The St. Lawrence University men's soccer program held its annual Alumni Weekend in the beginning of May. Below, find Coach Durocher's recap of the Awards Dinner, the Golf Match and the Alumni Game. Be sure to check out the annual photo gallery!
The Awards Dinner: No matter how early I start planning for this weekend, it is never early enough. This year's chapter was Deja vue all over again! It was 7:45 pm, 15 minutes before the dinner was to begin, and the DVD of "The 2012 Men's soccer year in review," wasn't ready to roll!" Of course I thought I was ahead of the game on Thursday night; the projector, screen, and podium were delivered to Sergi's banquet hall.
Even as stressful as it is to get the awards together, make sure the DVD actually runs, and the power point presentation on all the alumni are accurate and includes everyone, even the guys that show up at the last minute, it truly is a special night. A night that brings the storied past together, with the current, and even some of the future "saints", all in attendance on this special night.
One of our esteemed alums, making his first trip back to the Alumni weekend, described a scene from the beginning of the dinner: "Friday night started out with Twig setting up the AV system. He did a substandard job and Desi didn't recognize Twig after all these years and presumed he was an incompetent Sergi's handy man".
I introduced all the distinguished alumni as their names kept rolling along on the power point with a few points of interest after the name of the player and the year that they graduated. As we went through the team awards I decided that it would be important for all of our alumni to learn more about the Robby Van Etten award, as many of the alumni weren't present in the hotel the night before our NCAA game in Williamstown, MA. I put "Desi" on the spot and asked him to talk about the award. I then invited Austin Roney 2015 to come forward as the first recipient.
I also made the decision to view some of the video that was made at the "Williams College Chapel" when our alums came together to support our NCAA playoff games and pay tribute to Robbie Van Etten. The video also demonstrated the strong bonds that formed with all of these men, through the soccer family at St. Lawrence. Again, Brian "Desi" Desrosier does his best to explain what took place: "Bobby did his best to go through his typical Season recap but silent alumni video version of the Saints NCAA weekend in Williamstown was playing in the background distracted everyone. The video featured great shots of this year's team and classic photos of Goody-era Saints legends. We turned the sound up for Vinny "Rudy" Tersegno's Robby Van Etten remembrance ceremony at Williams College Chapel from November. Vinny spoke poignantly about the players on our team being so important to one another, and touched everyone in attendance with such a relevant message. THE Robby Van Etten Ultimate Teammate award presentation was reenacted along with all the other awards".
At the end of the awards ceremony, after thanking my assistant coaches, and my wife, I announced the captain and assistant captain for next season's team. I kept my fingers crossed as Nick Lincoln '13, placed the DVD in the player, and "The 2012 Season in Review" started playing on the big screen! It was 11:38 pm and it was the earliest finish of the dinner portion of the weekend ever! I knew everyone would be turning in early for the great golf match up in the morning. Brian "Desi" Desrosiers '80 explained the strategy for the morning, "The night didn't end there. At approximately 2am Desi and Tom Porter '80, once again closed the Hoot Owl (with Bobby Bernatchez '79 whining about going to bed) as foosball champs after a hotly contested rematch against the elder Gil (Schaper '06) from Guilford and one of his lackeys."
2012 Team Awards
1 v 1 Champion: #1 Andrew Bednarsky '14 (16-0)
1 v 1 Most Goals Scored: Mark Provost '15 (305 goals)
1 v 1 Least Goals Allowed: Andrew Bednarsky '14 (90 goals)
Perseverance Award: Praveen Balakumaran '16 (422 mins.)
Most Valuable Player: Sam DeMello '13
Matt Dennett Co-Rookies of the Year:
Dan Hunt '16 & Ryan Grant '16
Bob Goodwin Most Consistent Player of the Year:
Will Congdon'13
Dana Hollingsworth Offensive Player of the Year:
Sam DeMello '13
Nick Hillary Co-Defensive Players of the Year:
Will Congdon '13 & Alex Laird '13
Most Improved Players - Tri-Winners:
Seyefe Brouk '16, Jamal Samaroo '15 & Austin Alphonse '16
Robby Van Etten Award:
Austin Roney '15
Coach's Award:
Brendan Gorman '12 & Dan Marvin '12
2013 Saints Captains:
Andrew Bednarsky '14 & Mark Provost '15(asst.)
