SWARTHMORE, Pa.—The Swarthmore College Garnet men's soccer team got a hard-earned victory over the Gettysburg Bullets 2-1 on Saturday afternoon at Clothier Field Stadium. The Garnet jumped over Haverford in the Centennial Conference standings for fifth place, which would be the fifth and final playoff spot should the Garnet hold on for the final two games of the season.
After a scoreless first half, the Garnet came out flying and notched the afternoon's first goal just three and a half minutes into the second half. Junior defender
Michael Gross made a slick tackle inside the Garnet half of the field along the left sideline. The ball popped to senior midfielder
Trevor Homstad who quickly played it forward to junior wing
Joe Barile. Barile made a 65-yard sprint down the left sideline, a Gettysburg defender draped all over him. He shrugged off that defender, split two more Bullets, and slipped a deft ball across the goal to freshman forward
Bless Tumushabe. Tumushabe one-timed it into the right side of the net, where a Bullet defender couldn't clear and only helped it on its way into the net.
It was Tumushabe's fourth goal of the season. Barile, the team leader in goals with six, moved even with Tumushabe on assists (4) for the team lead as well.
The Garnet spent the next half hour alternating between seeking the second goal to kill off the match and repelling major attacking pushes by the visitors. With just over 12 minutes to play and Gettysburg putting significant pressure on Swarthmore, the Garnet lost track of the Bullets' left winger Precious Ozoh. Ozoh pounced on a ball that slipped through to the left side of the Swarthmore penalty area and slotted it past freshman goalkeeper
Max Kral for the equalizer.
Ironically, the goal against settled the Garnet nerves, and they turned the momentum in the other direction immediately after the kickoff. In a match that looked like it was headed to overtime, the hosts manufactured a dramatic late winner. With a little over four minutes remaining, Barile and Tumushabe combined down the left flank again, leading to Swarthmore's second corner of the match. Gross stepped up to take the corner from the left flag, drove a perfect ball into the middle of the box, and found sophomore centerback
Harry Nevins completely unmarked near the right post. Nevins made no mistake, heading down into the lower right corner for the eventual match-winner. It was Nevins' second goal of the season, and perhaps the biggest of his Swarthmore career so far.
The victory—and the three Centennial Conference points—puts Swarthmore at 11 points in the standings, one ahead of Haverford, and into fifth place. The top five teams in the standings will advance to the conference tournament, with an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament on the line. Swarthmore last played in the CC tournament in 2015.
Gettysburg falls to 9-5-1 (4-2-1, 13 points, fourth-place Centennial). Swarthmore improves to 10-2-3 (3-2-2, 11 points, fifth CC). The Garnet play Washington College on Wednesday, Senior Night, at Clothier Field Stadium. Kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m.
