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University of New Hampshire Athletics
The Wildcats celebrated another America East championship Sunday. (Will Fudge photo)
Insider Report: Back to The NCAAs
11/16/2022 4:49:00 PM | Men's Soccer, UNH Insider
'Cats Ride 4th League Title in 5 Years into Thursday Match vs. Seton Hall
DURHAM, N.H. – Another year, another title. Another championship quest.
The University of New Hampshire men's soccer team came out fast and hard and made a couple of first-half goals stand to grab its fourth America East Conference championship in the last five years on Sunday afternoon in Wildcat Stadium, 2-0, over UAlbany.
For their efforts, the Wildcats earn yet another appearance in the NCAA tournament – their sixth straight - back in Wildcat Stadium on Thursday night at 6 p.m. when they take on Seton Hall of the Big East.
The Pirates went 7-3-7 this year to earn an at-large bid to the playoffs and this will be the first meeting between the teams.
Tickets are on sale now on UNHWildcats.com/Tickets or by calling 603-862-4000.
The winner of Thursday's game advances to the second round to play at Florida International University on Sunday at 6 p.m. As the No. 10 seed in the tournament, the Panthers received a first-round bye.
The Wildcats – who never waver from their goal of advancing to NCAA soccer's final four, dubbed the College Cup, and pursuing a national championship – are once again looking to make a deep run in the tournament.
Twice, including last year, UNH has advanced to the Sweet 16.
"As great as that was, and as good an accomplishment as that is, it's nothing compared to the goal that we want to achieve," said senior Rory O'Driscoll. "In reality, last year was big, but it doesn't matter now and now we've got to work to beat that milestone."
The Wildcats earned a first-round bye last season, beat North Carolina, 4-1, at home and had to cross the country to face No. 1 seed Oregon State and fell, 1-0. Oregon State then tied Clemson, 1-1, at home and Clemson advanced to the semifinals on penalty kicks. The Tigers went on to win the national championship.
UNH took a different path to their league title and NCAA berth this season.
Last year, they went undefeated in the regular season, but dropped the title game to Vermont in Wildcat Stadium.
Melding in a bunch of new players to start the season and dealing with a few injuries, the Wildcats this year lost their first two games to Maryland and Boston University, won their next two and then fell 1-0 at Providence and had a 2-3-0 record out of the gate.
They then rattled off nine straight wins before losing a 1-0 regular season game at Vermont.
They rebounded from that loss to knock off UMass Lowell and nail down the America East regular season championship and top seed for the tournament.
UNH beat Binghamton in the semifinals, 3-0, and then UAlbany for the title.
"We started off slowly, but through the year we've learned our lessons and we've applied them to games and throughout the year we've gotten better and better and better," said forward Chris Pinkham, a grad student midfielder from Concord, N.H. "We're going to take it game by game and step by step. The momentum is definitely swinging in our favor toward the end of the season."
Pinkham had a couple of assists in the semifinal game.
Junior Eli Goldman and grad student Tola Showunmi had the goals in the championship game. Goldman knocked in the rebound of a shot by grad student Jamie Davis and Showunmi put in the rebound of a shot by senior Bilal Kamal.
Senior goalie Jassem Koleilat had a couple of big saves in the second half, including one he got a hand on that went off the cross bar and then was cleared by Pinkham.
The America East title game played out somewhat like the year has, said coach March Hubbard, who has built the Wildcats into a national power in his eight seasons.
"We came out of the first half feeling really good and the second half wasn't our best performance," Hubbard said. "We kind of grinded through it and defended and did what we needed to do. We come out of it - with our expectations and standards - knowing that we can be better. That's kind of been the scenario all year, looking for that complete game that we need to keep pushing towards. We know it's there. Hopefully we can put it together in the national tournament."
The defense has lowered its goals against average to a half a goal a game in recent weeks.
Koleilat, supported by the likes of America East Defender of the Year Moise Bombito, a junior, and Midfielder of the Year Yannick Bright, also a junior, has posted shutouts in UNH's last six wins.
The Wildcats are scoring at an average of 1.89 goals a game.
Goldman has scored a goal in each of the last four games and has a team-leading eight for the season. Grad student Paul Mayer has five goals. Kamal, O'Driscoll and Bombito have four each and Showunmi has three.
Quenzi Huerman has seven goals and four assists to lead Seton Hall. Hannes Ronnholmen has a 1.31 goals against average and six shutouts.
If the Wildcats can get past Seton Hall, they'll get another shot at Florida International.
The Panthers came to Durham in September and UNH put up a 3-0 win.
Florida International went on to win The American Athletic Conference regular season and tournament titles and then pulled down that No. 10 seed in the NCAA tournament.
The goal for players in their final year in the program is to extend their careers as long as possible, too.
