Beat the Heat.

Condensation forming on the wings of the plane from humidity, turbulence due to thuder storms in the clearest of days….heat, we knew we had arrived to the right place.  We arrived in Florida Wednesday afternoon in preparation for our match Thursday vs the University of South Florida. From the moment we walked out of the airport we knew it would be a battle in this weather. After loading up the buses and the all black leather interior expedition for quick food runs (a car which was quickly populated by an all senior crew) we were on our way to practice. As you could imagine our shirts were drenched not even 10 minutes into practice; however the energy stayed high with a good possession game and some skill oriented relay games.  

Fast forward past the on-campus hotel stay and relaxing pre game to Thursday 7PM. We came out strong vs USF with great chances, but there high and wide wing backs were causing us issues. In the 15^th minute those issues would be further exposed after a series of quick passes on our right side by USF leads to a big switch the right back, fellow Senior CLASS award candidate,  who from just outside our 18 serves a dangerous ball in. The ball was brought down mid turn by a forward who half volleyed it in the back of the net 1-0 USF. After further tough fights we end the half 1-0 and hit the Powerade packs to refuel for the second half. Despite being fired up a miss clear off a set piece left us 2-0 within 2 minutes of the second half starting and 3-0 with 20 left after further good service.

Though we would not end there and with some great individual skill by freshman James (Hamas) Myall who took on his man to serve a great ball to an awaiting Tyler Long we were on the board 3-1. We continued our high pressure throughout the rest of the game, but could not seem to find the equalizer goals. It was a night that began full of opportunity. It was a chance to take on a big scholarship school and it ended with disappointment. We had a few exceptional performances from our players but it was clearly not enough. It was a strong fight by the team even though it didn’t go our way but we could not worry now. It was time to recover and move on to our next game as we knew FGCU would be just as much of a test.

Brown 2 Lehigh 1

It was a beautiful late summer day on the 14^th of September. Coming off an overtime loss to PC, we had some work to get done in an afternoon game verse Lehigh.

With a 1 pm kickoff, we had a rather early pregame meal at the Ratty. In fact, it was VIP breakfast at the Ratty – BMS only. Normally the Ratty doesn’t open until 10:30 on Sundays, so we had the Ratty all to ourselves at 9:30. This was a nice change of pace from the traditionally crowded, steaming hot Ratty that we have to endure for afternoon meals.

On to the soccer… Filled up on scrambled eggs, cereal, and bagels it was time to get out on Stevenson. Lehigh entered the game with a 3-1 record, while we were 1-2. The first half lacked headline moments apart from a goal line save by Jameson Lochhead, who made his first start of the year at center back. We headed to the locker room still tied 0-0.

After regrouping at half, we came out with a bang. An early attack led to a throw-in in Lehigh’s defensive third. A long throw into the box flicked on by Big Ben Maurey was headed back across the box by Louis Zingas and finally tapped in by Tariq Abu-Akeel.

Lehigh pushed forward after the goal and began playing more direct. They were able to tie it back up midway through the half when a Lehigh attacker dribbled and weaved his way into the box to get a shot off.

With just over 10 minutes left to play, Will “Squill” Cross came to the rescue. Nate Pomeroy dribbled the end line and made a cut back pass to Will darting into the box. Will scored his first collegiate goal with an absolute firecracker down off the crossbar and in. With a second goal in hand and a few key stops from Mitch Kupstas in the net, we held off some last-ditch Lehigh attacks to hold on for the win.

Next stop: Florida.

---Tim Whalen

The Battle for Ocean State Supremacy..

After coming off a solid performance at Boston University, Brown Men’s Soccer in true form immediately set its eyes on the upcoming Friday night match at home against Providence College. Providence College came into the match just on the outside of the top 25 with wins already against Bryant and University of Rhode Island. However, they knew the real match for Rhode Island was yet to come. Brown and Providence College have had no love lost over the years of a fierce in-state rivalry and Friday night was no exception. Both teams came out ready to play and the game was predictably chippy from the start. Providence opened the score line in the first half with a free kick outside the box. The Providence midfielder sent the ball through a crowd of jerseys off the back post and in. After a halftime speech and a small breather, Brown came out swinging in the second half. Jack Gorab answered the call early with a powerful free kick from almost the same exact spot from which Providence had scored the half earlier.

 Feeling the momentum, Brown then took the lead midway through the half off of a back post header by Nate Pomeroy. 

