The STU soccer teams wrapped up the final regular season home games with special events. The Tommies now look ahead to the Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association (ACAA) Soccer Championships hosted at Crandall University from Oct. 25 to Oct. 27.
The men’s soccer team are currently top of the league, holding a winning streak of nine consecutive games keeping a clean sheet. The women’s soccer team were left out of the ACAA Soccer Championships after tying 1-1 against UNBSJ.
Events like the Mary Cronin Memorial game, grad game and International Football Night were held to bring the community closer.
Related: ‘Heartbreaking and heartwarming’: STU soccer teams host inaugural Mary Cronin memorial game
The head coach of the men’s soccer team John-Ryan Morrison said that even though the team has already qualified for the ACAA Soccer Championships, the team’s focus is going game by game. This year STU will host the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Men’s Soccer National Championship from Nov. 6 to Nov. 9.
“It’s a great opportunity for our small program to showcase itself on the national stage. It is a reward for our results on the field the last couple of years and the work by the athletics department to make it a reality,” said Morrison.
This will be the last year Morrison serves as the head coach for the men’s soccer team, leaving a mark on the program for 11 years.
The team has not lost a regular-season game in four seasons. They have been nationally ranked every week for five seasons, the most CCAA academic all-Canadians in the country and eight CCAA national scholars.
“It is just a good time to step aside after 11 years and let someone else implement new ideas and standards. I feel good about it,” he said. “I have taken a program that had seen very little success to one of the best university soccer programs in the country.”
“I can certainly say that I am leaving the program better than when I found it and that’s all anyone can ask,” said Morrison
Chidubem Nkoloagu, co-captain of the men’s soccer team, will be leaving the program after playing over 60 games.
“It’s a bit bittersweet, you know? It’s nice to end off going to nationals and being able to play for your school in front of your home fans, but it’s also a little bit sad that your university career is coming to an end,” said Nkoloagu.
Nkoloagu said that during his time at STU, his teammates have been the biggest reason why he has decided year after year to come back to play for the Tommies.
“I’ve been with them for so long. They’re my best friends, my brothers, so they definitely motivated me to come back,” he said.
Just as Nkoloagu, Josh Kuehl is a fourth-year winger for STU and said that he is a completely different person leaving STU compared to when he first arrived.
“I feel a little bit of emotions. It’s kind of the years have blown by and it’s just kind of hard to think about that,” said Kuehl.
Kuehl said that he will never forget winning the conference in his first year with the Tommies and just being “around all the guys day to day.”
“My teammates … we’re all such great friends and obviously the memories on the field are great, but I think we made so many memories together as well off the field,” said Kuehl.
The organizer of the International Football Night, Juan Diego Rivas said that they hope to keep holding events as such to “celebrate the diversity of the community through the power of the game.”
The International Football Night was hosted with the puporse of getting international students to support Tommies soccer.
The event featured performances during halftime, food and jersey sales, with positive feedback from attendees and partners, said Rivas.
“We often celebrate our differences, they make us unique and that’s what makes the community diverse,” said Rivas. “However, the similarities are what brings us together, despite our differences. Which is why it is important to celebrate both.”
