CUA Men’s Soccer Captures Historic Landmark Conference Three-peat
Image courtesy of Ryan Trufford and Catholic Athletics.
By Griffin Cappiello
This past Saturday, the 2-seed Catholic Men’s Soccer team hosted the 5-seed Drew Rangers in the Landmark Conference Championship. The Cardinals came into the championship game with a 12-0-6 overall record, going 6-0-3 in Landmark Conference play, while the Rangers went 11-5-3 on the season and 4-4-1 in conference play.
Catholic earned a first round bye in the Landmark Conference Tournament and picked up a convincing 3-0 win against #6 Lycoming in the semifinals. Drew came into the match riding high after two big playoff upsets, knocking out #4 Goucher with a 2-0 win and defeating #1 Scranton 5-4 in a penalty shootout after a 1-1 draw after extra time.
In the championship match, the Cardinals established control early, shutting down the Drew attack that scored early goals in their two previous playoff games. Catholic outshot Drew 7 to 1 in the first half and picked up 4 corner kicks, but the Ranger press threw off the usually lethal Cardinal attack.
The Drew offense came out strong in the second half, but the Cardinal back line remained strong and weathered the storm. Catholic regained control of the match, taking 15 shots and adding 3 corner kicks to their tally. As the match dragged on, the pressure built up around Carlini Field, with fans from both sides bringing the energy. Tensions were high, and the referee issued 9 yellow cards between the two teams throughout the match.
In the 85th minute, a wild ball bounced around in the Drew six-yard box. Several Catholic players got a touch on it, but none of them were able to put the ball in the back of the net. Junior forward Seth Michalak finally got a foot on it and tapped the ball into the goal to break the deadlock. The team rushed to the corner to celebrate breaking the deadlock with the Cardinal fans behind the goal. Michalak’s goal brought his season total to six, the second-most on the team. He extended his Landmark Conference-leading game-winning goal total to four.
The Catholic defense remained strong, and they managed to see out the rest of the match, sealing the game at 1-0 to claim the Landmark Conference crown. With this victory, the Cardinals became the first team to win three consecutive Landmark Conference Championships and extended their record total conference championships to eight, five more than the team with the next-most titles.
After the match, seven Catholic players received All-Conference honors. Senior forward Holden Woodings, freshman midfielder Carson Shamoo, senior wingback Ben Zimmer, junior center back Corey Magro, and junior midfielder Charlie Paparella were all named to the All-Landmark Conference First Team, while Michalak and junior goalkeeper Owen Allegro were named to the All-Landmark Conference Second Team.
Shamoo was named the Landmark Rookie of the Year, the fourth Catholic player to receive this honor and the first since 2023 when Allegro won the award. His five assists ranked him second in the conference and tied him for the 10th-most assists in DIII program history. Woodings was named the Landmark Offensive Player of the Year for the second consecutive season, the second player in program history to earn the award twice. His tally of nine goals on the season led the conference for the second year in a row, and his twenty-four goals over two seasons for Catholic rank him 7th in DIII program history for career goals. This is the second time Catholic has earned both awards in the same season, and a Catholic player has received the Offensive Player of the Year honor for six consecutive seasons.
As Landmark Conference Champions, the Cardinals earned an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. They will return to action this Saturday, November 15, against the defending national champions, Amherst, in the First Round of the tournament. If they win, they will match up against the winner of Cortland and SUNY Delphi in the Second Round on Sunday, November 16.
