By Johnny Alexandre '22
LEWISTON, Maine - The Connecticut College men's soccer team defeated the Bates Bobcats by a score of 5-1 on Saturday afternoon at Russell Street Field. The victory marks the sixth consecutive win for the Camels against the Bobcats in the last six years. Senior
MT Tshuma (Magwegwe, Zimbabwe) and sophomore
Rye Jaran (Downingtown, Pa.) each scored two goals in the lopsided victory.
Despite both teams' aggressive play and high volume of shots throughout, the first goal of the game wasn't scored until the 52nd minute of the match when Tshuma volleyed a cross sent in from teammate
Steve Yeonas (McLean, Va.) into the back of the net for the 1-0 lead. Five minutes later, at the 57-minute mark, the Camels would conservatively play a corner kick in close on the left wing. Team captain Yeonas would again contribute, dribbling the ball around Bates defenders and setting up teammate Alesandro Horvath Diano (New Haven, Conn.) for the easy score.
In the 76th minute, Tshuma would receive teammate
Alex Robles' (Reston, Va.) pass at the top of the 18-yard box, take a touch to clear space, and place a hard shot on the ground into the corner of the Bates net for the 3-0 lead and his second goal of the game.
Both teams would make mass substitutions at this point to give new players experience, relieving Camel goalie
Sam Maidenberg (Orange, Conn.), who shut out the Bobcats by saving all four shots he faced.
Bates midfielder Owen Keleher would respond in the 82nd minute, curving a pretty shot into the top right corner of the net for a goal, but it was too little too late, especially considering the Camels would add two more goals of their own in the final ten minutes of the game. Both would come off the boot of Jaran. The first was on a directly taken 25-yard free-kick, and the last came with the sophomore knocking a bouncing cross in for the final goal in a confident 5-1 Camel victory.
The Camels led in shots, 17-13, and shots on goal, 8-5, while Bates (4-1, NESCAC 1-1) had a 6-4 edge in corner kick opportunities. Maidenberg earned the victory, his first of the season, and goaltender Ryan Manning the loss after making three saves and surrendering all of the goals in 76 minutes of action.
Connecticut College (1-1, NESCAC 1-0) will next face off against the Colby College Mules tomorrow afternoon at 1:30 p.m. in Waterville, Maine.