Strong 2023 Prepares Spartans for Next Season
Cayuga Community College Men's Soccer re-established themselves as one of the top teams in Region III in 2023 thanks to a young roster that pushed the team to double-digit wins.
Though their postseason run fell short of their goals, the Spartans finished the season with an 11-4-1 record despite having a team almost exclusively comprised of freshmen. The strong record and young roster set the Spartans up well for the 2024 campaign, when that roster can build on their success from this season, said Coach Chris Davison.
"I'm proud of the team for doing what they did this year, and for turning the program around. We talked about that, about getting this headed in the right direction, and we did it in one season," said Davison. "Next season, this group's second season, was always the one we were building for, where we believe we can accomplish the things we talked about this season."
Cayuga entered the season with a smaller roster than most of their competitors, but that didn't slow the Spartans. They ran off five straight wins to start the campaign, including a 2-1 non-regional win over Lackawanna College, a NJCAA Division I school.
The Spartans entered the postseason on a solid run as well, winning four of their final six regular season contests, including a victory over rival Finger Lakes Community College. In the playoffs, they defeated Hudson Valley Community College at Falcon Park before losing on the road to eventual Region III North B champion Herkimer College.
Cayuga climbed as high as ninth nationally in the rankings this season. Each of their losses came to teams ranked higher nationally — Genesee Community College, Mohawk Valley Community College, Onondaga Community College and Herkimer.
"We beat the teams we should beat, but our losses to some of the stronger teams in the region were too big. I think we could have done a little better, and that's something we're going to push toward during the offseason and next year," said Davison.
Cayuga closed its season with the nation's leading goal scorer, Jake Botterill, who finished with 31 goals and 10 assists. Jack Thomas led the Spartans with 13 assists and was second with 10 goals, and Raffaele Mathews finished with 9 goals and 11 assists. Chris Tielrooij added 6 goals and 8 assists, and Rafferty Campbell and Joseph Davison each had 4 goals.
In the team's 11 victories, keepers Luca Gazzi and Sam Stellingwerf combined to allow only 10 goals, registering four shutouts.
Botterill, Mathews and Thomas were each named All-Conference for the Mid-State Athletic Conference, and Davison and Tielrooij were honorable mention. Botterill, Davison and Mathews were 3rd Team All-Region.