Men's soccer looks to take it one day at a time

JULIA TIERNAN/YH Neill Guilbert, SY '00, battles for the ball against Connecticut.

Coach Brian Tompkins is pleased with the team's dedication in practice, saying that it should pay dividends down the road. "I'm a believer that you get what you earn," he said. Tompkins, however, emphasized the importance of taking the season one day at a time. "We know that one bad day doesn't make a season and we know that one good day doesn't either," he said. "We only hope that we have more good days than bad days. We'll see where we end up."

And taking things one step at a time means not dwelling on last season's disappointments. Instead, the Bulldogs will try to use the wisdom earned last year to help them this season. "You gain knowledge from the past," Tompkins said. But he added, "You let [the past] be."

Phil Harris, SM '00, one of the standouts on last year's squad, agreed with Tompkins. "We were extremely disappointed last season, but now we know what we have to do. We won't repeat the same mistakes as last year," he said.

So, for now, the Bulldogs are completely focused on Harvard. And anytime Harvard and Yale meet in a sporting event, it's a big deal. This game will be particularly significant since both Harvard and Yale are serious title contenders. "It's always a grudge match [against Harvard]; it's always close," Harris said.

"Winning at Harvard is a big priority," Tompkins acknowledged. He said that Harvard has been struggling to score goals this season. "We'll be focusing on using our team speed to exploit them," Tompkins added.

The Elis are coming off a very tough and intense 1-0 loss to the University of Connecticut, one of the top-ranked teams in the nation, on Wed., Sept. 23.

Going into the game against Connecticut, the Bulldogs knew what they had to do to stop the Huskies' attack. "They are a very technical team," Harris said. "They have good individual players, so we had to play good defense. We also had make sure to take advantage of our chances."

Tompkins added that in addition to having great individual talent, the Huskies also play well as a team on both the offensive and defensive ends. Tompkins knew that the Bulldogs would have to play with conviction, something they lacked in their loss to the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. "They're a great possession team and they like to get behind you," Tompkins said.

The Bulldogs came into the game believing that they could pull off an upset against Connecticut. The team hung with the Huskies for the first 77 minutes of the game despite having both Jac Gould, CC '00, and Harris sidelined with ankle injuries.

The Bulldogs and Huskies battled back and forth, neither team able to take control of the game. After the half, with the score still tied at zero, the Elis began to dominate play. But with 13:40 left in the game, a foul on Yale gave the Huskies a penalty kick. Connecticut converted on the opportunity, creating a 1-0 lead which they never lost.

"With our guys injured, we played quite effectively," Tompkins said. "It was always going to come down to a break, and unfortunately we got the bad break. He also added that he was pleased with the officiating overall, but thought that the call that gave Connecticut its penalty shot was questionable.

Tompkins was happy with how the Bulldogs performed against Connecticut, as well as how they have performed overall this season. "Our guys were smart and gutsy," he said. "They weren't having much success getting behind us. There is something positive to take out of this. We did really well considering what we were up against, and this should help against Harvard."

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