet another team that the Panthers' home field is a not an easy place to pick up a win.

Middlebury was forced to play catch up early, though, as the Panthers came out a little sluggish, resulting in an early score by the Mules in the fourth minute. Colby midfielder Logan King '09 got the assist and forward Nate Seiberling '11 tallied the first goal against the Panthers this season.

Although the Panther shutout streak came to an end after five consecutive games, captain Alex Elias '08 viewed this as a positive for the team.

"The goal against us was a good thing in my mind," wrote Elias in an e-mail. "All of the talk about the shutout streak was a distraction and it is nice to have that out of the way. We are about getting results. If we are playing well and with confidence then goals against shouldn't be too much of a concern."

Goals against were not much of a concern against Colby as the Panthers stormed back into the game. Team scoring leader Casey Ftorek '09 struck back in the eighth minute with Baer Fisher '09 and David LaRocca '08 sharing credit for the assist.

"Teams are going to score against us," wrote Elias. "What we need to have is the character as a team to raise our level of play when we are scored on, and we did that extremely well this weekend. I was proud about how the team reacted."

The Panthers responded to the goals scored against them with probably their best play of the season. Colby did not see many chances to score after that goal as the Middlebury defense tightened up.

One reason for Colby's inability to get back in the game was the dominant play of LaRocca. He was able to get a lot of touches on the ball at the offensive end and create scoring opportunities for the Panthers. He broke through and tallied his second goal of the season in the 53 minute, catapulting Middlebury into a 2-1 lead.

"LaRocca was the player of the game for me," wrote Elias. "He's been playing well all season, but this was the first time when he really had moments when he took the game over and that is what we need from our top players. It was great to see him playing with such confidence, something we are going to need from a lot of players in the upcoming weeks."

The one-goal lead seemed like it was going to be enough with the way the Panther defense was playing. But, with a little under eight minutes left, Fisher finished off a pass from Elias to tally the last goal. The Panthers ended with that 3-1 lead and took home their fourth NESCAC victory and sixth victory overall.

Any team that is successful has players that step up and make sure that their team comes out victorious. While LaRocca did it this weekend, the Panthers will certainly need others to step up in the upcoming three-game set, when they will take on Amherst, Bowdoin and Williams.

These three teams, along with Middlebury, are perennially the top four teams in the NESCAC. The Panthers will need players to step up so they can prove themselves as the top team in the league and make another appearance in the Division III NCAA Tournament.