The Year of the Snake—Mount Men’s Soccer

Steve Morano
MSMU Class of 2024

(10/2023) On August 24th, some of the most bizarre events to ever happen at Waldron Family Stadium occurred. After a lighting delay dispersed both the Mount and Bucknell teams back into the locker room, a two-foot black snake crept onto the field, coiling itself up, cementing its place on the field. Eventually, line judge Scarlett Agrawal was able to grab the snake with the aid of her line flag and throw it off the field. But by the time the serpent made its way onto the field, the Mount was down 2-1, eventually losing to the Bisons by the same scoreline. But much like the weird events of the night, there are many things in store for the team.

At the end of the 2022 campaign, the Mountaineers had a record of 7-9-1, with a conference record of 3-6-1, with their wins in the MAAC coming from Canisius, St. Peters, and Rider. Defensive woes held the team back, with opponents outscoring them 40-23. This may have held the offense back, as they had to constantly worry about the opponents’ level of attacking prowess. But so far in this year’s campaign, opponents are only outscoring the Mount 15-7, with the ratio between goals scored and goals given up much closer than this time last year—specifically in the game against James Madison University (No. 6 in the nation), where the Mount Lost 6-0, which makes up for many of the conceded goals this year. If you take those six goals out of the equation, then the Mount is only outscored 9-6.

But what makes up this defensive upgrade from last year? Well, the level of defenders has drastically gotten better. With the addition of freshman, Maks Czyz of Alesund, Norway, Gavin Watt, a graduate student from Duquesne, and graduate student, Mackie Sacarellos, formerly of UMBC, the defense has been completely overhauled. And with Ethan Russell, the senior goalkeeper having much more experience after playing in 15 games last season for the Mountaineers, his confidence has surely gone up. But with all the defensive upgrades, what has the offense been up to, and how can they further help with goal-support to help give their defenders a cushion?

Although he is listed as a midfielder/defender, graduate student Ammit Bhogal is the team’s top goal scorer, notching two goals in six games. After him, freshman Junee Lee, sophomore Bobby Marstellar, junior Dominik Topolsky, senior Erick Villatoro, and the aforementioned Sacarellos all have one goal apiece for the Mountaineers. Some defenders are amongst the goal scorers; this will offer a diverse amount of scoring options for the Mountaineers this season. With such a spread of goals amongst all members of the team across positions, it is hard to say that there will be a lack of goals scored. With that, they will create difficulties for opponents across the pitch. This is what head coach Bryan Cunningham will expect of his team in the season going forward.

But how has the team been doing so far this season? Currently, the Mountaineers are 1-4-1, with their one and only win coming in a 2-1 win against Fairfield in their first conference game of the year on September 16th. Before then, the Mount went five games without a win, with a 2-1 loss to Bucknell, a 1-1 tie with Radford, a 2-1 loss to Longwood, a 3-2 loss against Delaware and the aforementioned 6-0 defeat against JMU constituting their tough start to the season. As their conference play begins, they play Manhattan, St. Peter’s Marist, Canisius, Quinnipiac, Siena, and Rider in a one-month span from September 23rd to October 25th. They round out their season with a game away at Iona and a home game in Emmitsburg against Niagara on November 1st.

The difficulties in their schedule lie in that month span, where they play Quinnipiac, the conference champions of last year and Manhattan, who finished third in the conference as well. But in their final two games of the year are up against the 2nd and fourth placed finishers in the 2022 season in Iona and Niagara. This packed schedule may be the shortcoming of the team this year, as the team will have to play great competition with little rest in between games.

Although the MAAC overall is a tough soccer conference, there is resilience within this Mountaineers side. This is ever more present if you consider the win against Fairfield. The freshman Lee played an amazing volley by grad student, Raimondo Partito past the Stags goalkeeper the 18th minute to give the Mount a 1-0 lead. And although a great appearance in front of the sticks by Russel, which included a saved penalty to keep the lead, Fairfield drew it level 88th minute, making it 1-1. But with their teams confidence behind them, the Mount drew a free kick on the outside of the box a minute later. Grad student, Luc Holden put a excellent free kick into the box, which initially punched out by Fairfield’s goalkeeper, found the foot of Bhogal who made it 2-1 in the 90th minute in favor of the Mountaineers. Waldron went crazy.

"It’s great, to help the team secure the three points." Bhogal Said post-game. He was particularly emotional after the game, dropping to his knees and grabbing the "M" badge on his shirt when the siren sounded to end the game. "Listen, we haven’t had the best start, but they [the fans] have been here every single game supporting us and to get those three points, it was all for the fans." He added. With this last-minute win for the Mount, this will surely bring confidence for the rest of the season. Cunningham said after the game that, "It’s going to be the end of the regular season really fast, and the goal is just trying to get into that top six, that’s our goal right now with this group."

With these games coming thick and fast for the Mountaineers in the 2023 MAAC campaign, these games will of course become more challenging as they play tougher competition. But with an overhauled team full of veteran talent, the rarity of a lonely black snake will be heavily outweighed by the great performance of the Mount and what is to come.