2013 Season Wrap Up

So … The season is officially done, and despite it being extremely sad, we can look back on the season with a lot of positivity and excitement about the future. I'll give a quick run-down on the key events that happened, and an outlook on what the future holds for our team.  

• We made the NCAA tournament and were selected to host the first weekend of games. Being selected to host was great because it not only meant we were the top seed in our group, but it meant we got to play in front of a great crowd at Fauver Stadium.
• In our first round game we played SUNY IT (16-1-2). They had one of the country's best goalies, yet we found a way to net two goals en route to a 2-0 victory. The goals were scored by Senior Max Fan and Freshman Jeff Greblick.
• In game two, less than 24 hours after the first round victory, we lined up against a very talented Oberlin (14-3-4) team. Our depth really helped us out as we were able to tire them out with endless pressure with the result being a 3-0 victory. Max Fan and Jeff Greblick scored their second each of the tournament, and Jarvis D'souza notched his first.
• We then resumed playing the next weekend in Camden, New Jersey for the Sweet Sixteen. We became just the third Rochester team to make it to the Sweet Sixteen. We matched up against Montclair State (17-3-3) in our first game. It was a very windy night in New Jersey, and Montclair gained a 1-0 lead with the wind at their back. Shortly after, Senior Goalkeeper Mike Moranz received a red card, leaving us with ten men on the field. We fought valiantly keeping the ball in Montclair's end while out shooting and out cornering Montclair. Unfortunately, a few near misses and a few hits of the post led to Montclair holding on for the win. It was a very tough way to go out, but I think we all left the field feeling proud of the effort that we put in.

What Now??

• We now get to look at the future. We will return nine starters, seven of which will be seniors and the other two being juniors. This will give us a ton of experience and strength returning. Also, we return the UAA player of the year Alex Swanger, who missed the NCAA tournament due to a knee injury, and UAA freshman of the year Jeff Greblick. Also, we return 2012 leading goal scorer Jack Thesing, who missed this whole season after getting major knee surgery. We have extremely high expectations and are ready to get back to work!
• Now we will begin our off-season training, which consists of lifting, cardio, circuit training, and a lot of small sided games (4v4, 5v5, 6v6). This is a really fun time to get better and get a lot of competitive action. 
• Also, we won another NSCAA team academic award by having a 3.22 cumulative team GPA. This is great based on the fact that we have many students taking part in rigorous undergraduate engineering programs, people double majoring, and people taking part in some of our combined admissions programs. It shows the dedication to both athletics and academics and the effort that we have put in all year.