Seeing their chances slip away, the press was on from Providence. Brown’s defense weathered strongly against this push, but were ultimately beaten by a quick turn and hard placed shot by the Providence forward with ten minutes left. Brown again took to the offensive, but wasn’t able to snag a goal before the end of regulation. As is always the possibility, it was going to take extra time to decide the winner of this clash of titans. Brown looked the fitter side as overtime started, immediately keeping a majority of the early possession, but our time on the field was short lived after Providence caught a lucky break resulting in a PC forward all alone dribbling into the box and poking home the winning goal. The result stung and on that night the better team may not have come out on top. However, Brown Men’s Soccer is resilient as it always has been and the next day there was no business of feeling sorry for ourselves. The next morning the only thought on our minds was our next opponent, Lehigh. Providence may have won Rhode Island this year, but we’re after a prize a little bit bigger. As the saying goes, they won the battle, but we can still win the war.

- Mitch Kupstas - Senior Goalkeeper

Brown Takes It To Beantown..

Its back to the routine we have been craving for the last 9 months. Every time we had to wake up at 7am and listen to Coach Mike tell us to squat deeper, every time we had go run a 3 mile over the summer, every preseason two-a-day has been in preparation for this day. You know game day is close upon us when we play the legendary 1 touch game the night before.  4 hours before kick-off the entire team shows up looking real dapper as everybody is dressed in their finest for pre game meal at the Ratty. After everyone has started sweating profusely and ate the basic chicken and rice we all head up to the locker room to go through our own pre game rituals. In the locker room the team is extremely excited to play. After our last game being a 5-0 win we are excited to show the hopefully large crowd and everyone else how great we are.  As we go out to start the warmup we have already drawn a crowd of 200 fans, an hour before kick-off, which just gets everyone even more excited. We are back at it again and we couldn’t be more excited. The walk out, the lights, the introductions, the fans, the excitement, it’s all back.  We come out the first half and just dominate the game, we have all cylinders firing 100% and we feel great. In the halftime locker room we all know a goal is going to come soon because we are right on the edge. Unfortunately we were right about a goal coming soon but it was for Siena. Right after their great goal from the edge of the box they proceeded to bury a pk to make it 2-0. I’m proud to say as a team we didn’t give up and battled to score in the upcoming minutes. We proceeded to continue the attack with countless shots on net. All of our 20 shots seemed to go over the crossbar or be stopped my a miraculous save by the keeper. Siena defended like their life depended on it and by the grace of God they left after 20 minutes with the 2-1 victory. Losing a game is one of the worst feelings in the world but your home opener, in front of 1400 students, to a team you were better than, in your senior year just makes it a little bit worse. What makes it better though is the fact we outshot them 20-8, we had 5 freshmen start or get significant minutes, and the team battled back to almost come back from a 2-0 deficit. We looked good other than 4 minutes of the game so we had a positive outlook going forward.

            With nonstop recovery for the next 48 hours we were ready to leave for BU and play a team that was nationally ranked and would be an even bigger challenge for us. The journey didn’t start off well with our bus driver getting stuck in a one-way street for one hour in Boston where he managed to possibly dent a car parked on the side of the road. We ended up needing the help of the Boston Police to get us out of the situation. Even with the minor hitch in our travel we were able to show up late to BU but we came out ready to play the second the whistle blew. We had something to prove after that last loss and we battled for 85 minutes in one of the most physical games I have been a part of. After those 85 minutes Tariq Akeel managed to put a beautiful header into the upper 90’s off a free kick curled in by Jack Gorab. We managed to close out the game and get the much needed win. I’m very proud of the boys because this year we didn’t allow for one loss to affect us and we wouldn’t allow ourselves to have consecutive losses. We played two great games this weekend but were unlucky to have only managed one win. We have learned a lot from the loss though and it is certainly driving us to get 2 more crucial wins this weekend against Providence and Lehigh. Looking forward to checking back in with some positive results from this upcoming weekend

-Big Ben 

A New Chapter...

A new season breathes new life into Brown Men's Soccer... Stay tuned for our first blog post after tonights game against Siena.

Brown Prevails Over Yale...

Following a three game win streak, BMS packed their bags and started towards the dismal land of New Haven, Connecticut, home of the Yale Dawgs (as seen in the Yale athletic center).   Half way through the journey, the team took a pit stop at a “ristorante” booked by possibly Italian assistant coach Kevin Nuss.  The chicken parm turned out to be impeccable, but in an interview with Sicilian team member Mike Leone, he claimed that the tomato sauce was “a little more thick and tomato-y” than his mother’s famous sauce.   Bathroom breaks by Alex Markes and Ben Maurey held up the team for a short period of time after lunch, but full bellies left the team ready for the game in a few hours. 

Upon arriving at Yale’s facilities, the team went into the locker room/fallout shelter (yes, there was a sign showing it is a fallout shelter) and got ready for the game. With pump-up music playing in the travel speakers, the team was now 100% focused on the game at hand. 

