November 30, 2023 | SPORTS | By Pierce Sullivan
The Colorado College Men’s Club Soccer team did not think they would be attending the National Collegiate Club Championship this year. The tournament, which took place in Round Rock, Texas, had two ways of qualifying: ranking at the top of a team’s respective region, or winning one of the few lottery spots offered in the tournament.
As of two and half weeks prior to the tournament, the team was unsuccessful on either front.
Although their 4-4 record this season was respectable, they were not able to pull together enough success at regionals to qualify formally for Nationals.
The team was happy with the result of the season; however, their .500 record may be misleading in terms of the actual skill the team possesses. Their early season win over 3-1 University of Colorado Boulder’s “A” team may have more accurately depicted their potential for late-season success.
In the lottery for a bid at the National Championships, CC was drawn with two teams ahead of them in their selection. However, just two and half weeks before the tournament took place over Colorado College’s Fall Break, Captain Seth Jahraus ’25 received an email that a team had pulled out, and CC had the spot. Only if they could figure out the logistics of getting there.
In this short period of time, the team was able to fundraise just over $9,000, and managed to coordinate flying 23 of their team members to Texas for the tournament.
The team had low expectations for the tournament. Historically the Tigers have not performed well at Nationals, never making it out of the group stage. In 2022, CC had lost two and won only one of their games.
When the group stage drawings came out, expectations dropped even lower. CC was pitted against large schools with extensive funding and support such as the University of Virginia, the University of Rochester and Kansas University.
“We thought we drew the group of death,” explained Jahraus.
CC dominated the first game against the University of Virginia. Mark Reiss ’24 got CC’s momentum going strong early, with a goal on merely his second touch of the game. After a CC penalty in the box, Goalkeeper and Captain Lucas Bush ’24 made a crucial penalty kick save, perfectly reading the shot.
The third goal of the game was chipped in by Tristian Durocher ’25, who followed up his goal with a straight-faced, hands-on hips celebration. “Yeah, I did that,” he seemed to say.
CC stayed on top throughout the game, winning 4-2.
CC faced off against Kansas University next. Reiss scored early on from the top of the box off a heel flick assist from Pablo Zilly ’26. The goalkeepers, Leo Priesman ’26 in the first half and Bush in the second half held off shots all game, keeping KU to no score on the game.
KU was handed their first defeat of the season with CC’s 1-0 victory.
The last game in the group stage was against the University of Rochester. CC went up 3-1 with all the goals assisted by Hyungyu Kim ’27.
“We wiped them,” Captain Stuart Sessions ’25 said.
With this victory over Rochester, CC made it out of the group stage for the first time in the history of the team, a feat which most of the team did not think was feasible.
The team took the pitch against the University of Tampa at 7 p.m. under the lights for the quarterfinals. Jahraus said that CC played a very tactically skilled game, keeping their opponent in their own half for nearly the entire game, and only allowing for one shot on net.
CC pulled through with a 2-0 win over Tampa and proceeded to the semi-finals against Miami University of Ohio.
The semi-final game was an early morning affair. As the tired Tigers arrived, slightly disheveled and lacking sleep, the Miami team was wearing full warmup kits, with their two coaches directing the pregame proceedings.
With no coaches of their own, the Tigers were led to their semifinals game by Jimmy O’Connell ’27, wearing pants that profoundly stated “Lick” across the rear, whilst he Milly Rocked over to the bench.
The game against Miami was a close matchup. Miami managed to sneak in one awkward goal on the Tigers, who were held to no goals in the game. Following a red card on CC, the Tigers fell in a 1-0 loss.
Miami University went on to win 3-1 in the finals.
Reiss was named to the All-Tournament team, scoring three goals for the Tigers, all with a broken toe. He explained that he had broken it months ago, but since he took Block 3 abroad, he had no chance to get it taken care of. The trainers taped it up, and he was able to push through the pain by simply being “juiced up on adrenaline.”
Tigers’ keeper Lucas Bush won the Tournament MVP, with highlights including the “incredible save” on a penalty kick versus UVA.
The Tigers had the odds stacked against them in the tournament. With the last-minute lottery bid, a tough group draw, no coaching staff, and a history of failure at the tournament, no one was expecting a semi-final finish.
But the CC’s Nationals curse was shattered, it appears.
The environment the team fosters seemed to be largely responsible for such great success at Nationals. The team acts more like a family, and the care and respect they have for one another speaks volumes.
“We all know that we are going to work hard for each other. On teams in the past for me it has been out of fear, but for us, we love each other, and we want to do the best so that everybody can have the best experience and play the best game,” Reiss said.