Men's Soccer scores first liberty league title

The Vassar men's soccer team capped off a historic playoff run last Saturday, defeating Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) 3-2 to capture the program's first Liberty League Championship. Earning an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships, the Brewers have more soccer to look forward to, but coaches and players alike have been savoring this moment nonetheless.

"It's been straight-up euphoria," Captain Ross Macklin '12, named All-Liberty League First Team, said. Sam Erlichson-McCarthy '12 added he was feeling a mixture of excitement and pride in his teammates. "We came out harder and were better than the other team," he remarked. "We got the job done."

Going into this season, the Brewers had high expectations despite a difficult 2010 campaign. The 8-7-1 record and seventh-place finish in the Liberty League didn't reflect the team's potential in Erlichson-McCarthy's eyes. "Last season was hard," he recalled,noting how many close losses the team suffered. (Five of the seven defeats came by one goal.) Nevertheless, he added, "[In] each of those games, our expectations were building, building, building." Captain Zander Mrlik '13, also named All-Liberty League First Team, added that, coming into this season, "We didn't think any team was better than us."

Entering the playoffs as the fourth and final playoff seed, however, the Brewers knew they would be facing teams that, record-wise, were in fact superior. In the first round, they opposed the St. Lawrence University Saints, who not only stood atop the Liberty League but were also ranked No. 1 in all of Division III. After dropping their first two games against top-ranked opponents this season (including one against St. Lawrence), Vassar pulled off the dramatic upset, tying St. Lawrence 0-0 through regulation and two overtime periods and advancing to the Championship on penalty kicks, 3-1.

As confident as they were going into the playoffs, players agreed that the win provided a major morale boost. "Holding the No. 1 team to no goals through 110 minutes and being able to get past them in penalty kicks—that proved we could get past any team," Erlichson-McCarthy said. Mrlik added that goalkeepers Ryan Grimme '14 and Gary Clauss '13 put in tremendous performances in regulation and overtime, respectively. "[Grimme] made unbelievable, terrific saves," he said. "[Clauss] would start on almost any Division III team—when he's come in, he's come up big." Grimme made a career-high 15 saves against St. Lawrence, and Clauss held the Saints to just one successful penalty kick.

Facing RIT in the conference finals provided another opportunity for redemption; the Brewers fell to the Tigers 2-0 on Oct. 14, a matchup Mrlik remembered bitterly. "We thought we played our worst game against RIT," he said. "We lost our heads and they got a couple of fortunate breaks—we thought we were the better team."

With the slate wiped clean last Saturday, Vassar started off strong. Juliano Pereira '14 capitalized off a corner kick from Macklin and subsequent header from Tom Wiechert '15 to put the Brewers ahead five minutes into the contest. It was Pereira's ninth goal of the season. The game turned into a back-and-forth affair throughout the first half; as RIT countered with a goal at 27:18, Vassar's Evan Seltzer '14 put the Brewers back on top with his first goal of the year at 31:44 and RIT knotted things up again at 38:15.

With the game tied 2-2 at halftime, the Brewers were confident that all they needed was one more goal. "We knew if we put away another in the second half, we could win," Erlichson-McCarthy said. "Our defense is the strongest area of our team."

The Brewers also didn't want to take their chances in overtime again. "[Assistant Coach Tony Flores] told us this game wasn't going to OT," Erlichson-McCarthy recalled. Mrlik commented that the team's offense was running on all cylinders after halftime. "I honestly felt we were going to score," he said. "We dictated play in the second half."

It was Mrlik who ended up scoring the deciding goal with 5:56 left in regulation. From 35 yards out, Macklin delivered a free kick to just inside the back post that Mrlik headed in for the score.

Mrlik called Macklin's setup an "unbelievable cross." He added: "It's hard to miss when it's that perfect. [Macklin] has the ability to put the ball exactly where it needs to be."

Fittingly, Macklin gave the credit to Mrlik. "[Mrlik] is such a monster," he said. "If you just put the ball in a certain area, you know he's going to win it." It was the defender/midfielder's first goal of the season.

At that point, it was up to the aforementioned defense to prevent another equalizer from the Tigers. Once they took the lead, the Brewers strategically inserted a fifth defensive back into their formation. It was the same tactic they had used in overtime against St. Lawrence. "We knew if that worked against St. Lawrence for 10 minutes, we could hold off RIT for five," Erlichson-McCarthy explained. Mrlik called the remaining time in regulation "the longest five minutes of my life."

The clock eventually expired, though, and once it did, Vassar officially completed its journey to the top. Ecstatic though they were with themselves, the Brewers were just as, if not more, happy for their head coach, Andy Jennings. "After the game, I ran over to [Jennings] and gave him a great big bear hug," Macklin said. The embrace was accompanied by the ceremonial "Gatorade bath," though the cooler dumped on Jennings was filled with water.

Jennings, who has spent parts of three decades coaching the men's soccer team, experienced various emotions once the game concluded. "[I was] excited for the success for all the current players and the ones over the years that had worked hard for this—but relieved that the game was over and we could now relax," he wrote in an emailed statement.

Jennings added that he was satisfied with the particular obstacles the Brewers had to overcome in order to become champions. "They were both teams we hoped we would see again—[St. Lawrence] because we played so well against them and we wanted another crack at the No. 1 team, and RIT because we played so poorly against them in the regular season," he wrote. "We got our wish and we got the right results."

Now, with the NCAA Championships looming, the Brewers hope to ride the momentum that has carried them since the end of the regular season. Currently on a five-game winning streak, the team has faced the same do-or-die conditions continually. "Going into the past couple of games," Macklin said, "we kept telling ourselves ‘We're going to make history, we're going to make history.'"

The Brewers will face Dickinson College in the first round of the NCAA Championships on Saturday, marking their first appearance in the tournament since 1999. Jennings' approach is simple. "Just to win the next game—nothing more than that," he wrote. "It is the only way to approach a knock out competition." Erlichson-McCarthy echoed this sentiment, saying the team had to take things one game at a time, while Mrlik observed that they have already maintained this mindset throughout the entire season.

"You [have to] go goal by goal," he said. "In the beginning of the year, we weren't thinking about the Liberty League Championships—you just need to be in the dance. Once you're there, anything can happen."