Garnet Fly Past Quakers!
The Swarthmore men's soccer team used four second-half goals, including a flying header by Andrew Terker '06, to cruise past Earlham (IN) 4-1 in the Garnet Alumni Classic on Saturday evening.
Earlham got on the board first, firing a flurry of shots at Garnet keeper Reuben Heyman-Kantor '06. Quaker forward Chris Sloan got free on the left side of the Garnet box and deftly slipped a shot past the Swarthmore goalie. The ball trickled toward the open net and the crowd of 220 gasped as the ball glanced off the right post. Earlham's Atiq Zamani quickly pounced on the rebound and Heyman-Kantor was forced to make a defensive save from point-blank range. Zamani chased down his own rebound and lifted the ball over the keeper's head, where Sloan deposited it in the net via a header.
The Garnet had a great opportunity in the 21st minute when Evan Nesterik got taken down inside the Quaker penalty box. Brendan Grady took the penalty kick and got the keeper to move off his line, but unfortunately pushed his shot wide left.
Swarthmore kept attacking in the second half, fighting through some physical play by the Quakers. Alex Elkins '06 lofted a free kick into the Earlham box, and the ball found a leaping Stu Leone '09 who deflected it past the Quaker keeper for his first collegiate goal.
Five minutes later, Swarthmore struck again. Senior Paul Thibodeau lofted a cross into the center of the box and Ladule Lako La Sarah '09 headed it onto the far wing. Winger Mat Schiller '07 came streaking in, and in mid-air, volleyed the ball over the out-stretched hands of the Earlham keeper for the 2-1 Swarthmore lead.
A round of nifty passing led to a Colton Bangs '07 goal at the 77:59 mark, and the Garnet put the icing on the cake when Terker dove head first to meet a Yoi Tibbets '09 cross at 89:30 sending the Garnet fans into a prolonged celebration.
The Garnet (1-0) take to the field on Sunday afternoon against the Royals of the University of Scranton. Swarthmore fans should expect a dogfight at tomorrow's 4:00 p.m. game; the last two Scranton/Swarthmore matches have ended in a tie (0-0 in 2004, and 1-1 in 2003).
Scranton defeated Widener 1-0 in the early match at the Garnet Alumni Classic.