Courtesy of Brian Beard

Last weekend, the men’s soccer team (4–0–2; 2–0–1 NESCAC) triumphed over Wesleyan (4–1–1; 1–1 NESCAC) and Williams (4–1–1; 3–1–1 NESCAC), pulling off back-to-back 1-0 victories. Coming off a strong start to their season, these wins against nationally ranked teams furthered the Polar Bears’ undefeated streak.

During Saturday’s game against Wesleyan, William Fowler ’27 scored in the 79th minute off a cross from Holden Langlois ’30. Against Williams, Donovan Sinicropi ’29 tactfully scored on an assist from Keito Ishibashi ’27.

Ishibashi reflected on the start of the season, emphasizing the team’s ability to overcome obstacles early on.

“[We are] coming off a pretty short preseason, and we have a lot of injuries,” Ishibashi said. “We have a lot of underclassmen this year … more than two thirds [of the team]. This past weekend, I think they also [saw] that they can run up to speed with us [upperclassmen], and it’s really important for us as a group to … acknowledge that, ‘Hey, we can be a really good team.’”

The team’s priorities extend beyond winning games, and Ishibashi values getting to know his teammates better, whether over team dinners in the dining hall or just hanging out together.

“I think over my four years, we’ve got a really great team culture and just a really great relationship with each other on and off the field. And I think for me, the biggest win is seeing it continue, not just this year, but also when I’m gone,” Ishibashi said.

Ishibashi explained how the team’s depth has helped them overcome the amount of injuries the team has faced.

“We don’t have one of our starting center backs, one of our starting left backs. We have a lot of guys who are hurt, but we also have a lot of depth on the team. It’s really cool to see that it doesn’t really matter what happens. We’ve been able to overcome [it],” Ishibashi said.

Head Coach Scott Wiercinski echoes Ishibashi’s attitude. The team’s motto for the season is three words: “Do it anyways.”

“That’s actually something that we adopted last year, that kind of stuck this year, and it’s a little bit of a device to help us through some of the struggles. So when things are not going well, we just gotta do it anyway,” Wiercinski said.

Wiercinski highlighted the Wesleyan and Williams wins as examples of the team embodying this motto.

“We were sticking to our motto,” Wiercinski said. “[These are] two very good opponents, two very different styles, so it’s kind of a difficult prep week. But we’ve tried to really arm the guys with an attitude of ‘whatever happens will happen,’ and we’ll just kind of ride through it and ride the wave.”

Wiercinski praised the first-year players who have stepped up when the team needed them most.

“Some of the injuries and some of the rotations that we’ve had have really given them [first-years] an opportunity to play,” Wiercinski said. [It] may be before they’re ready, but they’ve stepped into the fray and done really well. So it’s been a good trial by fire for them in this early part of the season.”

The men’s soccer team plays their next match against Middlebury (4–0–1; 2–0–1 NESCAC) this Saturday at 12 p.m. at Pickard Field.

“[Middlebury is] probably one of the best teams in the NESCAC, so it’ll be fun to see what we’re up against. But yeah, going into it with a lot of optimism,” Ishibashi said.

Ava Moore contributed to this report.