  

Walking onto the field behind the home side, the atmosphere was electric with parents’ and students’ cheers for the coming of Yale’s senior appreciation ceremony.  Though the home side roared on, the stoic Brown squad was unphased.  On top of the home crowd, hecklers began to congregate behind the goal of Josh Weiner and the stage was set for game time. 

  

The Bears came out with energy headed by center forward Nate Pomeroy and wingers Pepe Salama and Daniel Taylor.  Five minutes into the game, DT got pulled down off a pass from Nate and the Bears set up their set piece with “The Spaniard” Pepe on the ball.  Whipping the ball in six yards out from the goal, Tariq Akeel displayed a killer vertical and headed the ball in near post, beating his defender.  

Three minutes later, Akeel scored a mirror image header from a free kick served by Jack Gorab on the other side of the field.  After a 25 minute sequence of back-and-forth play, Brown failed to clear after a pinball sequence of crosses by Yale. With a ball bouncing outside the box, a Yale player finished with a volley from 20 yards out.  Responding before halftime, senior Voltaire Escalona beat a Yale defender in a sequence of challenges and distributed centrally to Jack Gorab who tucked the ball away with class off the far post and in.  Going in to half time, the team felt great and was riding momentum.  The second half proved that Brown could hold off many Yale attacks and pressure a tired Yale squad, holding a 3-1 victory for Brown.  The forwards’ work rate kept constant pressure on the Yale Defense, the intricate play of BMS midfield controlled a majority of the game play, and the Brown defense consisting of Alex Markes, Tim Whalen, Mike Leone, and Jameson Lochead weathered almost everything Yale could throw at them.  Leaving a devastated Yale squad behind, Brown left New Haven while jiving to the Miley Cyrus song, “Party in the USA”.

  

From the class of 2017 to you, stay classy. 

Erik “Long Limbs” Hanson, Mike “Italian Job” Leone, Nate “Pom Pom” Pomeroy, Josh “Butts” Butler, and Tyler “Tyler” Long Ya'll.

Welcome Penn, to the Bears' Den...

Riding a short wave of momentum after an important, away victory at the freezing land of Siberia aka Ithaca, followed by an inspirational home win against a good Boston College squad, BMS was preparing for what was being dubbed as “the most important game of the season” (although it seems like we say that every time). But in reality, we had a short week to prepare for the Penn Quakers, who stood in the coveted top spot of the Ancient Eight. Knowing that we could implement our passing game against a solid Penn team, the boys had a great mentality going into the Saturday afternoon game on Stevenson. The weather was just about as perfect as Providence can be in early November and the stage was set for the Bears to once again prove our might in the Ivy League.

 

After a ridiculously hectic and fast-paced few minutes to start the game, we began to settle down and play our game. Tim “Timmy Tammers” Whalen couldn’t capitalize on a free header in the box from a patented Lochhead free kick. Then, Jack “G Babe” Gorab had his point-blank diving header blocked by the Penn keeper. We were on the offensive for a while, when finally Voltaire “V” Escalona took a great entry ball from Markes, turned and found himself in a vast expanse of real estate and ripped a rocket into the bottom right corner of the goal with his left foot. Bears 1- Quakers 0.We would finish the half with the shutout still intact and with our lead at one.

  

We came out in the second half a bit on our heels. The game became very direct and we struggled to settle down and get the ball back on the ground. For 20 minutes, we battled defensively against a number of corners and set pieces – bending but not breaking. We were able to get some possession back and create some of our own attacks, but we never fully got our feet back under us and Penn was able to net a goal of their own in the 78^th minute. The last 12 minutes were exciting, but regulation ended in a draw and we were on to overtime.

  

With a record of 4-1-1 at Stevenson going into this game, we were determined to come out with three points, whether it took 20 seconds or 20 minutes. It took 14 minutes and 23 seconds. In the second overtime, the ball was played out to Markes on the right side, who cut in on his left foot and played an early service past the back post. Tariq Akeel ran down the ball before it went out of bounds and then proceeded to give Penn’s right back the boogies. Playing through his fatigue, Akeel did a lot of scissor moves, roll-overs, pull backs, and dances until he miraculously found his balance and slotted the ball to Daniel “DT” Taylor at the top of the box and the rest is history. DT’s curling strike past the outstretched keeper was a thing of beauty and just another Bruno victory.

 

The boys will try to keep riding this 3-game win streak into gun-blazin’ New Haven and take down the Bulldogs of Yale in a crucial Ivy match that pits two teams wishing to keep their title hopes alive.

  

Signing out,

Tim, Tariq, Jack, and Michel ‘16