Late Saturday night, shouts from drunken students confirmed something that had been becoming more and more apparent in recent weeks: this is now a soccer town, and within it is a campus that is beginning to think futbol before football.
Perhaps it was some strange coincidence, but the cries were unmistakable: out of the mouths of those enjoying the late night autumn air came European soccer chants.
The same chants of “Ole, ole ole ole” rung loud and clear Friday night at Lessing Field, and then again on Sunday afternoon when the Stags’ men’s soccer team plowed through another pair of MAAC opponents, bringing their record to 8-0-1 in the conference and maintaining their grasp on first place.
“It’s good to be a part of,” said senior forward Bill Androutsos, who scored the lone goal in Friday’s 1-0 win over Niagara. “One of the reasons [we’re successful] is that we take it one game at a time and we’re humble about it.”
After the Stags finished off Niagra Friday night, the weekend’s soccer-related activities became far easier. Students staged a celebration around a bon fire after the game and the Stags routed an overmatched Canisius team Sunday afternoon, 6-0, finishing the weekend sweep of opponents from western New York.
If that wasn’t enough, Sunday’s game featured a turn of events that may have been too unbelievable to be real if they hadn’t actually happened. With the Stags already ahead 4-0, Head Coach Carl Rees emptied his bench, including senior walk-on Armand Dikranian, a former team manager who had never gotten into a game with the Stags.
Within a minute of the time he stepped onto the field, Dikranain took a pass from Taylor Warwick ’07 and drove a shot past Canisius keeper Matt Houghton into the net. Perhaps in keeping with the team’s theme of humbleness, Dikranian deflected the credit for the moment to Rees.
“He didn’t have to do that,” he said of Rees’ decision to put him in. “I just wanted to get into a game, and the goal was just a bonus.”
The winning streak and the momentum that has come with it have put the Stags in a very favorable situation. They can clinch the regular season MAAC title and the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament with a win Friday at Marist. The Stags completed their regular season home schedule unbeaten and will return to Lessing Field Nov. 11 for the conference tournament.
So how does a team that inspires late night drunken chants manage to keep its head on its shoulders?
“Running,” keeper Andrew Frankel ’06 said. “[Rees] wouldn’t allow an ounce of softness on this team.”
But even if Rees were to ease up on his motivational tactics, the Stags say they have gotten enough motivation to take them through the end of the season from the team they share a field with.
That team, the Stags’ women’s soccer squad, stunned Niagara Monday to win the MAAC title and an NCAA tournament birth, making the men the only soccer players on campus without any hardware.
“It’s great that the girls won,” Frankel said. “I couldn’t be happier for them.”
“That’s pressure we want,” Androutsos added.
The MAAC championship game will take place Nov. 13, before a national television audience and a packed house in Fairfield. If all goes well on North Benson, the Stags will have a chance to win the title and celebrate on their home turf.
Now that might inspire some late-night drunken chanting.
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