Back on A Roll, Back at Home - University of New Hampshire Athletics

DURHAM, N.H. – They're rolling. Again.

The University of New Hampshire men's soccer team – its goal of seeking a national championship firmly entrenched, per usual – rattled off six straight wins to open the season and returns to the friendly confines of Wildcat Stadium this weekend ranked a program-best No. 9 in the country and looking to maintain its position as one of the hottest teams in the land.

The Wildcats open America East play with a game against UAlbany on Saturday night at 6 to kick off a two-game homestand and stretch of four home games in their next five contests. They follow up the UAlbany game with a non-conference match with Quinnipiac, on Tuesday night, also in Wildcat Stadium and also at 6 p.m.

UNH is a remarkable 36-1-5 in Wildcat Stadium.

Head coach Marc Hubbard's squad is coming off an impressive run of road games: The Wildcats won 1-0 at Northeastern on Sept. 7 and then tacked on victories at Michigan, 1-0, on Sept. 10 and at Marist, 2-1, on Tuesday.

"To go out to Michigan and do what we did is a good signature win," Hubbard said. "A lot of people, especially alums, were proud of that. We've been needing one of those to prove we can go out on the road and get wins like that."

The Marist victory was big as well.

The Wildcats trailed for the first time this year and rallied to win.

"Both of those wins were really good and important for us," said junior forward Rory O'Driscoll, who scored the game-winner on a penalty kick against Marist.

"Those are the games you need to win to build a great team," O'Driscoll said. "You go on any away trip the team at home is going to have the confidence and energy from their fans and you're going to have to create your energy as a team. There might be 30 guys on the field and on the bench who are the only people in that stadium that want you to win. Everyone else is against you. If we create our own energy and play our game, I think we can take control of almost any game."

They are the types of performances needed, Hubbard and O'Driscoll noted, to go deep in the NCAA tournament.

When the time comes.

That's what Hubbard and his staff are always building towards and they think they have their best group yet, talented and with depth.

The Wildcats were one of only three teams in the Top 25 who were unbeaten and untied when NCAA weekly stats came out Tuesday and one of eight teams in the country with a perfect record. They have outscored the opposition 9-2.

Junior Jassem Koleilat has done a nice job in stepping in for the graduated Alejandro Robles at goalkeeper and his four shutouts are tied for tops in the country.

Senior Tola Showunmi leads the team with three goals and O'Driscoll has a pair and each has two game-winning scores.

"Offensively, we feel we have super talent," Hubbard said. "It just hasn't played out yet in terms of scoring goals. But we're creating lots of chances."

The defensive group was rebuilt during the spring season and is deep as well, so deep that UNH has put up the four shutouts mostly without grad student Bridger Hansen, a first team All American defender in the spring. He missed most of the early-going this season because of COVID tracing and is back now.

Among the leaders in the back have been grad student Adam Savill, senior Chris Pinkham and sophomore Liam Bennett, both out of Concord, grad student Sam Henneberg and holding midfielder, sophomore Yannick Bright.

It's a team with a mix of players from around the world and across the country with New Hampshire's best mixed in.

"I think it's the strongest squad we've had since I've been here, which is saying a lot considering some of the players who have gone through the program," O'Driscoll said. "The depth is massive this year. It's a real veteran group with a lot of older players and so many guys are willing to be role players and do their part and be the next man up."

The Wildcats have won the last three America East championships and have qualified for the NCAA tournament each of the last four years.

Last spring, they went undefeated until losing to Kentucky, 2-0, in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Hubbard came up with this year's motto for the team – "Delayed, Not Denied" – based partly on how the last season went and adapted from a saying used by Dawn Staley, coach of the South Carolina's women's basketball team and the United States women's team.

"I think it fits very well with our goals," Hubbard said. "Last year I felt we were a little jaded, I would say, with how our season ended."

Just before the tournament began, they found out they would be missing three starters, including their top two scorers, for COVID reasons and early in the tournament game they lost a player to a red card and had to play a man down.

"It's not like something was taken from us," Hubbard said. "Our goals are still ahead, they've just been a little bit more delayed than what we want. I think our message extends to our alumni and the guys who have come before us as well, wanting to continue to do well and achieve new things that the program has never achieved for all of them, too, to honor them. That mindset of 'it's coming and it's right there,' I think is important to have every day."

The coach presented the theme to the team in pre-season.

"We went around and everyone said what they thought about it," O'Driscoll said. "We went through a lot in the spring with COVID and have to sacrifice a lot and we got to the national tournament. While we played well, we got unlucky and our success was delayed. We don't think it's going to be denied. We're going to keep pushing for that national championship no matter how long it takes."

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Players Mentioned

Liam Bennett

Yannick Bright

Bridger Hansen

Sam Henneberg

Jassem Koleilat

Rory O'Driscoll

Chris Pinkham

Alejandro Robles

Adam Savill

Tola Showunmi