2011 Season Review
Signature Win: The #5 Fords pulled off a 2-1 upset of host and #1 seed Johns Hopkins University on Nov. 4 in the Centennial Conference men's soccer tournament semifinal. It was the first victory over the Blue Jays since 1995. In that contest, David Robinson scored the game-winner from 30 yards out.
Season Notes: The team ended the season on a nine game unbeaten streak, not having lost since Oct. 1. The team fell in the conference championship in a 1-1 tie which ended in penalty kicks (3-2) to Dickinson College. The final team record read 11-5-2, 5-4 CC. Alejandro Rettig y Martinez led the squad this season with eight goals, including three game-winners. David Robinson heated up in the postseason, scoring a goal each in the conference semifinal and championship contests. He finished the year with eight points. Matt Gorski added 10 points (three goals, four assists) to the Fords final stat sheet and David Restrepo tallied nine points (four goals, one assist) on the season. In goal, Nick Kahn and Andriy Mshanetskyy split time throughout the year. Kahn became the Ford’s go-to goalie mid-way through the season and started in every contest to help Haverford to the nine game unbeaten streak that ended the year.
Postseason Awards: All-Centennial Conference: Gorski (first team), James Reingruber (second team), Rettig y Martinez (second team).Earning conference academic honor roll were: Trevor Barlowe, Steve Griffith, Matthew Johnson, Kahn, Colin Lubelczyk, Reingruber, Restrepo, Rettig y Martinez, Robinson, Seeley and Wetherell
Looking Ahead: The Fords will graduate six seniors, including two of the top scorers in Rettig y Martinez and Restrepo. However, Gorski and Robinson return, along with a number of capable young men. In goal, both Kahn and Mshanetskyy will come back with another year of experience under their belts.
2011 Season Outlook
In 2010 the Haverford College men's soccer team took a big step in the right direction. The Fords went 8-6-2 to record their first winning season in a decade. Despite the success of last season, the returning 25 players, nine of them starters, know there is still work to do that includes reaching the Centennial Conference tournament for the first time in program history."We have to keep up the momentum that the program has built the last two years," said first year head coach Shane Rineer. "The players realize how close they came [to the conference tournament] last year. There has been a sense of urgency in the preseason that shows they want to get there."
A year ago Haverford averaged 1.5 goals per game (24 goals in 16 games), the highest output since averaging 1.59 goals per game (30 goals in 18) in 2003. Haverford returns its top two scorers from the 2010 season in Alejandro Rettig y Martinez and David Restrepo. Rettig y Martinez, an All-Centennial second team selection, accumulated 17 points (six goals, five assists) to finish eighth in the conference. Restrepo found the goal seven times, which was eighth in the Centennial. Leading the Ford midfield will be all-Centennial honorable mention pick Matt Gorski. Gorski recorded two goals and two assists during 2010.
Matt Wetherell, named all-conference honorable mention last year, and Adam Morollo return to their roles along the Fords' backline. The duo anchored a defense that recorded five shutouts in 2010, the most since the team blanked five opponents in 2003.
Haverford, voted seventh in the Centennial Conference preseason coaches poll, will be tested in-conference with three nationally ranked teams: No. 11 Johns Hopkins, No. 12 Muhlenberg and No. 20 Swarthmore (defending conference champion). The Fords also have a non-conference date with the nation's top ranked team, Messiah, on Sept. 6.
