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1-0; Hood, 4-2; and Widener, 2-0;
to wrap up the first undefeated
conference slate in the 58-year
history of the soccer program.
“If we get into the second half
of a game and it is still tied, we feel
we’re in a good spot,” Gibboney
said. “One of the things we pride
ourselves on is being one of the
fittest teams in the country.
Another thing we have is great
depth. A lot of teams will play with
three or four substitutes, but we
played with eight to 10, so as a game
went on, we were able to wear a lot
of teams down. That played out
with so many of our goals coming
later in games.”
The MAC Commonwealth
Tournament found the team
leaning on a new hero. Freshman
Sainclair Tueno, from Ivory
Coast by way of Maryland, scored
winning goals in both tournament
games, with a mighty kick into the
right corner of the net for a 1-0
conference championship win over
Messiah.
In the process, Lycoming ended
Messiah’s season shy of the Division
III Championship for the first time
in 18 years, doing it in front of a
jam-packed crowd at the Shangraw
Athletic Complex that rushed onto
the field to celebrate as the final
horn blew.
“The atmosphere and support
provided by the student body,
faculty, staff and even fans from
the Williamsport community was
tremendous,” Gibboney said. “Once
we got to the end of the year and
into the postseason, the atmosphere
from all of those games was a huge
advantage. The team loved playing
in front of those big crowds full of
family and friends.”
After winning the program’s
second MAC Commonwealth title
After an opening day loss in
overtime to Eastern, the team didn’t
lose again for 81 days. In that time,
the Warriors recorded a season for
the ages.
It could have gone south quickly
for the team, too. In their third
game, the Warriors fell behind York,
2-0, before scoring twice in the final
nine minutes to force overtime.
Abdullahi Abdi, a Somali refugee
born in Kenya, provided the game-
winning penalty kick goal in the
105th minute. In their next outing,
the Warriors fell behind rival
Susquehanna in the Battle of the
Boot before a three-goal outburst
ensured a 4-2 win, Gibboney’s first
over his alma mater.
“We knew coming into the
season that our first few games
were going to be really difficult,”
Gibboney said. “Our backs were
up against the wall after losing to
Eastern, and then trailing York.
With no seniors on the squad, those
younger players had to step up and
play at a higher level. I give all the
credit to our guys, who continued
the battle. That is the game that got
us going and feeling good about
ourselves.”
As the weeks rolled past, wins
continued to add up and even when
it looked like the team would be
stymied, it found a way to answer
the adversity. Down 1-0 at Arcadia,
Kyle Stettenbauer drilled a goal
in the 87th minute to ensure a tie.
In their next outing, the Warriors
stopped Messiah’s 52-game MAC
Commonwealth unbeaten streak,
as Abdi and All-American Kyle
Thomas scored in the win.
Lycoming had to break second-
half ties in each of its last four
regular-season games, and did so
with aplomb each time, beating
Alvernia, 2-1; Lebanon Valley,
in three years, the Warriors - once
an outsider on the national scene -
had begrudgingly won the respect
of the pollsters and the NCAA
rankings committee, leaping to
15th in the National Soccer Coaches
Association of America poll.
The NCAA rewarded the
Warriors for their fine work, as
Lycoming College was announced
host of a four-team regional for
the first and second rounds of the
championship, the first time in 11
years the College hosted an NCAA
postseason event in any sport. In
front of packed crowds on a mid-
November weekend, Lycoming
posted a 1-0 win over Johnson &
Wales and a 2-1 win over Dickinson
to reach the Division III Sweet 16,
where eventual national champion,
Amherst, finally knocked Lycoming
out of the tournament with a 2-0
loss.
That 81-day stretch without
a loss, though, left one heck of a
string of memories — a school-
record 20-game unbeaten streak,
a school-record 18 wins, a school-
record 13 shutouts. Several players
transformed into stars — Abdi
and Jordan Logan were both
Second Team All-Mid-Atlantic
Region and First Team All-MAC
Commonwealth selections. Thomas,
the team’s central back, not only
earned Second Team All-American
honors, but was also named the
MAC Commonwealth Defensive
Player of the Year. All three players
were just sophomores.
“This is a solid group that
we were able to build around,”
Gibboney said. “As long as we
continue to push each other like we
have and play together as a group,
the future continues to be bright.”
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