PHILADELPHIA - As summer ramps up and La Salle's student-athletes are taking time away from the court, field, pitch or pool, we have an opportunity to reflect on an entire school year's worth of triumphs. From Atlantic 10 Tournament appearances to Academic All-Americans and success on the local and regional level, La Salle student-athletes have a lot from the 2010-11 year to be proud of.
To that end, those of us at GoExplorers.com present a summer web series of the Top 11 moments or accomplishments of the past school year. Every few days, a new "top moment" will be released. At the conclusion of the release of all 11, La Salle fans will have the opportunity to vote on which moment or accomplishment they think was the top one of 2010-11.
The men's soccer team put together a banner season last fall, one that will not be forgotten. The Explorers ran through the Atlantic 10 to a 6-2-1 regular season conference record, not only clinched a spot in the Atlantic 10 Championship for the first time since 2004 but snagged the No. 2 seed, and knocked off defending champion Saint Louis en route to the title game.
The beginning of the 2010 season was challenging. The Explorers got off to a slow start, going winless in their first six games and managing just two double overtime ties. However, the Explorers showed fight in those games, as one of the ties was a scoreless affair with Lehigh, which was ranked fifth in the Mid-Atlantic region at the time. They also put together a strong first half to go up 1-0 over eventual Patriot League champion and NCAA participant Bucknell, before falling 3-1.
Many coaches say that when the conference season starts, the team's record reverts back to 0-0 and it is a brand new season where the previous record no longer matters. Although the contests against city- and Atlantic 10 rivals Saint Joseph's and Temple were not considered league games in 2010, the Explorers came out and played like they had wiped their slate clean. They traveled over to Hawk Hill on Sept. 29, taking down the rivals 1-0 for the first win of the season. Momentum carried over to the Temple game on Oct. 2, as the Explorers matched the 1-0 score for their second straight win. The Explorers truly showed their fortitude in the contest against the Owls, as they were outshot 17-9 yet came away with another satisfying win over a fierce rival.
The team made it three straight with a 2-1 win over Fordham. Following a tough weekend road trip to Duquesne and St. Bonaventure, the Explorers kicked off a seven-game unbeaten streak with another 1-0 nailbiter, this time at the expense of Richmond. The fifth and sixth games of that unbeaten streak were on the final weekend of the regular season. Heading in the final weekend with the conference record sitting at 4-2-1 and needing a win to clinch at least a berth in the tournament, the Explorers dispatched Xavier 3-0 on Ryan Richter's hat trick to make the tournament.
Two days later with a potential first-round bye on the line, the Explorers did what they did best all season – win another 1-0 game, this time shutting down Dayton on Senior Day to finalize a 6-2-1 conference record and a No. 2 seed in the following week's tournament in Charlotte.
“[Making the tournament] is a nice thing, it doesn't happen all the time,” Head Coach Pat Farrell said. “But when it happens, you really don't want the season to end.”
The Explorers made sure the season continued at least two more games. The first-round bye sent the Explorers straight to the semifinal round, where they met defending champion Saint Louis. The team knew that had a tough task with the Billikens, and knew that with Richter – the conference's Offensive Player of the Year – having a target on his back, another scorer would need to step up. The game was scoreless at the half and remained that way through nearly an hour of playing time.
To say that the game appeared evenly matched would be an understatement. There was the unspoken – and sometimes spoken – question of how either team would possibly manage to score. The action rarely left mid-field and chances for scoring were extremely limited – the teams combined for only eight first half shots. The Explorers finally broke through in the 59th minute when they made it into Billiken territory and were awarded a corner kick. Although the corner kick itself did not yield a score, the Billikens were unable to clear the ball out of their territory. Glenroy Chapman picked it up and sailed it over the outstretched arms of Billiken goalie Mark Pais to break up the scoreless contest. Instead of another 1-0 nailbiter, Chapman sent in the insurance goal less than four minutes later to put the Explorers up 2-0 on the defending champs. He and Jidell Roach were part of a 3-on-1 breakaway, when Roach passed him the ball to score at close range.
With the win, the Explorers gave themselves the opportunity to compete for the Atlantic 10 crown for the first time. They met up again with Xavier, which outlasted a ranked Charlotte team in double overtime following the Explorers win over Saint Louis. Although the title game outcome was not what they hoped, they knew they accomplished something special and have even more of a hunger heading into the 2011 season.
“The nice thing about what we accomplished last year was that all the players bought into what we were trying to do,” Farrell said. “They had belief in the goals we set, they had commitment, they had discipline … and by doing that, we had an opportunity to succeed.”
