By Mylie Norton, Staff Writer
Long Island University men’s soccer team celebrates their second consecutive Northeast Conference (NEC) championship with an overtime victory on Nov. 17 over Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU).
The Sharks had come off a previously rewarding season, ranking number one in the NEC preseason poll after winning the conference championship in 2023. This fall, Coach Mordacco and his team were ready to chase after the trophy yet again.
Going into the NEC tournament, LIU was ranked as the third seed and faced second seed, Saint Francis University (SFU) at their home field in Loretta, PA. This game was a thrilling back-and-forth match, ending with the Sharks coming up with their first win against SFU on the road.
Graduate student and the NEC goalkeeper of the year, Eoin Gawronski, explains the excitement around beating SFU and making it to their second consecutive NEC championship game.
“Being on the road in this conference is not easy at all,” said Gawronski. “Going away to St. Francis, I don’t think we’ve ever beat them on the road or at their place in the last couple years at least so I think just going in our main goal was just to be road dogs, we need to win wherever we go.”
The Sharks did just that in their game at SFU and then carried it into the conference championship at FDU’s home field in Teaneck, NJ.
With a scoreless game after regulation and extended time, LIU and FDU headed into a penalty kick shootout. Gawronski secured the victory for the Sharks with a save in the second round of penalties as junior defender Niklas Thanhofer closed the series out with a goal to put the Sharks ahead of the Knights.
Junior defender and NEC All-Tournament team player, Sam Keogan, discusses the strategies and team chemistry it took for this group to win back-to-back conference championships.
“It’s not easy doing it two years in a row. I know coming into this season this year, it was a different group from the group we had last year but our core values as a team is energy every day, having belief in each other and sticking to our team culture,” said Keogan.
Keogan explains that this year’s team found a sense of consistency that built the road to a second conference championship.
“One of the quotes I like is, ‘Attack wins you games and defense wins you championships.’ Our success in the game was both balanced on our attacking skills, but then as a unit, we really focused on our defending, what we were going to do without the ball and that was a huge part of our success this year,” explains Keogan.
In their NCAA tournament run, the Sharks faced the University of Maryland Terrapins and ended their season with a 5-2 loss in College Park, MD.
LIU did not give up without a fight and had a 2-1 lead on Maryland but allowed 3 goals in the end.
“The experience, going to Maryland, which is an incredibly successful program in NCAA college soccer, playing at that facility with those fans, was a great experience but I think as well, it makes the whole group that’s coming back next year even hungrier,” said Keogan.
As their season concluded, the Sharks are ready to begin preparing for the next with aspirations to win a third consecutive and fourth overall NEC title and make another NCAA tournament appearance.
The quoted material contained in this article was courtesy of the Friday LIU Athletics edition of 88.1 FM WCWP’s “Sports Shark Tank,” with the original episode airing on Dec. 6, 2024. “Sports Shark Tank” airs Monday through Friday from 5:00-6:00 p.m. on 88.1 FM, WCWP.org, and streaming on the WCWP mobile app.
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