September 27, 2007 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

CHC men trap Bears, 2-0
by TOM UTESCHER

CHC’s Andrew Thorne strikes, making the first goal of the game. For more photos visit www.chlocalphotos.com. (Photos by Jimmy J. Pack Jr.)

The scoreboard still read 0-0 at halftime of last Wednesday’s soccer scuffle at Chestnut Hill College, but it seemed only a matter of time before the Bears of Ursinus College took the lead in the match.

The visitors dictated much of the play in the first half and for the most part kept the ball in the Griffins’ half of the field. The Bears were already building a sizable advantage in the shot column, which would later show a total of 31 attempts for Ursinus while the Griffin men managed just five.

None of this fazed Chestnut Hill’s first-year head coach Seamus O’Connor, who is clearly a man with a plan. His squad would wind up winning 2-0 on a pair of goals by sophomore Andrew Thorne.

“You don’t get any points for possession; it’s whoever has the most goals at the end that wins,” he observed.

When asked about the defensive posture displayed by his squad throughout the first half, he replied, “That’s how we like to play. Being a first-year [Division II] program, we haven’t got all the players or the style of players we need to play our formation. This year we have to make sure we stay in every game we play, and to do that, we play like you saw in the first half.

“It ends up frustrating teams,” he continued. “They keep coming forward, keep getting frustrated, and we just catch them on the break. We’re playing to our strengths, because we’ve got a lot of speed up top.”

While Ursinus slipped to a 3-4 record as a result, CHC improved to 4-1-1, and the locals had just learned that sophomore midfielder Alexander Waters had received honorable mention in the player of the week selections within the Central Atlantic Athletic Conference.

Although the Griffins had already beaten two Division II teams in their first four non-conference games, their September 15 CACC opener against New Jersey’s Caldwell College resulted in their lone loss thus far, 3-0.

“They just have tremendous athletes all over the field,” O’Connor recounted. “We had two quality chances in the first ten minutes and we didn’t score, and against a team like that you can’t miss those chances. I told the guys that how we respond to that first loss will show us what kind of character we have.”

For O’Connor, that meant being patient and playing within the team’s system, even though Ursinus, a solid Division III club, appeared to be all over the Griffins in the opening half last Wednesday.

“Most of the teams we’ve played have outshot us,” CHC’s mentor said, “but we’re giving them outside shots, and our goalkeeper’s too good to get beat from 25 yards out.”

The Griffins’ freshman keeper, Duhan Malali, made ten stops during the match, while visitor Ed de Gottal collected one for the Bears. CHC’s Brandon Saylor literally used his head, and Mike Ritter employed his feet, to save two other Ursinus shots. Saylor, a senior who at 5’2” is almost always the smallest man on the field in Chestnut Hill’s games, made an impact on the other end of the pitch, as well, assisting on both Griffin goals.

As the first period wound down, CHC’s Bear-baiting was having an effect, as Ursinus was visibly irritated at not being able to capitalize on any of its numerous shots.

“For the second half,” CHC’s O’Connor explained, “we put two strikers up top to put pressure on them, because they expected us to come out again with low pressure. When they think they’re going to have time with the ball and now you’re right on them, that’s when they’re going to make mistakes.”

Less than three minutes into the second stanza, the play that led to the winning goal began to develop as Saylor brought the ball down the right wing near the sideline. Angling inside a little, he crossed the ball into the box to catch Thorne in stride on a run through the middle, and the Griffins were on the board.

Thorne then had a near miss at the top right corner, and Ursinus came back upfield for a few scoring chances. CHC’s Malali charged out to take the ball right off the toes of forward George Belaires, and the Bears’ John George send one shot wide to the left and another over the crossbar.

The hosts tacked on an insurance goal with 21:49 remaining, converting on a restart from little outside the 18 in the middle of the field. Saylor sent the ball around the right end of the visitors’ defensive wall, finding Thorne. The CHC sophomore dribbled straight towards the near post and then stuck a shot up under the crossbar from close range.

The Bears made a few charges late in the game, but Chestnut Hill’s Malali maintained his shutout until the final horn.

“The boys are playing a very professional style of soccer – it’s used at the highest levels,” O’Connor commented. “It needs players who are disciplined, and sometimes we’re not and that’s when we struggle. Most of the time, though, we’re executing it to a “T.”