Trinity soccer got back into action during the last weekend of August as the men’s and women’s teams played two home games. In total, McGinlay Field has hosted nine matches since the start of the year. While only four of these nine featured Trinity men’s soccer and only two featured Trinity women’s, plenty of moments from those six combined games will play important roles in the seasons of each program.
With so many games to cover, it is hard to know where to start, but to keep it simple, the Tigers started their season at 8 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 30 against Hendrix. Trinity looked solid for most of the game but struggled to create any goal-scoring opportunities with their top goal scorer from 2023 — senior forward Michael Meese — likely to miss the entire season with a recurring injury.
Despite Trinity’s seemingly dominant play, their inability to score came back to haunt them as Hendrix took the lead with just over 20 minutes left to play. That goal, however, flipped a switch for Trinity, and just under five minutes later, junior midfielder Adam Knutson saved a point for Trinity with a stunning lob over the head of the Hendrix goalkeeper from at least 10 yards outside the right edge box.
Twenty-four hours after McGinlay Field’s 2024 opener was the first game of the Trinity women’s soccer team’s season. Coming off of a spectacular finish last season for the Tigers, expectations were high going into Saturday’s bout between the Tigers of Trinity and the Tigers of Occidental College. However, the trend from the men’s game carried over as Trinity once again struggled to capitalize on their dominance in possession and numerous touches in the attacking third, resulting in a 0-0 draw.
The women went less than 24 hours later for their second home game of the year. Despite some obvious concerns for players’ fitness, given the San Antonio heat and the quick turnaround, the Tigers were unphased and handled Hardin-Simons University in a convincing 3-0 win. Junior transfer midfielder Bri Werner opened the scoring in the same fashion Knutson had for the men, lofting the ball over the keeper’s hands. The chip trend continued for their second goal from sophomore midfielder Malea Cesar, but was finally broken when sophomore midfielder Madisyn Bargansky finished HSU off.
Unfortunately for the Trinity men’s team, they couldn’t follow in the women’s footsteps and bounce back from a tie with a resounding win. Trinity once again dominated the game but couldn’t find any cohesion in the final third. They went down late before Adam Knutson once again leveled the tie. A late red card to Trinity made the finish close, but in the end, the Tigers escaped with another draw off the foot of Knutson against Methodist.
The women’s soccer team was on the road this past weekend against Texas Lutheran, who they tied 0-0 just like they did Occidental. Luckily for all the Trinity fans, the men’s soccer team ensured that three ties were all that Trinity would see for the two programs’ combined first seven games.
On Friday, Sept. 6, Trinity took on Whitworth, who were undefeated going into the action. Trinity once again dominated early, but as halftime approached the fear of the goal drought continued to loom large. With just 15 minutes left in the half, transfer senior midfielder Mark Donnely scored off of an incredibly technical assist from the brilliant footwork of graduate midfielder Louis Instrall.
Trinity came out of halftime smelling the blood in the water and quickly went for the kill, scoring three more goals before 20 minutes had passed in the second. Knutson once again scored from distance, striking the crossbar with an unreal shot before senior forward Hunter Cain scored on a corner at the back post. Transfer junior midfielder Cade Dougan rounded out the scoring explosion, grabbing his first career goal.
The second half was once again the difference on Sunday, Sept. 8 for the Tigers as Trinity turned a 0-0 halftime score into a 6-0 blowout over Berry College. Knutson, Cain and Donnely were among the goalscorers again, while Instrall perfectly placed his first goal of the season. Additionally, senior defender Ty Jarrett and transfer sophomore midfielder Samuel Theiss each grabbed their first collegiate goals.
It was a jam-packed opening two weekends for the Tigers, and while there were moments of doubt and struggle for each program, both teams started to find a rhythm and look set to make a strong push toward silverware in 2024.
