Heavy is the Head that Wears the Crown
The Beaver men’s soccer team celebrates after clinching a share of last year’s Pac 12 title with a 1-0 win at San Diego State.
Image courtesy of Oregon State Athletics
Last year, the Beavers became the first men’s soccer team besides Stanford or Washington to raise the Pac-12 championship trophy since 2012. Picked 3rd in the conference’s preseason poll, OSU dropped only one conference game (a road loss to UCLA) en route to their first ever conference title. The fun didn’t stop there, as the Beavs entered the NCAA Tournament as the top overall seed, advancing to the Elite 8 before a heartbreaking loss to Clemson on penalty kicks. (Side note: I despise penalty kicks. Imagine an NCAA basketball game being determined by a game of one on one. It’s one of the few things about soccer I don’t enjoy.)
The 2021 Beavs captured the hearts of Corvallis, as the Pac-12 clinching game vs. UW and the subsequent NCAA tournament games hosted at Paul Lorenz field truly were a frenzy. Sold out crowds packed the stands and cheered every Sofianne Djeffal pass, every Adrian Fernandez save, every swashbuckling run by Tsiki Ntsabeleng and Mo Thiam.
The Beavers lost a lot of firepower in the offseason. Djeffal and Ntsabeleng were selected in the MLS SuperDraft by DC United and FC Dallas respectively. Tyrone Mondi, the team’s leading goalscorer, signed with Real Monarchs, the second division team of MLS’ Real Salt Lake. Goalkeeper Fernandez now plays professionally in Spain. Also moving on were all-conference honorees Carlos Moliner and Adrian Crespo.
Despite having to replace six starters, the Beavs started the 2022 campaign ranked No. 5 in the country and were tabbed as the preseason pick to win the conference again. The Beavs had a pretty tight roster: the six players mentioned above played almost 48% of all available minutes for the entire season last year. Replacing that kind of production is never easy, and it showed early. The squad dropped an exhibition to Seattle University 3-0 in August.
The first few games of the season have been frustrating to say the least. The Beavs have dominated the stats that don’t necessarily show up in the final score - in nine of the 10 halves played this season, the Beavs had had as many or more shots and corner kicks than their opponents.
Such is life when you have a season like the Beavs did in 2021. No longer can you sneak up on teams, or have an opponent say “it’s just the Beavers, how good can they possibly be?” The Beavs are now getting everyone’s best shot. No longer the hunter, now the hunted.
Last week, I cautioned Beaver Nation not to look at the early results from the men’s soccer team and jump to conclusions, that wins were coming for the boys in orange and black, and maybe this week we started to turn the corner. That 3-0 loss to Seattle looked unsightly, until the Redhawks turned around a spanked No. 4 Notre Dame 3-1 to start the season, and in South Bend no less. Thursday night, the Beavs got their revenge, dropping Seattle 1-0. Midfielder Dante Williams got his second goal of the season, and with it his second TikTok worthy goal celebration. The man packs Shaquille O’Neal sized energy into a Spud Webb sized body.
Senior forward Adrian Molina Diaz scored six goals last year before suffering a brutal injury midway through last season, but provides some punch up front with sophomore Ellis Spikner. The back line is anchored by defenders Niklas Lund and Gael Gilbert, and last year’s Pac-12 freshman of the year Joran Gerbet is back to run the midfield. Wins are coming for this squad. A final non conference tune-up awaits tonight on the road against the University of Denver before league play begins in earnest against UCLA at Lorenz Field on September 29th.
The frenzy is about to start, Beaver Nation. JP, play five seconds of “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” by Bachman Turner Overdrive.
Quick Hits
Sports talk radio lends itself to focusing on the negative, and the post game call in show after the Beavs dumped Montana State reflected this. Callers chose to point out that the Beavs struggled to stop a running QB and had issues kicking the ball rather than the fact we scored 68 freaking points and barely broke a sweat doing it. While I am not as Chance-Heady as JP, Terry, and Benny, he has looked phenomenal so far this season
With USC, Utah, and Stanford up next, we’ll find out how good Jonathan Smith’s team really is. If we come out of this stretch 5-1, I think the sky’s the limit for these guys. Even if they emerge 3-3, I like the Beavs chances to make a second consecutive bowl game for the first time in a decade.
Providence Park was a neat experience, but I’m glad we don’t do that every year. The lack of a student section was evident to me. Definitely glad USC is coming to Reser rather than Providence.
While it would’ve been fun to have Gameday in Corvallis next weekend, I’m not surprised ESPN chose to go somewhere else. I am doubtful that ESPN wants to do anything to promote a conference whose TV rights they’re in negotiation to obtain. What incentive do they have to do anything that may drive up the price? Not surprising they’d steer eyeballs towards the SEC after they have already paid handsomely for SEC rights. Had a deal been done with the Pac-12 last month, I think there’s a good chance you would’ve seen Gameday out in front of the Memorial Union on Saturday.
The first Platypus Cup (if the schools won’t name the rivalry between Oregon and Oregon State, I will) battle of the season takes place Wednesday at Gill as the Beavs and Ducks square off in volleyball.
