Men's soccer finish season with a loss in playoffs

The Norwich soccer team finished this year's season with 10-2-7 record after a playoff loss to Albertus Magnus College. This season concluded the careers of seniors Roger Motaze and Michael Lee.

"When we played Albertus, we made some mistakes as a young team overall, which cost us the game,"said Motaze, 23, a senior war and peace major from Cameroon. "We had a lack of concentration, but I feel like it was a good experience for the young guys to learn from overall."

The soccer team had 11 freshmen and seven sophomores out of the 23 players on the team. This means 78 percent of the team's players were underclassmen.

"In the beginning of the season, coach said our problem was being young, but after a couple of games we got past that and we didn't use it as an excuse anymore," said Ryan Campbell, 18, a freshman physical education major from Damascus, Md,

Anthony Amell, 18, a freshman engineering management major from Northfield, Vt., said, "After the beginning of the season we stopped looking at ourselves as young. We were a talented team that could play with anyone. We had to stop making excuses."

Said Motaze, "You can't really say the team was young. We were talented. I think talent took over the lack of experience."

Upperclassmen served as mentors. "With so many young players, I knew I was going to have to serve as a mentor to a good deal of our team," said Mike Lee, 22, a senior architecture major from Syracuse, N.Y.

Campbell agreed, "Roger and Michael showed great leadership this year. They played in the center of the field and were there to direct and control our team when things got out of hand."

Amell said, "Roger and Mike have been great for us this year. They led us from the middle of the field and controlled the pace and structure of the game. They also taught us how we have to always present ourselves in the right way when we travel."

Good chemistry helped. Said Lee, "Roger and I have a lot of chemistry. I am more defensive minded and he is more offensive oriented, but we complement each other well. We know each other so well that we could not even say a word to each other and know where the other one was on the field. The chemistry gave us form as a team."

Motaze said, "Michael and I communicate a whole lot. We have been playing together for four years, so we have a strong chemistry now."

Six players were named to the GNAC (the Greater New England Athletic Conference) all-conference teams. Ryan Campbell and Roger Motaze were named to the first team. Michael Lee, Garret Shufelt and Andy Dustin were named to the second team. Jake Leclair was named to the third team.

"I was really surprised when I saw I was named on the all-GNAC team," said Campbell. "I was honored to receive the award as a freshman."

Motaze said, "It is really special to win individual awards. It makes you really think about the work it takes to be successful."

According to Campbell, Norwich missed out on an ECAC (Eastern College Athletic Conference) Tournament bid by one place.

"It would have been nice to play in the ECACs because it is a prestigious tournament and it would have been good experience for the young guys," said Motaze.

Lee said, "It would have been nice for the young guys to get experience from playing in the tournament, but personally, I have had the experience of playing in an ECAC tournament as well as an NCAA national tournament. I did not need to play in this tournament."

The team is looking to the future. "It was tough being left out, but we will be OK. We have a lot to build upon next year," said Campbell.

Said Motaze, "Despite not getting the experience of the ECACs, this team will continue to improve and be exciting to watch next year."

Lee said, "I know these guys. They are going to do some really great things. Everyone should definitely keep up with what they do in the next few years. I will definitely be back to see."