The men’s soccer team concluded their regular season play last Wednesday with a gritty double overtime draw with Florida Southern. The draw summed up a grueling season for the Spartans who finished the season with an overall record of 6-7-3 but with a conference record of just 2-5-1.
The Spartans started off the first half of the season 4-2-2, but the season took a turn after a heartbreaking overtime loss to Rollins. The team went 2-5-1 in the second half of the season and hasn’t won a game since Oct. 19 against Eckerd. Head coach Adrian Bush explains the reasoning behind the team’s struggles.
“It’s been tough,” said Bush in regard to the squad’s recent skid.
This is Bush’s ninth season at the helm, and he was named SSC Coach of the Year last year with a 10-6-1 record. The team played this season without many strong seniors from last year. Regardless, Bush remains adamant in his players’ ability.
“I believe in these players,” Bush said. “The guys are working hard, and we have outplayed nearly every team we have faced. But there is a fine line between winning and losing.”
The line couldn’t be any finer for the Spartans this season. The team has had six trips to overtime this season but have only escaped with a win once. Tough games have been a constant for the squad, who has six non-wins determined by a goal or less. The Spartans hold a goal difference of +4 over opponents as a whole, but they have struggled in SSC games being outscored by four goals against conference opponents.
The Spartans finished the season sixth on the conference table and find themselves in the midst of the SSC tournament with aspirations of further games this November.
“Discipline is a huge issue for us,” Bush said about the team moving forward. “We were a man down thanks to red cards for three games this season. We have allowed six penalty kicks this season. I haven’t allowed six penalty kicks over the past nine years as a whole. In order to win these upcoming games, we have to limit the cards and limit the fouls.”
The Spartans have indeed struggled with keeping out of the referees’ books this year with 26 yellow cards, five red card ejections and over 180 fouls.
Offense hasn’t been too big of an issue with junior Tyler Blackwood netting a team-high 13 goals from 59 shots, while freshman John Bentham’s long throwing ability has helped him tally seven assists for the Spartans. On the other end of the pitch is senior business major and goalkeeper David Niepel.
Niepel is a former member of the German U-16 and U-17 national teams and has bounced back from a nearly career-ending broken back at the age of 16 to become a fan favorite at UT. Niepel has been the starting goalkeeper with the team since his freshman year, and he has tallied 65 saves and only 22 goals allowed from over 200 shots faced. This will be Niepel’s last season with the team. He looks to graduate with a master’s degree in finance by the end of the year.
The biggest accomplishment that the team has gained was one off the pitch rather than on it. The team led the conference in selections of Capital One Academic All-District players with three Spartans chosen among the twelve selections. The three are Daniel Barboto, Craig Laird and Niepel, who has been awarded the distinction for the third straight year. This is the second year for Barboto who is a junior and pre-med/biology major. This is Laird’s first year being selected.
“It’s a nice recognition for my accomplishments on and off the field,” Niepel said.
UT is surely an underdog going into the tournament games this month, but the team excels in creating chances to score. If the Spartans can just convert a few of these chances, momentum will swing in their favor.
“It is good for us as a team to go into the tournament as the underdog because other teams underestimate us,” Niepel said. “I hope we can end the season with a championship despite things not going our way in the last couple of the weeks.”
Marcus Mitchell can be reached at mitchell.marcus31@yahoo.com.