CHC soccer squads finish winning seasons

by TOM UTESCHER

The men’s and women’s soccer teams at Chestnut Hill College, in only their second and third years of competition, respectively, are on their way to establishing a successful tradition at the local school.

Earning a spot in their conference tournament for the third year in a row, the CHC women put up an overall record of 11-7 and went 5-2 within the Atlantic Women’s College Conference. The male Griffins, who were 7-10-1 in their inaugural season in 2004, climbed above the .500 mark this fall, finishing 11-8 overall and 9-5 in the North Eastern Athletic Conference.

The men’s team went all the way to the finals of the NEAC tournament before falling to Villa Julie College of Maryland, 1-0. Senior defender and team co-captain Greg Webb was named to the All-NEAC First Team, as was sophomore midfielder Boyd McCorkle. The squad’s other co-captain, junior midfielder Mike Devine, was a Second Team pick.

With six goals and three assists for a total of 15 points this fall, McCorkle led a well-balanced CHC offense. Close behind, with 14 and 13 points, respectively, were freshmen Don Russo (6goals/2assists) and Leslie Muluh (6g/1a). Webb (5g/2a) and sophomore Mike Kuch (4g/4a) accumulated a dozen points apiece.

After finishing the NEAC regular season with a 7-4 record, Chestnut Hill dispatched Cazenovia College, 5-0, on November 1 in the first round of the conference playoffs. From there, it was on to the “Final Four” tourney at Villa Julie College in Stevenson, MD.

In the semifinals, the Griffins outlasted four-time defending champion Keuka College, 1-0, in sudden death overtime. The winning goal originated with a throw-in by Devine, then Devin Jackson got a touch on the ball before Russo deflected it into the cage.

“We should’ve won it in regulation; we played really, really well,” noted Chestnut Hill mentor Shawn Ferris, who coached the CHC women in 2003 and then took the helm of the new men’s program last year. “Another interesting thing is that last season they beat us 6-1 in the semifinals, so we were able to turn that around in one year.”

Unfortunately, the locals had three players hurt in the game, and they ended their campaign with a 1-0 loss to tourney host Villa Julie in the championship match.

The CHC women, who won the AWCC Championship in 2003 and 2004 and appeared in the NCAA Division III tournament, fell just short of the mark this time around. Half-a-dozen Griffins were recognized in the All-AWCC selections. Junior midfielders Erin Bagdasarian and Morgan Nichols and sophomore defender Becky Howell were chosen for the First Team, and honorable mention went to forwards Casey Manzi (freshman) and Annie Ruckdeschel (senior) and to goalie Krista DeFlaviis (junior).

In her rookie season, Manzi was far and away the most prolific scorer for the franchise, with her 15 goals and four assists adding up to 34 points, while junior Maureen Dugan fired in nine goals and gave two assists for 20 points. Junior Steph Williams had 16 points on six goals and four assists, Nichols notched 15 points (5g/5a), and Bagdasarian had three goals and five assists for 11 points.

In addition to Manzi’s play up front this fall, Chestnut Hill benefited from a great rookie season by starting sweeper Tiffanie Stanton. Three other CHC freshmen also saw significant action.

“With our returning players and with the freshmen we got in, we probably had the most talent in the conference this season,” said second-year head coach Michele Mocarsky. “Our problem was finishing on the offensive end. We dominated in a lot of our games, but we just had a tough time putting the ball in the back of the net.”

Still, Chestnut Hill’s 5-2 record in regular-season AWCC bouts secured the third seed for the Griffins in the four-team conference tournament at Wells College in Aurora, NY. CHC and number two Hood College battled to a scoreless standoff in the first half, then the Blazers went ahead on a penalty kick early in the second period. A CHC corner kick by Dugan went in off of a Hood player to tie the game, but with 12 minutes left the Blazers served the ball into the box on a restart and scored on a header to take a 2-1 decision.

This was Chestnut Hill’s last season of competition in the AWCC. Next year, the school’s female booters will join the men’s team in the NEAC (the Griffins actually beat Villa Julie, the 2005 NEAC champ, in a non-conference match this fall). All of CHC’s current crop of players will return for 2006 with the exception of Ruckdeschel, who led the Griffins in scoring in 2003 before being sidelined with a knee injury last year.