Gordon men’s soccer team began their 2011 fall season full of strong returners and promising new talent. With one-third of the season gone, 11 players are currently out due to injuries or illness, including 9 starters, forcing Coach Jake DeClute to dress goalkeepers, the team manager and even players previously cut from the team.
Concussions, strains, broken bones, torn ligaments, pulled muscles and mono are some of the ailments that have come upon the Fighting Scots within the last few weeks.
“To have so many injuries in a team is a tricky situation,” said DeClute.
The injuries began for the team during their mission trip to Brazil late in the summer.
“They have been dropping left and right ever since,” said DuClute.
Travis Masters ’12, Ryan Daley ’13, and John Mulligan ’14 each have been benched due to concussions. Ryan Coil ’13 broke his fibula during last week’s Wentworth game, ending his 2011 season. Elton Chingapa ’15 is out for the season with a fractured tibia and a torn ACL, while Evan Crocker ’15 is currently suffering from mono. Andy Guthrie ’15 has a strained spine and Noah McGarr ‘12, who sat for most of last season due to a shattered patella, injured ligaments in his foot during preseason. Although McGarr is now on the field, he is still slowly recovering. Strains, pulls and other minor injuries keep a handful of others.
“It’s been difficult,” said Daley, “but you have to love the struggle. Injuries are a part of the game. That's just how it goes sometimes.”
In the meantime, DeClute has recruited from outside the program, including basketball player, Jonathan Himottu ’12. Although he hasn’t been on the soccer field since high school, Himottu willingly joined the practice field.
“It was fun. They're a great group of guys and it was great to help out the team any way I could,” said Himottu.
The team manager, Nick White ’13, was brought in to play against the 5th rated team in the country, Amherst. DeClute has also invited back 3 players whom he originally cut at the start of the year. As daunting as the season might seem, DeClute does not loose hope.
“We had really high and lofty goals at the front end of the season,” he said, “so to have really high expectations, and then to be crippled with injuries, it hurts. But the truth of the matter is that all of this is out of our control.”
DeClute said he tries to make sure the team remains positive and focused.
“The things we can control are our attitude, our work ethic, and our purpose,” said DeClute. “Our attitude has to be to pull together tighter and push ahead. Everyday we have to make a decision whether we are going to help each other or splinter and turn away. Our work ethic has to be to work as hard as we possibly can, whoever is playing. And our purpose is that God would be honored and glorified, whatever happens. We can do these three things…no matter whom is playing on the field for us.”
DeClute acknowledges it’s been a rough season.
“It’s a good wake up call for us as men, to be quite honest,” he said. “If we push thru this time, we will be better for it, whatever record we have.”
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