Men’s soccer opened up their new season 2-0 as they look to once again be a championship contender. “My main goal is to enjoy my last year with my teammates and hopefully host the Centennial Conference championships at Dickinson and win it,” said Javier Mena ‘14, the reigning conference Player of the Year.
On Friday, Aug. 30, they defeated Catholic University 5-3, and on Saturday, Sept. 1 they defeated Misericordia University 4-0. Derek Kachadurian ’14, Mena ’14, Alfred Hylton-Dei ’16 and Danny Shepard ‘17 led the Red Devils in the opening weekend.
Against Misericordia, Dickinson dominated from the get-go. Mena, the defending conference player of the year scored in the seventeenth minute to immediately control the game. Dan Gaj ’14 quickly followed suit in the thirty-third minute off of a header from Jonathan Harper ’16.
Dickinson continued to control play consistently throughout the game, bringing in two more goals. Mena scored his second goal of the day and was followed by Sheppard on another assist from Harper.
“Our strengths [are] the experience our team has together because we have a lot of returning key role players as well as the depth of our team. Any one could get substituted in and make a positive impact,” said forward Jamie Martin ’14.
These strengths were clearly portrayed against Catholic last Fri. Aug. 30, the season opener. Mena was quick to the punch and netted a goal within the first 17 minutes. Later, Kachadurian scored once again. Catholic pushed to capitalize while the lead was still small and was successful at the twenty-sixth minute.
Hylton-Dei and Sheppard were able to use the momentum of the game to their advantage to bring back the lead. In the last 15 minutes of the game, Mena scored 30 yards from goal after a free-kick to secure the Red Devils position.
Goalie Reed Milbrath ’15 contributed four saves to the win in addition to other field players making difficult volleys and assists. It was a strong opening for the Red Devils and good practice before matching up against teams in the Centennial Conference. The conference season starts on September 21 when the Red Devils travel to Ursinus. Nine of their last eleven games are against conference opponents.
The team says they are looking forward to the challenges in their difficult schedule this fall, which will include a lot of out-of-conference competition. They are working to prepare against their upcoming home game against Carnegie Mellon University this Sat. at 1 p.m.
In the past, Carnegie Mellon has finished in the top of their conference. “We’ll have the comfort of hosting so we’ll be on our grass and have support from our friends which always helps,” said Martin.
The Red Devils are currently 2-0 and hope to draw a large supportive crowd at Dickinson Park on Saturday afternoon.