Glassboro, NJ - The Dolphins season has come to an end as they were defeated 2-0 by Rowan University in the first round of the NCAA Men's Soccer Championship Tournament. The Dolphins will be holding their heads high as they accomplished so much this season that CMSV has never seen.

The Dolphins started off slow unlike any of the previous games. Dolphins Keeper Joel Luna stood tall in the net for his team in the first half and kept Rowan off the score sheet, making
one save on an attempted six shots from Rowan. The Dolphins finished the first half without a shot.

Everything changed in the second half when in the opening seconds Alejandro Rodriguez was given his marching orders, putting his team at a disadvantage. From that moment on Rowan started to amp up the pressure on the downed Dolphins. Luna would try his best to keep his team in the game after Rowan started raining shots on his goal. The breakthrough came in the 69th minute when Jay Vandermark corralled a long ball from Chad Yates and finished the ball into the corner. The second goal of the game came in the 73rd minute when Rowan's Turlough Gartlan rose above the rest on the corner and nodded the ball into the back of the net to double Rowans lead. The ten men for the Dolphins did not back down and fought until the very end of the game.

Even though this was not the result the Dolphins were looking for, their achievements this season can not be overlooked. After a record of 3-15 and 4-11-2 respectively for the last two seasons, the Dolphins needed a complete overhaul. The credit to this turnaround is given to Coach Tommy Mattera, who in his first season flipped the previous records around and finished 14-2-2 on the season. This season, the Dolphins made a reappearance in the Skyline Conference Playoffs for the first time since 2017 and won their first championship in program history. The start of the 2022 season can't come soon enough. 

Matthew Pincus is the author of this article