Men's Soccer wrap-up

After wrapping up a mediocre regular season, the men's soccer team has their sights set on the future as they begin to focus on the Northeast-10 Conference tournament.

The Ravens ended their regular season on October 29 with a disappointing 3-2 loss to American International College dropping their final record to 12-7-1. Despite the abrupt conclusion of the regular season head coach Marco Koolman did take note of some encouraging chemistry amongst his players.

Koolman said: "I like how the group has come together because of being familiar with one another and having the chance to get to know each other. It is a tight knit group".

Freshman player Mark McCarthy seems to feel the same way as coach Koolman. McCarthy said: "We are at our peak because the team feels more together. The seniors are driving the team to feel together".

After their first playoff win against Southern Connecticut, Koolman saw room for improvement. "We need to be disciplined on defense and capitalize on the chances that we create to score goals," he said. "We need to improve, and be more efficient, on the scoring end. We create a lot, but we need to find a way to be more efficient and score goals more frequently".

The Ravens outscored their opponents 35-23 during the regular season despite attempting 84 more total shots and 4.1 more per game.

Even though the team may not have performed as well as they may have hoped during the regular season, they seem to have been able to put the past behind them and stay focused on the games ahead. McCarthy said "It would have been nice to win the conference but at the moment our main objective is to get into the NCAA tournament which we won last year. Everybody is looking ahead".

The Ravens seemingly had advanced to the 2008 Northeast-10 Conference Championship when they defeated Southern New Hampshire University in penalty kicks in the NE-10 tournament semifinal match. However, in a statement released by the NE-10 and Franklin Pierce University athletic department, the Ravens were forced to forfeit the semifinal match after it was discovered the Ravens had used an ineligible player.