The men’s soccer team wrapped up their season in a 1-0 loss to Patriot League champion Loyola on Nov. 4. Loyola slipped a goal past the Leopards’ senior goalkeeper Brad Seeber in the twenty-first minute for the only goal of the game, eliminating the Leopards chances at a Patriot League playoff appearance.
“Unfortunately we didn’t get on the right side of the game,” sophomore forward Evan Vare said. “We were dominating…the first half and had a lot of opportunities, but they ended up scoring in the first half which killed our momentum. Second half, we sent a lot of [players] forward which let them have more of the ball in transition.”
Senior captain Christian Moyse had three goals this season as a defender and earned one Defensive Player of the Week selection this season. Vare did not make an appearance in the game against Loyola, but was named to the All-Patriot League second team, along with Moyse. Over the course of the season, Vare scored seven goals out of his 21 shots on goal.
“It’s a great honor to be named with the Patriot League’s best players, but I wouldn’t have achieved any of it without my coaches and especially my teammates,” Vare said. “It’s nice to see hard work and dedication pay off, but we can always get better and I will be improving in the offseason along with everyone else of my team.”
Vare said that the team played overall well this season, but were left in disappointment with no playoff berth.
“The story of the season, to me, was that we were close, but not close enough,” he said. “We were competitive in every game and could’ve won every game, but our execution wasn’t always up to par. We lost a lot of games where we were the better team and could’ve had a lot better of a year.”
With the conclusion of this season, Vare noted that the Leopards can now focus on improving for their spring season.
“This offseason we’re going to lift with our strength coach and put a lot of hours in the weight room,” he said. “In the of-season we are going to put a lot of hours in the individual improvement so that we can collectively come back better as a unit for spring games in the latter half of next semester.”