2006 Mercy College Men's Soccer Season Review
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Head Coach Chris Gonzalez led the Flyers to a 6-5-3 overall record and a No. 7 regional ranking. |
The 2006 Mercy College men's soccer season was filled with ups and downs, peaks and valleys. Despite a short bench due to injuries to several key players, the Flyers still finished the year above .500 at 6-5-3, and posted a No. 7 regional ranking. Ultimately, the injuries and some unlucky breaks were too much to overcome as they fell just short of earning an East Coast Conference (ECC) Tournament berth, despite not losing in their last four games and tying nationally ranked C.W. Post in their season finale.
"It was hard to take," said head coach Chris Gonzalez. "It took us a good 20 minutes to leave the bench area. We couldn't believe it was actually over. They wanted to go on and compete for the championship. We all felt we had a chance if we got there. Unfortunately we came up a little shy, but I'm so proud of the way they battled and overcame a lot of adversity."
Mercy opened up the year by going 4-2 through the first six games of the season. During that stretch, the Flyers posted a pair of shutouts, including a 1-0 victory over ECC foe St. Thomas Aquinas, and a thrilling come-from-behind 2-1 double-overtime win at Molloy.
Senior midfielder Alexandre Augusto (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and sophomore forward Michael Frimpong-Manso (Accra, Ghana), Mercy's top two returning scoring threats, were already battling through injuries, and were then sidelined for parts of the remainder of the season. Despite those setbacks, the Flyers battled eventual national champion Dowling, before falling 1-0.
"The Dowling game was a high point," said Gonzalez. "We played with them and I felt we could have tied or even won that game at certain points."
Then came a disappointing 1-0 defeat at the hands of Concordia, and a 2-2 tie at Bridgeport, both in league play, followed by a 4-2 non-conference loss at Holy Family.
"We went from playing great against the number one team in the country, to playing below our potential against Concordia," said Gonzalez. "There's no question we missed Alex and Mike when they went down. We had to work our way through it and make some adjustments."
Gonzalez and the Flyers regrouped, and still had a chance to earn a spot in the ECC Tournament with four games left in the regular season, three against league opponents. Mercy first downed NYIT 2-1, and followed with a 1-1 tie against New Haven. After 2-1 non-conference win at Post University, the Flyers then hosted C.W. Post, ranked No. 20 in the nation at the time. The Flyers' controlled the tempo for most of regulation and held a 14-6 advantage in shots for the first 90 minutes, but neither team could find the back of the net and they went into overtime. The pace picked up in the extra frames, with the Pioneers firing six shots to Mercy's three, but again neither team could finish and the game ended in a 0-0 draw.
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Midfielder Nizar Chahbani earned All-ECC Third Team honors. |
Mercy went 2-0-2 in those final four games, but at the same time Bridgeport had gone 3-0-1 over its last four to jump the Flyers and snatch the fourth and final spot in the league playoffs. Despite the season coming to an end, Gonzalez looks back with plenty of positive to take into next year.
"This team always battles to the end, which is what we did again this year," said Gonzalez. "They love the game, love the team, and love to compete. We couldn't find that one killer goal to put us over the top, but I couldn't have asked for more from them. Just a few days after that last game, they were already calling me to ask what they can do to get better. I feel good about that and expect this program to make a run at a NCAA spot next year."
Along with the effort they gave and heart they displayed, Gonzalez can also look back to several individual highlights from the 2006 season with pride as three players earned All-ECC honors. Junior defender Norton Carnegie (Kingston, Jamaica) was named to the First Team, while Augusto earned a spot on the Second Team, and junior midfielder Nizar Chahbani (Menzel Bourguiba, Tunisia) received Third Team honors. Freshman goalkeeper Carl Spence (St. Catherine's, Jamaica) also made an impact and earned ECC Rookie of the Week honors for his play in the final week of the season.
With Carnegie, Chahbani, and Spence all returning next year, along with Frimpong-Manso and several other key weapons such as forward Quaison Carter (Teaneck, NJ) and midfielder Santiago Riera (Valhalla, NY), Gonzalez will have a formidable nucleus as he now looks ahead to 2007.
"We will have a lot of experienced players returning that have learned from this year," said Gonzalez. "Our goal is always double-digit wins and to give ourselves a chance to get into the NCAA Tournament. I think we have the talent and we'll take it from there."
