At the climax of the classic western movie Hombre, Richard Boone’s character delivers a grudging compliment to Paul Newman’s character before the final bullets fly: “Mister – you got some hard bark on you.” The SMWC Soccer Team faced a powerful Bethel Pilots team on Wednesday, Sept. 16, without three of their regular starters and earned the same compliment (without the “mister”).

Showing the mastery that we have come to expect from the Pilots, Bethel controlled possession more than three to one and mounted attack after attack, but the quickly developing SMWC defense held up well and turned everything away for the bulk of the first half. In the first 42 minutes they played to the game plan and held an even score at 0-0. At the end of the first half, however, Bethel was able to find the net twice on balls played diagonally over the tightly compressed defense of the SMWC Team to weak side runners. SMWC had had two chances in counterattacking situations that made the Pilot defense scramble a bit. The team came away at half time feeling they could play with Bethel, even minus key players.

The second half proved that they certainly had the heart for it. The Woods counterattacks were more frequent and more dangerous, and the possession came to be much more even as the SMWC Team showed great composure. The fortunes of the game, however, went against them. In the 55th minute, a long ball from a free kick was headed high by Pilot Amber Spencer and cleared goalkeeper April Baranowski for a third score. Finally, in the 81st minute, a long-range cracker from Meredith Martin found the net for the final tally of the match. That said, Baranowski recorded 15 saves and played brilliantly in goal. Erin Pugh shone in an improvised role as an attacking midfielder, and the entire team defended better than they have in any match to date, a sign that good things will come when more of the team is healthy.

The SMWC Soccer Team travels this Saturday to Kentucky to play Saint Catharine College.

- Submitted by Mike Aycock