This past weekend your Colorado College Tigers Men’s Soccer Team traveled to sunny California for a two-day shootout against Pomona-Pitzer Colleges and University of Redlands.
The first match, against Pomona-Pitzer was “a gritty, physical game of momentum,” as described by sophomore forward Connor Rademacher. “We ended the half a little disheartened and lackadaisical,” said Rademacher.
CC was down 2-0 at the half, conceding a lame penalty kick at the fault of poor refereeing 20 minutes into the game. Five minutes later, Pomona crashed a corner kick and scored another goal.
“I won’t say we were worried, but we definitely knew we needed to change the way we played,” said Brian Rubin.
The next half saw a revitalized and motivated Tigers squad. Senior Captain Max Grossenbacher scored his first goal of the season, nearly 15 minutes after the second half whistle on a Penalty Kick drawn by Rademacher.
“We came out hot and we wanted to win,” recalled Rademacher, “I got popped in the face in the box and Max finished the penalty. We then settled down and got comfortable. We put hard pressure and Max had another one a couple minutes later. A tied up game really calms the nerves; you get comfy again.”
A stalemate led the two teams to a heated extra time period.
“It was hot,” recalled Rubin, “and I’m talking temperature. I mean, I was on the bench and it felt like a hundred degrees. I couldn’t imagine having to be out there sweating.”
CC kept putting on pressure, missing a couple of chances off the post, but controlling the pace of the game. The game ended in a 2-2 extra-time tie.
“We showed determination and grit against a good team. I guess it’s better than an L, but I don’t think anyone here is satisfied with the result,” said junior center defender Jack McCormick. The next day the Tigers took on a solid University of Redlands team on their home field.
“The fans were out, the sun was out, and our energy was low. It was a rough start, no doubt,” said Rademacher. That seems to be a theme for the Tigers thus far into the season: slow starts and solid comebacks.
University of Redlands came out hard, dominating the first half, playing off of the Tigers’ fatigue. They then scored five minutes into the second half. The Tigers returned fire with a Jack McCormick goal, this time off of a corner kick to equalize the match. The Tigers, for the third time in a row, went into an extra-time period. Redlands took advantage of a tired, worn-down CC team and finished a trash goal to win the game in the second overtime period. “
We weren’t outplayed, just a little gassed. It was a rough game all the way around,” said Rademacher.
“Something about the way we play, we just don’t get fired up until we get provoked. If we want to dominate and get a good playoff bid, we have to start turning up earlier in the game,” continued Rademacher.
The Tigers left California with a tie and a loss, making their record 1-1-1. They take on the University of Dallas to kick off SCAC conference play this coming Friday at 3 p.m. and then play out-of-conference Wartburg College on Sunday at 1:30 p.m..
“This weekend is going to set the tone for our conference play,” said Rademacher. “We need to come out hard and establish ourselves as a hard-hitting, high-volume team in the SCAC. We want to send a message to the SCAC that we are going to dominate the conference and get the playoff bid.”