Men’s soccer closed its season as the team fell short of reaching the Great American postseason tournament with a record of nine wins, six losses, and one tie.
After winning three games to close the regular season, qualifying for the postseason tournament was no longer in the team’s hands, Head Coach Cliff Brown said.
“We had to win out, and we were able to perform well enough to achieve this. Unfortunately, it just did not end up going our way,” Brown said.
The team was able to achieve more wins on the road than teams before, and overall was able to achieve many goals.
Edward Jabbari reached his 10th goal this past week to set a record for goals scored in a year against NCAA teams which was a great achievement, Brown said.
“If you ask any player on the team they would say the season did not go well. We expected more from it. We went into the season having high expectations for ourselves,” junior Andrey Victor Rios said. “We have a really good team but our mentality was weak and next year we need to change our mentality to succeed.”
Although the season did not go as well as the team had planned, it was out of their control and they went out with three very strong wins, Brown said.
“There is definitely a certain disappointment in not making the playoffs. As a team, we had what it took to make it, but the details got to us,” junior Enzo Nalis said. “When things did not go our way we failed to persevere and it led to us dropping important games.”
The team was successful in the new conference with 25 points scored in the season, which should have been plenty to push them into the postseason tournament, Brown said.
“We can only look forward. There is no point thinking about what could’ve, should’ve, would’ve been. There is nothing to hang our heads about from the season,” Brown said.
The team is going to lose many starters as they prepare for next season. The players are going to need to step up so that next year the team gets the opportunity to make the postseason tournament, Nalis said.
“I think everyone has regrets throughout the season,” he said. “As I leave from Newman, I am going to miss my entire day spent playing soccer and being around the boys that I call my brothers. We had a good season and I have many mixed feelings as it comes to an end.”
PHOTO: Courtesy Photo, Newman Athletics
