No. 1 Swarthmore Soccer Caps Garnet Homecoming With 4-0 Victory Over McDaniel
SWARTHMORE, Pa. - With over 800 fans, students and alumni packed in the Clothier Field Stadium bleachers for Garnet Homecoming Weekend, the No. 1 Swarthmore College men's soccer team put on a show that no one in attendance is likely to forget.
Senior Morgan Langley scored two first-half highlight-reel goals and added an assist to his NCAA-leading total, while junior Fabian Castro scored a goal and added two assists as the Garnet (12-1-2, 5-0-2) overwhelmed McDaniel with a combination of speed and skill, defeating the Green Terror 4-0 on Saturday evening.
Castro scored a goal and added two assists in the 4-0 win.
Freshman Noah Sterngold scored the first goal of his Garnet career in the second half to cap the scoring for Swarthmore, which gets back on track after suffering its first defeat of the season to Richard Stockton (2-1 2OT) on Wednesday.
Swarthmore showed why it currently holds No. 1 national ranking , dismantling the Green Terror with precision passing and unmatched speed, with Garnet attackers literally dribbling circles around Green Terror defenders during portions of the first half.
After a few close calls in the opening minutes, the Garnet finally got on the board in the 27th minute. Langley took a pass from Kieran Reichart in the midfield, dribbled to the far left end line and fired a shot into the far post from what appeared to be an physics-defying angle, beating McDaniel goalkeeper Zach Nibbelink to make it a 1-0 game.
From there, the floodgates opened, and the Garnet offense was running on all cylinders. Just three minutes later, Castro and Langley found themselves all alone on a breakaway, with Langley dishing to a wide-open Castro, who dribbled around Nibbelink for the easy goal, making it a 2-0 Swarthmore advantage. Then just seven minutes later, it was Castro and Langley again, with Castro setting up Langley for the breakaway this time around on an acrobatic bicycle kick pass from the midfield. All alone on the break, Langley juked past Nibbelink for his second goal, making it a 3-0 at the 37-minute mark.
With the score 3-0 into the second half, Noah Sterngold added the icing on the cake, scoring the first goal of his Garnet career with a blast from the center of the box - assisted from Castro - in the 69th minute to bring the game to the 4-0 final.
With the win, the Garnet moves to 9-0 for the season at Clothier Field Stadium and extends its home unbeaten streak to 22 matches.
The Garnet held significant advantages in shots (21-4), shots on goal (11-1) and corner kicks (3-1).
In net for Swarthmore, junior David D'Annunzio made one save in 72 minutes of action, while freshman Peter Maxted finished out the game for his first action of the 2010 season.
Swarthmore will look to clinch a Centennial Conference playoff berth as well as home field for the Centennial Championships as it travels to Allentown to face No. 19 Muhlenberg on Wednesday. Action is slated to begin at 7:00 p.m.