CHESTERTOWN, MD. - The Swarthmore College men's soccer team dropped a key conference showdown at Washington College, 2-1, on Wednesday night. The Shoremen strengthened its position in the Centennial standings, while the Garnet remain on the edge of the playoff bubble. 

Swarthmore battled hard to overcome an early two-goal deficit, but were unable to connect on a late equalizer. Joseph Eyiolowope tallied the lone Garnet goal in the 85th minute to cut the team's deficit in half. Swarthmore turned up the intensity with late pressure on the Shoremen defense, but fell short of completing the comeback. 

The Garnet held a 16-11 shot advantage with a 7-6 edge on corner kicks. Swarthmore did most of its damage in the second half, closing out the game with a 10-5 tilt in shots. 

HOW IT HAPPENED
- Len Yamabe threatened early in the game with a couple scoring chances. After playing a quick corner to the junior in the opening minute, Yamabe caught the Shoremen defense off guard with a quick strike to the far post. Washington caught a major break as Yamabe rocketed the attempt just wide of the post. Moments later, the junior had another shot attempt, but was blocked by a defender. 

- Washington quickly turned momentum in its favor with two unanswered goals in the 10th and 20th minutes, respectively. 

- The Garnet applied late pressure on the Shoremen to close the opening half. In the 35th minute, Kaden Cho was turned away by a heads-up, kick save from Washington's keeper. Eyiolowope swarmed on the ensuing rebound, but was robbed by another impressive stop by the keeper. 

- In the second half, Swarthmore survived an early attack from the Shoremen, who opened the stanza with the first five shots of the half. Colin Crowe made a couple saves during the stretch as he kept the team's deficit at a manageable two points. 

- Javier Minuesa Sicilia broke free inside the box in the 64th minute. Henry Lin set up the scoring opportunity with a beautiful feed to the rookie. Minuesa Sicilia had a one-on-one look with the keeper, but he did an excellent job of cutting off the forward's angle as the keeper made another tough save. 

- The Garnet finally broke through with their first goal in the 85th minute. Minuesa Sicilia set up the scoring chance with a strike off the crossbar. Eyiolowope then cashed in the opportunity with a putback to pull the Garnet within a goal. The Garnet fired off three shots in the remaining five minutes, but ran out of time as they battled hard to steal a point. 

GARNET LEADERS
Goals: Eyiolowope 1
Shots: Eyiolowope 4
Saves: Crowe 3

UP NEXT
The Garnet (5-5-5, 1-3-3) wrap up their home schedule with Gettysburg on Saturday for Garnet Weekend.