DURHAM, N.H.- The University of New Hampshire (UNH) men’s soccer season has come to an end after a heartbreaking loss to Clemson University in the third round of the NCAA tournament.
UNH was the eighth seed in the tournament, the best in program history. During the playoffs they received a bye in the first round. Their second round, however, was against a tough opponent, the defending national champions, Syracuse University.
During the match up three different Wildcats scored. New Hampshire native Taig Healy scored first, recording his fourth goal of the season. Then, with under 10 minutes to go in the first half Dylan Maxon gave the ‘Cats a 2-0 lead when he scored his first collegiate goal.
Eli Goldman scored the final goal of the game for UNH. This would be the last goal of the season for the Wildcats, resulting in Goldman being the team’s leading scorer.
The 3-0 game versus Syracuse was the seventh shutout of the season and sixth for Joseba Incera who played in net that game.
A week later the Clemson Tigers were welcomed to Wildcat Stadium for the eighth seed versus ninth seed matchup.
The Tigers scored at the 35th minute of the game. That would be the only goal scored throughout the entire 90 minutes.
Despite the upsetting loss, UNH did have an overall successful season with many accolades: six of the players earned academic all-district honors, the coaches won Coaching Staff of the Year for America East (AE), Incera won AE Goaltender of the Year, Cameron Briggs won Defender of the Year for AE and Yannick Bright was awarded Midfielder of the Year. This was also the seventh straight appearance in the NCAA tournament for the Wildcats. This accomplishment has only happened to three other teams: Georgetown, Wake Forest, and Indiana.
