Coming off their first ever Little East Conference regular-season championship, the USM men’s soccer team looked poised to make the NCAA tournament.
Plymouth State had other ideas, though, ending the Huskies’ season with a resounding 3-0 victory last Wednesday in Gorham. Now the Huskies will have to wait and see if they’re one of eight teams selected to play in the ECAC tournament – a tournament analgous to college basketball’s NIT, designed for teams who fail to make the NCAA tournament.
In a game largely marked by missed opportunities by USM and opportune scoring by the Panthers, Plymouth State negated their 2-0 home loss to USM earlier this season.
After a scoreless first half, Plymouth State broke the tie when senior forward Semir Mehmedovic snuck a shot past USM keeper David Kreps (Agawam, MA) for the eventual game winner. The Panthers then tacked on two more goals en route to their fourth consecutive victory.
“It was basically a 1-0 game,” Coach Mike Keller said, adding that the score was artificially padded by Plymouth State’s final two goals which they scored in the final ten minutes, a time when USM was pushing hard on the offense in a last ditch effort. The Huskies played down a man for the final five minutes.
USM had scoring opportunities but couldn’t capitalize. Senior captain Greg Cox (Brookline, MA) made the most of what could be his final game, sending a header off the left post and a 45-yard shot off the crossbar, nearly providing the Huskies with the offensive spark they needed.
Keller said that Cox’s efforts are charactertistic of his gritty determination, adding that he has been integral in the Huskies’ LEC success. The senior led the Huskies in conference scoring.
But Cox’s efforts were not enough.
Mehmedovic continued his tear through the LEC playoffs for Plymouth State. With two goals and an assist in Wednesday’s game, the senior forward, whose hat-trick lifted Plymouth State past Western Connecticut on Monday, tallied his fourth and fifth goals of the playoffs while adding an assist for good measure.
The Panthers didn’t score their second goal of the game until the 82nd minute, leaving a 34-minute window during which the Huskies could have evened the game, but didn’t. The goal came when Mehmedovic converted a pass from Matt Delano.
Six minutes later, Plymouth State drove the proverbial spike through USM’s heart when, after a strong push by Mehmedovic, including two saved shots, Delano snuck the ball passed Kreps with just over two minutes remaining,
According to Keller, the Huskies should make the ECAC tournament thanks to their #1 ranking in conference, but he’s unsure where his team will be playing and how highly they will be seeded. He added that his team’s post-season fate will rest on performance of other highly ranked teams in the region. If those teams win their conferences like they should, the Huskies might be able to garner a higher ranking and perhaps host their game.
Nevertheless, his team is ready to play; it doesn’t matter where or when.
“These guys love the game and they just want to keep playing,” Keller said.
If the Huskies aren’t selected to play in the post-season, an era will have ended in Gorham.
Senior forward and all-time great Sinisa Bajic (Belgrade, Serbia) will hang up his cleats as the schools second leading scorer, while classmates Collin Reilly (Evergreen, CO), Ben Slagle (Scarborough), Brian King (Gorham) and Derek Peters (Springvale) all capped off impressive careers on the pitch.
The Huskies have a lot to look forward to next season. They will return a number of key starters including junior midfielder Peter McHugh (Portland), who turned up his scoring output in the latter stages of the season, ended the 2008 campaign with 13 goals and five assists for 31 points overall.
USM will also boast an impressive junior class next season with midfielders Adam Gadbois (Brunswick) and Alex Burnham (North Yarmouth) and forward Nick Johnson (South Portland).
The Huskies ended their season with an impressive 14-8-1 mark overall, their highest win total since the 1979 season when they went 17-2-1.