Julseth Helps Keep Panthers' Playoff Hopes Alive

By Christian Carrara

On October 19, 2018

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COURTESY PHOTO OF BRIANNA STEVENS

The Panthers took on the University of Massachusetts Boston Beacons in Boston, Massachusetts for the first time this season. The Panthers were coming off two crushing defeats and needed to take this game head on and fight for the win. Unfortunately, the Panthers couldn’t pull out the win as the two teams ended the game with a 1-1tie after going in double overtime. This game made it Plymouth’s fifth double overtime this season.

The first half of the game saw Plymouth missing some key scoring opportunities, the closest coming from junior Cam Bunn (Melbourne, Australia). His shot ricocheted off the post in the first half and UMass’s defense also gave up five shots and five corner kicks within the half. The second half saw all of the action in the game, as the Beacons scored their first goal in the 52nd minute. This was off a rebounded save from sophomore Linus Lindeburg (Stockholm, Sweden)but Plymouth wouldn’t be counted out as they answered right back in the 55th minute. Senior Truls Julseth (Fredrikstad, Norway) tied the game back up. Neither teams’ defenses were ready as both teams came out of halftime firing with both sides shooting the ball ten times. Plymouth was completely quiet in the both, not taking a single shot in either. The end both teams came away with a point and Lindeburg was in true form saving 7 of the 8 shots on goal.

After the game we go to interview the goal scorer himself, Truls Julseth. Truls had this to say about his performance, and the result of the game, “First and foremost I felt the entire team had a solid game on Saturday. We had a game plan and we stuck to it, that shows discipline. On the individual aspect it was great to finally play an entire game again. After some injuries that has prevented me from playing as much as I wanted to, it was very satisfying to play the entire110 minutes and of course contributing with a goal.”

Truls also went into depth on the team’s game plan, “We proved that we can handle a different formation and that we can be very disciplined if needed to be. We created a lot of big chances and that proves that we are a threat when we attack. On the other side of that, we are still struggling to make all our chances count. I believe we have hit the crossbar or the post nearly 20 times this season, and I think those few inches are the difference between us and the best teams in the conference.”

Finally, Truls ended the interview with his insight on the team’s playoff hopes, “As of now we have to realize that we have put ourselves in a tough situation, we are relying on the teams around us on the table to tie or lose this upcoming weekend. You never want to see your own destiny be in the hand of others. But we are positive, and I think that there is a ton of good stuff that we can bring with us from the game against UMass Boston. We have a ton of time to prepare for the last conference game, and we are going to work extra hard the next 10 days to beat Western Connecti- cut and qualify for the playoffs. It would be great to finish my college soccer career reaching the playoffs.”

The team had a game Wednesday against Northern Vermont University in Lyndon, Vermont. The Panthers got the win with a score of 2-0. The Panthers’ next game will be Monday October 22, away against Norwich University.