Co captains Casey Marini ’14 and Nick Maghenzani ’13
To the casual observer, the Connecticut College Men’s Soccer team’s season thus far looks mediocre at best. The Camels have won just a single NESCAC game.
The story of the season has been Conn’s six ties. That is not a typo. Conn has ended six of their conference games level with their opponents. The aforementioned casual observer would here launch an attack on coaching staff, senior leadership and the team’s will to win.
But the record and the standings tell only half the story. Eight teams make the NESCAC tournament. That puts Conn right on the cusp of the playoffs. The playoff bubble seems friendlier when you consider the fact that over the course of this season, Conn has tied the fourth, fifth, seventh, and eighth ranked teams in the conference, and won all three of their out-of-conference games.
Stories of the season thus far include junior net-minder and co-captain Casey Marini’s 0.60 goals-against-per-game average, the team’s ability to fight through to the end of excruciatingly long games, and senior leadership from co-captain Nick Maghenzani, Winslow Murdoch, Daniel Johnson and Graham Christensen.
Coach Ken Murphy is known for his tendency to give younger players a chance to outplay and outshine older players, and when this has been the case the senior class has accepted its diminished role with a team-first mindset.
The team’s first NESCAC win came this past Wednesday, when the Camels knocked off third-ranked Wesleyan 1-0 in Middletown, CT. Junior striker Billy Hawkey netted his fourth tally of the season in the 67th minute, and the Camels held strong on the defensive end to bring home two points for the visitors. The win also moved the Camels to seventh place in NESCAC standings, pushing the team into the playoff bubble late in the season.
Looking ahead, the Camels face Framingham State on Sunday, October 21at 1:30 PM on Tempel Green, and then finish out their regular season with what should be a trying match against the top-ranked Lord Jeffs of Amherst at 3:00 PM on Wednesday the 24.
If Conn can pull victories in both of these matches, they could potentially earn home field for the first round of the playoffs, which begin Saturday, October 27. No doubt a rallying cry for support will go out to the Camel faithful in preparation for the final two games – especially the final NESCAC regular season challenge against Amherst.
