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On Friday, October 13, the AIC men’s soccer team played the number one ranked Division II team in the country. Franklin Pierce has been an unbeaten team since the end of the 2021 season. The Yellow Jackets were heading into a tough game against the national and NE-10 defending champions.
The game took place at Franklin Pierce University, far in the woods of Cheshire, New Hampshire. It was a cold and windy day, but with a great possibility for the Yellow Jackets to win. The whistle blew, and the match was on. After only 5 minutes and 45 seconds, AIC got a shocking start.
Guilherme Afonso, a defensive player from the Yellow Jackets, made a mistake, leading to the first goal of the match from Franklin Pierce. Afonso is from Cascais, Portugal, and managed to make a very good response to his mistake. He played a very good match. We also managed to talk with him after the game and asked him how he felt after making the mistake that led to Franklin Pierce’s first goal. “I was very frustrated to be at fault for their goal to make it 1-0,” Afonso said, “but I felt with the support of the bench and teammates, I played a good game afterward. But unfortunately, we lost the match.”
After the goal from Franklin Pierce, the Yellow Jackets had a very positive response and laid pressure on Franklin Pierce. The Yellow Jackets kept pushing and pushing for the equalizer. With a lot of motivating support from the bench and from the coaches, the Yellow Jackets scored. Esben Guldager managed to find Hallvard Boehn on the corner kick, and a header from Boehn earned AIC a goal. The bench erupted in cheers and the Yellow Jackets were back in the game. Franklin Pierce didn’t stand a chance against the motivated players from the Yellow Jackets.
Esben Guldager is a first-year from Silkeborg, Denmark. This was his second assist of the season in a difficult and important game. We wanted to talk with him about the feeling. “It was a great feeling to make an assist again like I did in the last game,” Guldager said, “especially in such an important game like this where everything is at stake. It was also of great importance to me as a player because I had to show the coaches that, as a good offensive player, I could contribute to the goals.”
The Yellow Jackets unfortunately lost 3-1 to Franklin Pierce with many misjudgments from the referee, which led to Franklin Pierce’s second and third goals. The Yellow Jackets’ coach, Luke Perry, also got sent off with a direct red card. Although the Yellow Jackets lost the twelfth man, the bench played a big role in keeping the Yellow Jackets in the game.
We wanted to talk with one of the guys from the bench who didn’t play. We asked Cornelius Christensen from Sandefjord, Norway, about what role he played in the match even though he didn’t play. “I have now played here for a year and know things,” Christensen said. “Therefore, I think I am a good leader who brings motivation, joy, and passion to the team, even though I don’t play very often. Especially in this game against Franklin Pierce, I felt that I gave a lot of energy and courage to the team which helped them stay in the game as long as possible.” With this excellent example of what a teammate should be like. The Yellow Jackets are looking forward to getting revenge in their next game against Bentley at home.
