Harbus

Issue date: 11/10/08 Section: Sports

HBS White Team huddles during halftime before taking the field in its eventual 2-0 win over the Babson MBA team.

The HBS Soccer Club's White Team advanced to the playoffs of the Fall Boston Graduate School League, and played a tough match away at Babson this past Sunday Nov. 2. The HBS team was facing the #2 seeded opponent in Babson, a feisty team that earned up to their mascot name, the Beavers with their chippy and physical play. The two teams were slated to face-off each other during the regular season in group play, however due to inclement weather that match was cancelled.

The team, already depleted due to freak groin injuries to Derek Brown (OA) and James (Jamie) Parker (OA), would see its ranks further depleted for the semi-final match due to the celebration of Fall Equinox festivities preventing Andrew Rosskamm (NA), Ben Thomas (NB), and John Van Sickle (OC) from suiting up.

According to team captain Erik Snyder (OC), "We faced a challenge similar to the Yale tournament. In that case, we had a less than full strength squad on Saturday since it was the Saturday morning right after Priscilla and the organizers changed our match times at the last minute for an early Saturday start. In this case, due to freak injuries and the Fall Equinox, we had some key players missing. But I knew if we had the remaining core of players show up, we could motivate the players to be on their A game and beat Babson."

After experiencing some trouble and confusion locating the field, which was ultimately at Olin College instead of Babson in scenic Wellesley MA, the somewhat depleted team showed up ready to play and quickly warm-up. Debutant GK Marc (Glasses are Secure) Farrell (NI) was welcomed to the squad and the HBS White team ranks were bolstered by the return of BJ Grattan (partner), Michael (Destroyer) Lobach (OJ), and Rafa (Mexican Crouch) Garcia-Matar (OJ) to league play.

The first half started fair enough, although the Babson team was quick to start its physical play with tough tackles on Paul Wang (HBS/HKS), Brian (Lil Bunt) Kirschbaum (NB), and Adam (Twinkletoes) Flake (NC). The physical style of play soon resulted in the first of a series of injuries to the HBS White Team, as debutant GK Farrell (NI) and his glasses were knocked out of the match fifteen minutes into the 1st half by a tough challenge from a Babson forward. Regular first team GK Charles Huang (OJ) quickly warmed-up and jumped into the nets as Farrell was resigned to the sideline with the injury. Yet not ten minutes later, another physical challenge from Babson knocked forward Rafa Garcia-Matar (OJ) out of the match. Despite protests to the referee to maintain order, Babson continued to play aggressively. However, the HBS team capitalized with a free kick expertly taken by Lobach (OJ) in the midfield finding Shawn Tydlaska (partner) open in the right corner of the field. Tydlaska played a nice cross across the box and Adam (Twinkletoes) Flake made no mistake to finish, putting HBS up 1-0 just before half-time.

Continued...

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