Yesterday I saw one of the the most exciting athletic contests I’ve ever witnessed. Our soccer team was in the second round of the NCAA tournament, having dispatched Saint Joseph’s on Saturday. We had come from behind against WNEC and the score was tied at 1 a piece at the end of a very even match. Each overtime period was tense with end-to-end action, and Wes had a few very close chances. But it was still tied after two overtimes, and so we went into the penalty kick round. Our first-year all NESCAC goalie, Adam Purdy, made a great stop on the sixth WNEC player, which sealed the deal for Wesleyan. We were moving on!
For the first time, Wesleyan’s Men’s Soccer Team will participate in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA tourney. We play Rochester at Messiah College in PA on Saturday.
This has been a great year for the team. Seniors Nick Whipple and Woody Redpath were named to the All-NESCAC first team, along with Adam Purdy, who was also named Rookie of the Year. Wes had another three players named to All-NESCAC second team: seniors Asante Brooks and Keisuke Yamashita, and junior Jacob Mergendoller.
Coach Geoff Wheeler deserves high praise for putting together this great team, and he was just recognized with the NESCAC Coach of the Year award. GO WES!!
[tags]men’s soccer, NESCAC, Adam Purdy, Nick Whipple, Woody Redpath, Asante Brooks, Keisuke Yamashita, Jacob Mergendoller, Geoff Wheeler[/tags]
I too was at the first- and second-round games last weekend where our extremely talented squad found ways to win against excellent teams, on different surfaces and under different conditions.
These men deserve our continued support. I hope to see a legion of Cardinal fans on the sidelines in Grantham PA this Saturday at 7:30 p.m. .
Jim Dresser ’63, P’93
Chairman Emeritus
This is great news to hear about the Wesleyan soccer program. In the Fall of 1977, when Wesleyan had an above-average season, we had to be content with knocking off Division I soccer power UConn, a program that would win the Division I National Championship several years later.