(Hyde Park, NY) – 168 hours. It's a relatively brief period of time in sports when compared to the larger context of a season. After all, in sports – any sport – 168 hours are generally but a fraction of the overall effort it takes to get from start to finish, from beginning to end. It's a week – a few practices, and maybe a couple of games. And when compared to the intense hours of exhaustive effort required from pre-season to post-season, to narrow time down to one week, seven days, or 168 hours is generally an exercise in minutia and over-analysis.
But for first year Head Coach Matt Hisler and the Mount Saint Vincent Men's Soccer team, there is only one thing that can be said about the last 168 hours of their lives … it saved their season. Seven days before the start of Saturday's clash with Hudson Valley Men's Athletic Conference (HVMAC) arch-rival, the Culinary Institute of America, the Dolphins were a team in disarray. A 1-5 start that included four shutout defeats, the program's first-ever loss to Cooper Union, and a score-sheet that read nine goals scored and 23 goals against came to a head when the Mount fell to Hunter College, 3-0. The team, and to a larger extent the season seemed lost, but the Mount was still motivated to make something of its efforts. And 168 hours later, Mount Saint Vincent can no longer say they are down, lost, or even struggling. They can only say one thing about themselves … they are champions.
Sophomore Michael Hernandez (Ridgefield, NJ/Bergen Catholic) scored an improbable goal in the 88th minute to cap a wild second half as Mount Saint Vincent stunned host Culinary, 4-3 to capture their second straight HVMAC Regular Season Championship. With their second straight win, the Dolphins are now 3-5 overall, 2-1 in HVMAC play, and their once seemingly lost 2006 campaign is very much alive. Besides having a significant portion of their Skyline Conference schedule remaining, the Dolphins will also be the #1 seed for October's HVMAC Championship Tournament and have a chance to win the Conference Tournament Championship for the first time ever. The Dolphins won the HVMAC rwgular season crown last season, but fell to Culinary, 3-1 in the Conference semifinals. This time around, the Dolphins will host Webb on Oct. 29.
Even more amazing than the Mount's repeat of the HVMAC Championship was the context within which the title was won. After losing to Hunter last Saturday, the Dolphins won consecutive games against Webb (8-1) and Culinary to clinch the Championship of the four-team conference, scoring 13 of their 22 goals for 2006 during the span.
Saturday's game will be remembered as a classic. Junior Chris Herrera (Fresh Meadows, NY/St. Francis Prep) opened the scoring in the 10th minute with a spectacular goal, his fifth of the week, and for much of the first half, the Dolphins were in control. However, with just under three minutes remaining in the opening stanza, Culinary's Mike LaPage evened things up with a terrific goal of his own. The teams entered halftime deadlocked at one, and it seemed like a defensive struggle would ensue. Little did both teams know that just the opposite would happen.
At the 56th minute, Culinary's Marvin Hoder broke the tie and put Culinary ahead seemingly for good, and for more than 21 minutes, Culinary remained in control, until fireworks were set off and the two teams exploded for six goals in the final 20 minutes.
Herrera started it with his second of the game at 77:50 to tie the score, but incredibly, Culinary took a 3-2 lead only 10 second later on LaPage's second goal of the game. The feverish pace continued as only 30 seconds after LaPage put Culinary ahead, the Mount's Joe Machado (Yonkers, NY/Stepinac) tied things with his first collegiate goal. With 12:30 remaining, the regular season championship was still up for grabs for both teams.
That was until Hernandez stepped in to score the biggest goal of his career, outhustling a Culinary defender for a loose ball and driving it in with only two minutes to play to clinch the game and championship for the Mount.
While the final result suggested a defensive breakdown for both squads, had it not been for Dolphin keeper Martino Cecere (Rye Brook, NY/Blind Brook HS), the game would have been all Culinary. The senior stopped nine shots, including two second-half breakaways to keep things close.
Mount Saint Vincent has a slew of soccer games between now and the HVMAC post-season as 10 games remain before the Oct. 29 Conference semifinals. Up first is a clash with local rival Maritime College on Wednesday at 4:00 p.m. While the Mount has been afforded little time to celebrate the HVMAC Championship, they certainly can reflect on the fact that over the span of a brief 168 hours, the 2006 season became meaningful once again, and no matter what happens during the final month of play, Mount Saint Vincent Men's Soccer is a championship team once again.
