Men's soccer drops Fila Classic to Brown

After the first 185 minutes of play in last weekend's Yale FILA Classic, the members of the men's soccer team had every reason to believe that they picked up right where they had left off last season—a season in which they tallied a team-record 13 wins, including several against nationally ranked teams, and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament.

JULIA TIERNAN/YH Stuart Yingst, BK '03, and the rest of the sophomore class add speed to the team.

The Elis defeated No.14 Bradley 2-1 on a Matt Schmidt, SM '01, penalty kick in double overtime on Fri., Sept. 15. Stuart Yingst's, BK '03, goal off a Schmidt corner-kick at 65:53 on Sun., Sept. 17, gave them a 1-0 lead versus No. 3 Southwest Missouri State. But then things fell apart, forcing the Bulldogs to realize that they still have some work to do if they want to equal last year's success.

Southwest Missouri State's Jamal Sutton scored two goals in four minutes to lift his team to a 2-1 victory, crushing the Bulldogs' chance to win the four-team tournament and leaving Yale with a 2-2 record in the early season. Ivy League rival Brown won the Classic and ended the weekend ranked No. 11.

Yingst, who was named to the All-Tournament team along with Schmidt and goalkeeper Geoff Hollington, SM '04, said that the final minutes of the Southwest Missouri game initially cast a dark shadow over the entire weekend. "It was a disappointing result, because we had more or less outplayed the No. 3 team in the country. We were up 1-0 with 15 minutes left, but just didn't put in the concentration and effort to close out the win," he said.

But after the team had a chance to come to terms with the loss, it became apparent that the weekend was marked more by good than by bad. "We did a lot right this weekend, and we'll just have to work to make sure we don't collapse again," Yingst said.

Head Coach Brian Tompkins said that, despite the loss, the tournament was a successful one, and that it allowed the team to determine which aspects of its play must be improved. "We played well overall, and there were a lot of positives. We learned lessons in terms of concentration and maintaining a lead, which are hard but useful lessons," he said.

Captain Danny Moss, MC '01, echoed Tompkins' analysis of the disappointing defeat. "While it was disappointing not to win our own tournament, we proved once again we can compete with any team in the country," Moss said. "The Southwest Missouri game showed us what we need to fine-tune. We let the pace of the game become too slow at the end and we collapsed."

Men's Soccer

Record:2-2 Recent Results: Lost to No. 3 Southwest Missouri in Fila Classic Coming Up: Fri., Sept. 22 at Wisconsin-Milwauke

One of the factors that may have contributed to the loss is the fact that the Elis are still learning how to play without the triumvirate of Hiro Suzuki, BR '00, Jac Gould CC '00, and Phil Harris, MC '00, who all graduated last year. Suzuki captained the team during last season's spectacular run and directed much of its offense; Gould, who amassed 95 points in his college career, was the most prolific scorer in Yale history; Harris finished fourth on the career list with 64 points. The team may still be trying to compensate for the loss of offensive experience, skill and field presence contributed by last year's seniors—a factor that might have contributed to Sunday's unexpected collapse.

Moss, however, is confident that the team will quickly regroup in order to make up for the absence of those key players. "We may be a stronger team this year in some respects," he said. "We may have lost some goal-scorers and speed, but we do have seven returning starters."

Yingst, too, believes that the team is every bit as talented as it was last year. "We brought in a solid freshman class and have some great senior leaders on the team, like Danny, Schmidtty, and Kurt [Ahlstrand, MC '01]. Jac, Phil, and Hiro were all great players, but we have a lot of strong players left," he said.

The team's next test comes today when they play at Wisconsin-Milwaukee at 7 p.m.—a team that Tompkins coached for seven years, compiling a record of 90-41-11, before arriving at Yale in 1996. Tompkins said that he is looking forward to the game. "Anytime you can play against your old coach it gives the game more spice," he said. "It will be a good test to see if we can win on the road in an out-of-region game. Obviously, I'd like to beat them."

The Bulldogs will have to compete once again without the services of Moss, who had arthroscopic surgery on his knee two weeks ago and has yet to play this year. He was able to get through a full practice for the first time post-surgery on Wednesday, and hopes to be back in game shape by the end of next week. While Hollington has done an admirable job filling in for Moss, the team will look for their captain's presence on the field to provide direction and leadership.

Once Moss returns, and if the team indeed fixes the lapses that accounted for last weekend's loss, the Elis will be a legitimate threat for both the Ancient Eight title and a return trip to the NCAA tournament. "We don't view being .500 this early in the season as a setback," Moss said. "We should be right in the thick of things once again."

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