It came down to sudden death on Sunday afternoon on Merlo Field. After the men’s soccer team ended regulation in a one all tie against San Jose State, senior Geoffrey Dunn secured a 2-1 Pilot win with a diving header off of a free kick assist by junior Matthew Coffey.
The student section rushed the field to celebrate.
It is clear the men’s soccer program is turning over a new leaf. The Pilots are now on a three game winning streak, one of the highlights being Friday’s 2-0 win over No. 25 Ohio State. But more than that, the team has now accomplished the same number of wins in just four games as they had last year in 18.
“(That) speaks to the character of the group and the leadership (on this team),” head coach Nick Carlin Voigt said.
Carlin-Voigt said the only adjustments he’s made are at midfield. Even so, there is a new energy when the men take the field. And their attitude towards the game has seemingly changed.
Junior forward Erik Edwardson, who came off the bench and scored the first goal of the game off of a free kick that bounced off the post and into the goal, grinned when he talked about how the team has had more buy-in this year.
“We all believe in ourselves 100 percent,” Edwardson said. “We believe in each other so that's like our motto ‘one team, one goal, one family.’”
Dunn echoed Edwardson, saying that through the four years he’s been here, there has been a lot of change on The Bluff and Carlin Voigt has brought out the best in his team. He says that now there is some competition between the players on the field and those who come off the bench.
As a player who doesn’t start, he needs that.
“It really pushes everyone to get better because the guys on the bench are pushing as hard as the starters,” Dunn said. “As you can see we scored two goals with bench players today and it really shows that our bench is going to be needed.”
The Pilots will head to Indiana for their first road game of the season against the Evansville Aces on Sept. 9 at 5 p.m.
