Tabor men's soccer goes two and one
Staff writer
This past week the Tabor men's soccer team won two and lost one.
"We started out by losing to a very good Manhattan Christian team 3-1 at their place and then we beat Sterling at home 2-0 and we beat Bethel on the road 2-0," said coach Lincoln Wulf.
According to Wulf, the team is playing more consistently as the season progresses, but still hasn't reached its peak.
"Our defense, led by Ryan Kelley at sweeper and Ian Tomson in goal, is really coming around, and our midfield, led by Jon Adrian and Matt Statler, is starting to really play well. We've been scoring goals all season thanks to Jon and Grant Brubacher up
front, but until recently we've had a problem keeping them out of the net, not due to goal keeping, but we were just not in sync defensively. We were giving away too many open shots, and not marking like we should," said Wulf.
He says that things have started to change for the better.
Against Sterling, Tabor's defensive showing was tremendous, according to Wulf. Chris Adian, a freshman from Hesston, scored a goal in the first half, and Ryan Kelley, a senior from Wichita, scored the team's second goal.
"We really marked well and held them off for some long range shots that never really threatened our goal," Wulf said.
At Bethel, Tabor gave its best defensive effort of the year, both in front of the goal and at mid-field, according to Wulf.
"We communicated well and marked very well against a very good Bethel team. Ian Tomson kept us in the game with some early saves and then we scored about midway through the first half. Jon Adrian hit a nice shot from 18 yards out off a wonderful pass from Grant Brubacher," he said.
In the second half of the Bethel game, Bethel came out and worked hard, but Tabor was on their heels, according to Wulf.
"About halfway through, Brubacher made a header goal off a corner kick by Chris Adrian kick. It was one of the best goals I've seen in college play," said Wulf.
After that, Bethel began to fade, and Tabor won the game.
Currently, Brubacher is tied for first in the KCAC in goal scoring, total points and points per game, and Adrian is fifth. Tomson has three shutout victories this year, two this week and was named "Goal Keeper of the Week" in the KCAC.
Tabor's next game will be 7 p.m. Wednesday at Southwestern College in Winfield.