On Sept. 16, the College of DuPage men’s soccer team took on the Northeastern Community College Hawks and was resoundingly defeated by a painful score of 0-11 in the Hawks’ favor. The Hawks went into the game soaring on a 7-1-1 record after beating multiple teams from their home state of Nebraska and recently taking a seventh victory after beating Oakton Community College. The Chaparrals, on the other hand, are struggling with a 1-5 record, but one win can turn around the season.

As the ref’s whistle blew to start the game, the Chaparrals kicked off but immediately turned it over and gave Northeastern a shot on goal, but it missed wide to the left. COD’s defense was tested early and stalled the Hawks, but after many attacks, the Hawks proved too strong for the Chaparrals to keep them off the board.

A low kick from Edouard Nys was the Hawks’ first goal (0-1). Northeastern’s second goal would come a few minutes later from a header by Lewis Rourke to give the Hawks an early 0-2 lead with 37 minutes left in the first half. After the second goal, the Chap’s defense settled in and shut down the Hawks attack for a handful of possessions, but they couldn’t withstand the Hawks’ relentless shots on goal, which would lead to another goal for Nys to push the lead to 0-3 with just under 25 minutes to go in the half.

The Chap’s offense was spotty, and they struggled to get many opportunities on the Hawks’ side of the field. One of the best opportunities of the first half for COD came from Gael Alfaro, who weaved through the defenders and hit a rocket at the goal, but it missed a couple of inches left of the post. With the first half clock winding down, the Hawks struck the back of the net once again with a cannon of a shot by Marius Elmore to widen the Hawks’ lead to 0-4. 

With the second half underway, the Hawks got the first possession. After attacks from both teams, Northeastern’s Len Valkema scored within the first five minutes of the second half (0-5). COD’s goalie Sam Negus had multiple impressive saves within the night, but he had minimal help from the defense. The Hawks added another goal to their total after Nys completed his hat trick by weaving through the Chaperals defenders and scoring from inside the box to put COD down 0-6. Nys wasn’t done yet, scoring another goal just five minutes later to bring his game goal total to four and the score to 7-0. 

After a tripping call just outside the penalty box, Northeastern’s Elmore took the free kick and skillfully placed the ball through the Chaparrals’ defense and inside the right post, widening the lead to 0-8. The Hawks didn’t bother to stop as COD’s defense was letting them shoot willingly. Elmore completed his hat trick as well, with goals number three and four coming within moments of each other to bring the Hawks lead to 10-0. DuPage had some promising attacks, but they led to no shots on goal.

“I think for us positive moments in possession [is something we need to fix],” said assistant coach Matt Hanna. “You know, we talked about as a coaching staff positive moments in possession, but then what that did was open us up in the second half, and they were really clinical in transition once they didn’t win the ball. You know, that’s probably the biggest thing: being able to balance the risk over the reward with the possession.”  The Hawks added one final goal with 2 minutes left in the game with a goal from Freddie Collins. 

“Obviously it’s a hard loss, but we got a game Thursday, and we will win that one and bounce back for sure,” said freshman Gustavo Ramirez. 

“You can’t go into a game and expect a performance like that,” said freshman Joshua Wright. “You gotta come in and be better no matter what the outcome was.” 

The end of the game left COD sporting an unpleasant record of 1-6, with the Chaps wanting to forget about this match and move on. On Sept. 19, the Chaps proved they weren’t going to roll over and ended their 5-game losing streak. With a score of 3-0, COD took on South Suburban College. Freshman Anthony Juarez led the charge, scoring all three goals during the match and Negus led the defense in his shutout performance. 

The Chaps also claimed victory at their away game on Sept. 22 at Black Hawk College-Moline, leaving with a score of 2-1 and a record of 3-6, proving that they aren’t finished fighting yet. Their next game is at Bjarne Ullsvik Stadium at 4 p.m. on Sept. 25.