The Panthers Men’s Soccer Team Lose in the Last Game of the Season

By Shaya Silberstein

The Panthers Men's soccer team lost 6-1 to the University of Mount Saint Vincent Dolphins in a game they needed to win to stay in playoff contention.

The Panthers entered the game, controlling their own destiny, needing a win to secure a spot in the Skyline Conference playoffs.

The game started off on a bad note, as the Saint Vincent Dolphins controlled possession for the first 10 minutes of the game and scored two goals. Turnover and poor transition defense following turnovers led to these goals. The Panthers got one back as Yahir Tafoya hit one through the uprights, which would be their only goal of the game.

Mount Saint Vincent setting up a free kick. (Photo by Shaya Silberstein)

The second half didn’t get any better for the Panthers, as they allowed three more goals in 20 minutes, with many of the same mistakes, including bad turnovers, fouls and poor transition defense.

“The effort was ok, but we just weren’t good,” Coach Bruno Ferreira said, frustrated about the team's performance. “We deserved to lose. I think a lot of guys quit before the game even started, which was sad to see.”

Luca Li Vigni, a new media major and captain of the team, felt the energy wasn’t there at the start either. “I feel like we started the game off a little flat; we weren’t switched on from the beginning,” said Li Vigni. “We gave away three easy goals. It took conceding those three goals for the energy to turn back on. The energy turned up a bit, but they were just more prepared, unfortunately. Personally, it was my last game.”

Purchase Panthers and Mount Saint Vincent lining up for pregame introduction. (Photo by Shaya Silberstein)

With this being Luca's last game of the season, he reflected on his favorite memory of playing on the Purchase soccer team, “I feel like there isn’t a very specific one, but every time we went on this field, it was just a different feeling. There's nothing like it. We protect this field; this is our field. It was a good feeling.”

“All the guys tried, the ball just didn’t bounce our way,” said Nivek Palmer, a communications and psychology senior. “We made little mistakes, and paid the price for it, and [the] other team was obviously very good and capitalized on that.”

“It was more positive than last year,” said Coach Ferreira as the season came to a close. “We have a team that, if they continue working in the off-season, can be something special, but they have a lot of work to do.”

Players from Purchase and Mount Saint Vincent exchanged post-game handshakes as Purchase concludes its last game of the season. (Photo by Shaya Silberstein)

The Men's Soccer team improved from last year's record of 1-15 to 6-10-2.