“Why not us?” Patrik Devlin ‘17 says. “Why not us?”
This team motto motivated Connecticut College’s men’s soccer team throughout their entire season. Going into their NESCAC quarterfinal game against Tufts the team was confident. The night before the game, team captains Lucas Corrubia and Zachary Punt, gathered the team and asked them, “Why not us?” Sitting down with Corrubia, he explained that as senior captains they knew it could be their final chance to make history as Connecticut College soccer players and they wanted the team to understand how monumental the game could be and where it could take them.
The men’s team was ranked number eight in the league, with a record of 7-8-1. Their competition, Tufts University, was ranked number one in the league, with a record of 10-2-4. All odds were pitted against them with this wide difference in rank, but Conn was ready to defy the odds.
In talking to both Devlin and Corrubia, they explained that the team had faced a tough season of adversity. There were multiple injuries, scoreless games and un-tapped talent. With that, they decided there was nothing they could lose going into the quarterfinals. Devlin explained the mind frame of the team was to “leave it all out on the field.” The quarterfinals were further than any of the players had ever made it before and possibly the furthest any of them would ever go. According to Corrubia, making it to this game was an accomplishment for the program within itself, but winning it would be huge.
Having played and lost to Tufts in early October the boys knew what they would be facing in the game, they had experienced it before, 3-1. Though they had lost to Tufts, Conn had played well but things just weren’t clicking. The team could not get into a rhythm in this first meeting, but they knew what was needed in order to defeat Tufts in their next. Corrubia explained that they went into the quarterfinals “with the mentality that we were going to eliminate the goal causing mistakes and compete for the full ninety minutes.” Conn knew that if they wanted a chance at the NESCAC finals, they would need to work hard the entire game and leave everything on the field.
Tufts was an incredible competitor and Conn’s only chance to beat them was to play like they never had before. The team believed anything was possible. There was no reason they couldn’t beat Tufts, so they decided they wouldn’t let anything get in their way. The final score of the men’s second meeting with Tufts was 2-1, but this time Conn went home with the win. The two goals, scored by Weller Hlinomaz ‘17 and Graham Koval ‘18 early in the game were pivotal. With this momentum, Tufts had no chance of defeating Conn. Tufts only managed one goal the entire game late into the second half.
Despite their later loss in the semifinals against Amherst, Devlin said their win against Tufts would act as motivation for future seasons. Devlin has two more seasons with the team, and will continue to push his team to do even better in the years to come. The team motto will propel Conn’s team in future seasons. Next year they will continue to push themselves and work to do even better. In the seasons to come the men will go into every game like they did against Tufts, thinking “Why not us?” •