"It's been great fun and I've had my best memories here," Pinkham said. "I'm a New Hampshire guy and it makes me extremely proud to represent my state and just go out there and give everything for New Hampshire and try to put New Hampshire on the map. We want to get as far as we can in the tournament. We want to get to a final four, get to a national championship, to really cement New Hampshire and show everyone what we can do."
The University of New Hampshire men's soccer team came out fast and hard and made a couple of first-half goals stand to grab its fourth America East Conference championship in the last five years on Sunday afternoon in Wildcat Stadium, 2-0, over UAlbany.
For their efforts, the Wildcats earn yet another appearance in the NCAA tournament – their sixth straight - back in Wildcat Stadium on Thursday night at 6 p.m. when they take on Seton Hall of the Big East.
The Pirates went 7-3-7 this year to earn an at-large bid to the playoffs and this will be the first meeting between the teams.
Tickets are on sale now on UNHWildcats.com/Tickets or by calling 603-862-4000.
The winner of Thursday's game advances to the second round to play at Florida International University on Sunday at 6 p.m. As the No. 10 seed in the tournament, the Panthers received a first-round bye.
The Wildcats – who never waver from their goal of advancing to NCAA soccer's final four, dubbed the College Cup, and pursuing a national championship – are once again looking to make a deep run in the tournament.
Twice, including last year, UNH has advanced to the Sweet 16.
"As great as that was, and as good an accomplishment as that is, it's nothing compared to the goal that we want to achieve," said senior Rory O'Driscoll. "In reality, last year was big, but it doesn't matter now and now we've got to work to beat that milestone."
The Wildcats earned a first-round bye last season, beat North Carolina, 4-1, at home and had to cross the country to face No. 1 seed Oregon State and fell, 1-0. Oregon State then tied Clemson, 1-1, at home and Clemson advanced to the semifinals on penalty kicks. The Tigers went on to win the national championship.
UNH took a different path to their league title and NCAA berth this season.
Last year, they went undefeated in the regular season, but dropped the title game to Vermont in Wildcat Stadium.
Melding in a bunch of new players to start the season and dealing with a few injuries, the Wildcats this year lost their first two games to Maryland and Boston University, won their next two and then fell 1-0 at Providence and had a 2-3-0 record out of the gate.
They then rattled off nine straight wins before losing a 1-0 regular season game at Vermont.
They rebounded from that loss to knock off UMass Lowell and nail down the America East regular season championship and top seed for the tournament.
UNH beat Binghamton in the semifinals, 3-0, and then UAlbany for the title.
"We started off slowly, but through the year we've learned our lessons and we've applied them to games and throughout the year we've gotten better and better and better," said forward Chris Pinkham, a grad student midfielder from Concord, N.H. "We're going to take it game by game and step by step. The momentum is definitely swinging in our favor toward the end of the season."
Pinkham had a couple of assists in the semifinal game.
Junior Eli Goldman and grad student Tola Showunmi had the goals in the championship game. Goldman knocked in the rebound of a shot by grad student Jamie Davis and Showunmi put in the rebound of a shot by senior Bilal Kamal.
Senior goalie Jassem Koleilat had a couple of big saves in the second half, including one he got a hand on that went off the cross bar and then was cleared by Pinkham.
The America East title game played out somewhat like the year has, said coach March Hubbard, who has built the Wildcats into a national power in his eight seasons.
"We came out of the first half feeling really good and the second half wasn't our best performance," Hubbard said. "We kind of grinded through it and defended and did what we needed to do. We come out of it - with our expectations and standards - knowing that we can be better. That's kind of been the scenario all year, looking for that complete game that we need to keep pushing towards. We know it's there. Hopefully we can put it together in the national tournament."
The defense has lowered its goals against average to a half a goal a game in recent weeks.
Koleilat, supported by the likes of America East Defender of the Year Moise Bombito, a junior, and Midfielder of the Year Yannick Bright, also a junior, has posted shutouts in UNH's last six wins.
The Wildcats are scoring at an average of 1.89 goals a game.
Goldman has scored a goal in each of the last four games and has a team-leading eight for the season. Grad student Paul Mayer has five goals. Kamal, O'Driscoll and Bombito have four each and Showunmi has three.
Quenzi Huerman has seven goals and four assists to lead Seton Hall. Hannes Ronnholmen has a 1.31 goals against average and six shutouts.
If the Wildcats can get past Seton Hall, they'll get another shot at Florida International.
The Panthers came to Durham in September and UNH put up a 3-0 win.
Florida International went on to win The American Athletic Conference regular season and tournament titles and then pulled down that No. 10 seed in the NCAA tournament.
The goal for players in their final year in the program is to extend their careers as long as possible, too.
"It's been great fun and I've had my best memories here," Pinkham said. "I'm a New Hampshire guy and it makes me extremely proud to represent my state and just go out there and give everything for New Hampshire and try to put New Hampshire on the map. We want to get as far as we can in the tournament. We want to get to a final four, get to a national championship, to really cement New Hampshire and show everyone what we can do."
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