Head coach Kyle Dezotell called it the best season he ever had. The record will say 12–0–6, an undefeated season. But after 110 minutes of enthralling play on the frigid terrain of Bello Field Sunday night, the number in the heads of the 2024 men’s soccer team will be 4–3. That was the score by which they lost the penalty shootout to the Buffalo State University Bengals, ending their NCAA campaign two weeks after their NESCAC title hopes were ended the same way by the Bowdoin College Polar Bears.
Before the Jumbos advanced to Sunday’s second round matchup, they defeated the Westfield State University Owls in the round of 64, a game which posed an unexpected challenge. Before the NCAA tournament, the Jumbos were ranked No. 2 in the country according to the NCAA’s Power Index, while the Owls were ranked No. 237.
The Owls put up a strong fight, largely thanks to goalkeeper Luke Theroux, a first team All-MASCAC honoree, who recorded 11 saves, several of the highlight reel variety. His work kept the game scoreless for 54 minutes before the Owls’ second shot on goal was looped over the head of junior goalkeeper Nikola Antic by forward Coleby Andrade, giving the Owls a shocking 1–0 lead.
The Owls were overwhelmed by the Jumbos’ onslaught of attacking chances, with the Jumbos racking up 18 shots in the second half. Eventually, with 21 minutes remaining in the game, first-year midfielder Will Nicholas was able to deliver his second career goal, evening the score at 1–1. Just three minutes later, graduate student midfielder Liam Gerken recorded his ninth assist of the season off a corner that found the feet of junior defender Mateo Bargagna and put the Jumbos ahead for good.
Sunday night presented a higher quality opponent for Jumbos, as they hosted the Bengals, a squad that defeated the Thomas College Terries 3–0 in the first round. The game started with the Jumbos on the front foot, recording six shots in the first 30 minutes of gameplay. However, with three minutes left in the first half, a pass from graduate student defender Gibson Campbell hit off the back of graduate student defender Max Clivio to Buffalo State midfielder Aney Djadou. Djadou was able to play it through to forward Diego Rivera, the SUNYAC Huntley Parker Offensive Player of the Year, who beat Antic at the near post to shock the crowd.
At halftime, Dezotell reminded his team that they had trailed at home four times prior and had equalized each time, leading a confident team out of the break. They would turn this confidence into nine shots within 15 minutes. In the 62nd minute, the Jumbos would finally break through. A free kick taken by junior midfielder Daniel Yanez was redirected by senior defender Owen Denby toward Clivio. Clivio chested the ball down, dribbled around two defenders and beat goalie Shae Wirt at his far post to tie the game.
After scoring, the Jumbos continued the offensive onslaught. Four shots came inches from the Bengals’ goal in three minutes. Gerken was given a chance to win the game with just minutes left but was blocked by the outstretched foot of Buffalo State’s defender Tapiwa Mushonga. With only two minutes left in regulation, sophomore forward Xavier Canfin got a free header off a Yanez corner, which beat the hand of Wirt but not the left post.
When the game moved to sudden-death overtime, the momentum continued. Gerken missed a game-winning free kick by inches before being denied by Wirt off a rebound from Nicholas’ powerful shot. Despite these chances, the Jumbos would only get Clivio’s goal on their 31 shots, sending the 1–1 match to a penalty shootout.
Dezotell sent out four of the five shooters that had taken penalties against the Polar Bears, substituting senior defender Alex Wall for Canfin. In the first round of the shootout, both teams scored before senior defender Taylor Feinberg, whose penalty was saved against Bowdoin. Feinberg would find the same outcome versus Wirt. In the third round, Antic would even the score by denying the Div. III assist leader Manu Prieto in his first career penalty attempt. The advantage would shift back to the Bengals after Yanez sent his penalty off the crossbar. After both sides made their subsequent penalty, the Jumbos’ season would come down to the kick of the Bengals’ captain, midfielder David Wozniak. Wozniak sent the ball into the top left corner of the net, ending the Jumbos’ unbeaten season with Antic rooted to the spot.
After this draw, the Jumbos end their campaign with a record of 12–0–6, only the second undefeated season in the hundred-year history of the program. But in a game “where we were dominating, creating chances,” as sophomore midfielder Bijan Aktharzandi-Das wrote in an email to the Daily, they could not get a win. Aktharzandi-Das praised the team's performance but credited the Bengals, writing, “We played a great game, but gotta respect the other team for doing what needed to be done- showing up in those big moments.”
Unfortunately for the Jumbos, this means the end of college soccer for the Class of 2025, who finished with a total record of 49–9–20, winning a NESCAC title in 2021 and qualifying for the NCAA Tournament all four seasons.
