The Rensselaer men’s soccer team rounded out a disappointing season with a 1-2 mark falling to 6-9 overall and 1-6 in the UCAA.
Although the Red Hawks could not get back to .500, they played well down the home stretch, during which they were mainly playing for pride.
The Red Hawks split their two game set on October 24 and 25 losing to the second ranked team in the nation, St. Lawrence, 2-0 while defeating a struggling Clarkson team 1-0.
The match-up against an excellent St. Lawrence squad saw a determined Red Hawks team scratch, claw, and fight as they tried to keep their hopes alive for that elusive and coveted last UCAA tournament bid.
“We played very well against St. Lawrence,” said Rensselaer men’s soccer Coach Adam Clinton. “We executed our game plan and had some chances. Unfortunately we could not capitalize on them.”
The Red Hawks battled and stayed competitive with the superb St. Lawrence team throughout the game, keeping the deficit to just one goal until the final minute when St. Lawrence’s Gil Schaper sealed the victory by sneaking a shot past Greg Goehle.
Despite the best efforts of the Red Hawks, St. Lawrence maintained solid control during the whole game.
St. Lawrence managed to get off 16 shots and received 13 corner kicks due to the tremendous pressure they put on the RPI defense.
“We knew they would hold on to the ball most of the game,” admitted Clinton. “But we stayed very competitive with them throughout the game.”
The St. Lawrence loss officially eliminated Rensselaer from the UCAA playoff and left Coach Clinton concerned about a possible let down against Clarkson.
“The next day after such a tough game, such as the St. Lawrence [game], is always difficult,” said Clinton. “Especially when it is late in the season and you are just playing for pride.”
However, Clinton’s anxiety was quickly put to rest as the Red Hawks came out ready to play.
Chris Bohren scored what proved to be the game winning goal off a pass from Mike Biggs just over five minutes into the game.
Even after grabbing the early lead, Rensselaer refused to let down on the intensity.
The Red Hawks kept the pressure on the Golden Knights, placing 10 shots on the Clarkson net.
“We really came out fired up,” said Clinton. “It was a tremendous to get the Clarkson game, especially after the tough game the night before with St. Lawrence. We weathered the storm and stuck together.”
The win improved the Red Hawks’ overall record to 6-8 and got the team its first UCAA win of the season.
The Red Hawks final game against Vassar was almost a summary of how the season had gone for the team all season.
Rensselaer had their chances, but were just not able to capitalize on them. The Red Hawks had 19 shots in comparison to Vassar’s nine, and also led in the corner kick department (5-4) but just could not seem to get anything past Vassar goalie Paul Conners.
The game’s only goal came off a header as Aldis Butler knocked in a pass from teammate Owen Kendell 22 minutes into the game.
After the goal the defenses settled in and while Rensselaer put continuous pressure on the Vassar defense they, and Conners, responded to whatever challenge the Red Hawks could throw or kick at them.
“This game was truly symbolic of our entire season,” said Clinton. “We completely outplayed Vassar but we just could not score when we needed to.”
Although this season did not go quite as planned for the Red Hawks, Coach Clinton is still optimistic about the team’s potential in the future.
“We are building a program and a tradition, and it takes time. This is a real resilient group of guys. They have worked hard all year. We have shown improvement this season and we were competitive in every game except one this season.”
Rensselaer has shown they can play with some of the best teams in the state and in the country as they defeated nationally and state ranked Plattsburgh State and St. John Fisher, and were in the game with St. Lawrence until the final minute of play.
Conference match-ups proved to be the Achilles Heal of this year’s team as they only managed one win against a UCAA opponent.
“We need to [be] better in conference,” Clinton said. “We have to beat conference opponents. We had three games we could have won and if would have won those games we’d be talking playoffs right now. We play our best soccer late in the year so if we can actually take care of business early in the season I think we can be a dangerous team to face in the post-season.”
Next year looks promising for the Red Hawks. They will only be losing four seniors (Taylor Benjamin, Brian Tarpill, Doug Behrens, and Chris Bohren), but they will leave a substantial hole for Clinton to fill in the off season.
“It will be tough to replace those four guys,” Clinton said in regard to his seniors. “They all suffered from injuries throughout the season and did not have the seasons they were hoping for, but they all still contributed to the team this year.”
Clinton is hoping he and his returning players can take what happened this year and build on it for the future.
“You got to teach winning and it takes time to do that, but I believe we are building toward a bright future. We feel successful despite the record. We have had several guys step up and we have seen improvement in our goalkeeper. We are only [a] couple players and a few bounces away from being a very good team.”
