Season after season, Rensselaer Men’s Soccer Head Coach Adam Clinton has wished for just a few more games in the year. His reasoning is simple. “I’ve always felt that at the end of the year, if we had a few more games we could do some damage,” Clinton said of his teams. “It seems we are just starting to hit our stride late in the year.”
This year Clinton got his wish, and his teamed proved him more than a prophet.
A rejuvenated RPI squad, despite being left for dead after getting swept by Hamilton and Hobart on October 21 and 22, played a rejuvenated brand of soccer after receiving a surprising selection to the 2005 ECAC Division III Upstate Men’s Soccer Championship.
The results: three straight convincing road wins, an ECAC Championship, and perhaps most importantly, some satisfaction.
“We figured, ‘We’re in it, let’s win it,’” Clinton said of his team’s mindset entering the tournament. “There was definitely a real determination there. Our confidence was high; there was not a single person who didn’t expect to win this weekend.”
Fifth-seeded RPI combined to play nearly flawless soccer in three away games against the tournament’s first, third, and fourth ranked clubs. Rensselaer handled fourth-seeded Keuka College easily 3-0 in the first round, squeezed out a 1-0 win over top seed SUNY Geneseo in the semifinals, and rallied late to defeat third-seeded St. John Fisher 3-1.
Despite their sensational play, the road to the championship was a bumpy one.
After cruising past Keuka on Wednesday, November 9, in terrible weather with two early first half goals from sophomore midfielder Gary Sroka and freshman forward Mike Henzel, and the clincher from senior forward Craig DiDomenico midway through the second half, the Red Hawks trip home was certainly a voyage.
A wrong turn and errant turnaround attempt left the team bus off the road and forced them to wait for a tow, still well over three hours away from Troy. The Red Hawks finally staggered home in the wee hours of Thursday morning and were forced to battle through fatigue Thursday and Friday as they prepared for the 2004 NCAA Final Four team of SUNY Geneseo on Saturday, November 12.
“We refused to let the trip and the fatigue bother us,” Clinton said. “We just told ourselves it will make the story even better.”
RPI, despite having plenty of excuses, showed no signs of fatigue as they dominated a talented Blue Knights squad. The Rensselaer defense was particularly spectacular as the back four, led by senior co-captain and center back Joe Johnson, prevented Geneseo from placing a single shot on junior goaltender Nick Bochette.
Senior backer Kris Zanotto, who also played a near perfect game, made a game-saving tackle on defense which disrupted Geneseo’s best scoring opportunity of the night. Bochette was only forced to make nine saves in the entire tournament due to the play of his teammates.
The Red Hawks also controlled the midfield throughout the contest, and maintained possession throughout. RPI took 10 shots and had six corner kicks while the Blue Knights could manage just three corner kicks.
Johnson would spark the Rensselaer offensive attack just under 20 minutes into the second half as he headed a corner kick to waiting classmate DiDomenico, who pushed the ball in for the game’s only goal.
“This was the best game a team had played since I’ve been here,” Clinton, who just concluded his fourth season as Rensselaer’s head coach, said. “We did everything we set out to do. Things we wanted to do all year we finally did.”
In the championship game, RPI continued to play inspired, even after the team gave away the lead late in the contest.
Henzel put the Red Hawks up 1-0 less than 15 minutes into the game after running down a rebound off a Sroka shot. RPI would control the contest, taking 29 shots compared to the St. John Fisher Cardinals’ seven, but could not manage to score again and the Cardinals took advantage of their missed opportunities.
St. John Fisher’s Sal Valle broke the game’s 67-minute scoreless span, beating Bochette after sneaking behind the RPI defense, in what was their only defensive miscue of the week.
“I was honestly thinking, ‘Oh no, here we go again,’” Clinton said of his mindset after the Cardinals tied the game. “There was a natural sinking feeling, but I still thought we would win because we were dominating. However, I was sure we were headed for overtime.”
Fortunately he was wrong.
In less than two minutes, Sroka would score the game-winning goal after junior midfielder Scott Owens forced a turnover and hit him streaking toward the net. Sroka put it home, giving RPI the 2-1 lead and 1:02 later clinched the game for Rensselaer, scoring from two yards out after DiDomenico beat the Cardinal defense and found Sroka alone in front.
Sroka’s late game heroics and three goals in as many games not only helped RPI garner its first ECAC Championship in recent history, but also earned him the honor of being the ECAC Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.
“I’m so happy for him,” Clinton said of Sroka, who Clinton decided to play at forward in the ECAC Tournament instead of his usual midfielder position. “We’ve wanted to play him up front all season. He is so strong and dangerous … Next year he will be playing up front all season.”
Clinton was also pleased to see his seniors—DiDomenico, Johnson, Zanotto, Ed Sellitto, Lot Serebour, and Stefano Bonissone, the first group to play under Clinton for four years—leave as champions.
The Red Hawks reverted a disappointing 1-5-1 in Liberty League play and finished the regular season with an 8-7-1 record. Their run through the ECAC allowed them to accomplish two firsts in Clinton’s tenure: finishing with double digit wins (11-7-1) and winning an ECAC crown.
“[The season] is completely different now,” Clinton said. “We did not play well in the league, but in the ECAC Tournament we did everything the way we had always intended to.”
