Middlebury lost on Wednesday evening to
The pace of the game and story line was a tale of two
halves; but the results were the same at the end of each half. In the
first half our offensive players did not handle their
pressure well at all and we turned the ball over too often. When we had
possessions we generated some quality shots, but we did not give ourselves
enough opportunities. On the defensive end we
were solid and did not give up a lot of opportunities, so we went into the half
with a 4-3 score in a game that would best be described as sloppy. We
came out much sharper on offense in the second half, generating much better
opportunities and cashing in on them more often. Unfortunately,
There were several bright spots on the day. Gabe Wood and Ben Raymond continued to play well down low
on defense for us. Pete Mellen had another
great day facing off. Nick Bastis was a big
spark on offense. Both Jim Cabrera and Chip Campbell were out of the
lineup with injuries so Bastis filled in some at
Midfield as well as playing attack and he was the lone bright spot on the
offensive end, netting 4 excellent goals.
Freshman Mike Stone had a nice goal in the 4th
after missing on a couple earlier opportunities, but at least he shows the
ability to create if he can shoot better in game situations. Other than
that, unfortunately there were more disappointments than quality
performances. There appears to be a group of players
who are playing afraid to lose, a group of players that may think we can win
just because we are Middlebury and are waiting for us to win, and then, quite
honestly, a few too many players that are just too inexperienced to be handling
the role they are in currently without upperclassmen stepping up around
them. There was one stretch in the game during which 4 or 5 critical mistakes were made in a row, all by either
freshmen or first year starters.
We will need to learn quickly or we will be in for a tough
road! We play Wesleyan home Saturday and they have proven to be one of
the top 2-3 teams in the league the past several seasons. We then play
RPI Tuesday,
Best,