No. 9 ranked Rowan men’s soccer could not come away with a victory in their first home matchup of the season, tying Haverford College 0-0 on Tuesday, Sept. 17.

The one constant for the Profs to this point in the season has been effort and intensity, but that wasn’t the case in the first half against Haverford. The offense got some opportunities, but the aggressiveness and energy to attack the goal wasn’t there.

“As a goalkeeper, seeing your offense not putting in 100% effort, it’s like coach said, effort is all he wants,” Dylan Aportela said. “He doesn’t care if we miss shots, he doesn’t care if we make mistakes. That’s nothing, but the effort that we put in matters a lot more. I can tell from our forwards. Our back line was beautiful today, but it’s just the effort altogether. I can’t blame it on anyone, but just that effort together.”

“I think the goals will come,” Johnny Troiano said. “We’ve got great players up top. Just the effort in the first half when it’s 0-0 going into it. If we put the effort we put in the second half in the first half we probably win that game. It’s definitely disappointing.”

Coming off a 1-1 tie against the No. 2 ranked team in the nation, Cortland, the Profs seemed to have a freebee at home against the 0-4-2 Haverford Black Squirrels. When you don’t bring the same energy to a lesser opponent that you do to top teams, disaster can present itself.

“It’s frustrating,” Troiano said. “We went out and we should’ve beat the No. 2 team in the country and then we tie a team that hasn’t won a game this year, so it’s definitely frustrating. It’s not good but it needs to change. Realistically that’s it. Needs to change.”

If it weren’t for the dominance of the back line and Aportela in goal, Rowan could’ve been looking at an unexpected and devastating loss in one of their more favorable matchups of the month.

“As I look at it, we’re doing our job,” Aportela said. “We have to keep it together. We held it up together and did what we had to do but we couldn’t figure out what to do up top. I’m very proud of what our back line did today.”

Aportela was clearly frustrated with his team’s effort, staying very vocal throughout the contest alerting his teammates to open space and holding them accountable for their role. That leadership lights fires and brings back the intensity that Rowan will need in these challenging matchups coming up.

“As a goalkeeper, there is only one of me,” Aportela said. “There’s only so much I can say, but I try to make the most of it and try to tell everyone to be a leader. I try to help everyone as much as I can, but there’s only so much I can do out there on the field.

The Profs have a grueling September schedule, already facing three ranked teams, with two more, including No. 1 ranked Mary Washington on deck on Friday, Sept. 20.

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