The Golf Match:
"Syracuse Pools" has sponsored this part of the weekend once again. We all need to Thank Garrett Quackenbush '95 for stepping forward and giving our current players the opportunity to play with our distinguished alumni. However, Garrett is disappointed. He envisions this tournament to be at least 15-20 teams! So mark your calendar for Saturday April 26th, 2014, and then call up a couple of your former teammates. We will pair you up with guys from the current team for this event! Here were the teams for the 2013 match:
Team 1: Brian "Desi" Desrosier '80, Bob Bernatchez 79, Neil "Doc" Patel '99, Tom Porter '80
Team 2: Alex Laird '13, James McKay, Randall Laird P '13
Team 3: Austin Roney '15, Aaron Costello '15, Dan Quitt '09, JJ Tipton '13
Team 4: Dan Marvin '12, Brian Abernethy '12, Sam DeMello '13, Brenton Jones '13
Team 5: Wally Johnson (Sports Information) Chris Swiers, John Garbacz, Dave Sayward P'13
Match play was very exciting, I again borrowed a page from one of our distinguished alums, "The oldest legends plus Neil "Doc" Patel got up after 3 hours of sleep to produce the highest golf score...but this was only because Franco (Bari '98) loaned us a set of mangled clubs...and made Bobby (Bernatchez) and Desi share the same set! Also, why were the oldest guys given the earlier tee time???? An obvious set-up!
This year's winners were: Team 3: Austin Roney '15, Aaron Costello '15, Dan Quitt '09, and JJ Tipton '13
The Main Event: 2013 Alumni vs. Current Team Game:
While the Championship Golf Match was being played, I was busy preparing "Sandy" for the afternoon matches. After testing the sound system and placing the corner flags in position. I met up with Garrett Huntley '05 so we could split the alumni in two even teams. It was a cool morning as we had not reached the spring temperatures that we were hoping for. We made the decision to break out the long sleeve "whites" for the current team and we would put our beloved alumni in the "scarlet" and the "browns" As Garrett and I were divided up the alumni, each and every name, brought back memories, even from the guys that I did not coach; but competed against, and played indoor with, when I was home on vacation and SLU was still in session.
Even though some of our "regulars" were unable to attend (you know who you are!) we were blessed with an outstanding turn out with players coming in from all compass points. AZ, CA, DC, CT, MA, ME, NH, NYC, NY, OH, PA, RI, SC, OK, VT and Canada.
First, the line ups:
BROWN TEAM:
1. Franco Bari '98, 2. Mike "Bobo" Bobbie '08, 3. Yanick Brown '14, 4. Brian "Desi" Desrosier '80 5. Axel Galeano '07, 6. Nate Goss-Woliner '13, 7. Brendan Gorman '12 (injured reserve),8. Brenton Jones '13, 9. Alex Laird '13, 10. Paul LaMarca '09, 11. Mike Manfredi '12,
12. Dan Marvin '12, 13. Ryan Moore '09, 14. David Osorno '08, 15. Shaka Pilgrim '13,16. Tom Porter '80 (injured reserve), 17. Gil Schaper '06, 18. Sean Scott '12
SCARLET TEAM:
1. Brian Abernethy '12, 2. Bob Bernatchez '79 (injured reserve), 3. Charlie Bour '05,4. Reed Carr '10, 5.Will Congdon '13 6. Sam DeMello '13 (injured reserve), 7. Kiel Dwyer '09, 8. Marco Falcon-Viale '09, 9. Nathan Farrell '05 (injured reserve), 10. Gil Gilloran '13, 11. Nick "The General" Hillary '00, 12. Garrett Huntley '05, 13. Nick Lincoln '13, 14. James Merrill '08, 15. Tyler McCune '12, 16. Neil "Doc" Patel '99 17. Dan Quitt '09, 18. JJ. Tipton '13, 19. John Tobin '73
Brendan Murphy '02 drove all the way in from Buffalo to be at the awards ceremony on Friday night, but had to leave early in the morning for ODP practice. He is the Director of Goalkeeping for the ODP WEST. Mike "Twig" McGlynn '75, was also in attendance for the dinner on Friday night. "Twig" has been instrumental in getting the award photos taken and back to me so we can get them out to all of you. Unfortunately, "Twig" also had business to attend to back in Lake Placid, and at midnight he was gone!
After the announced line ups of both the Scarlet and Brown teams, and standing ovation from the capacity crowd at "Sandy MacAllaster Field, the Brown Alumni team took to the field. The format followed the same as in the past. The Brown Alumni team would play two, 30 min. halves, and followed by the Scarlet team doing the same, as the current White team stayed on the field for back to back matches.
White vs. Brown match:
The match started off with both teams playing the "beautiful game", keeping and moving the ball, much like watching a skillful chess match. Finally with less than four minutes left in the first half, Seyefe Brouk '16, coming from a holding midfield position, broke into the box and was going hard to goal, when suddenly he was taken down in the box. Without any hesitation the official immediately blew his whistle, signaled for the clock to stop and immediately when to the PK spot. Although Andrew Bednarsky '14 quickly grabbed the ball and went to the spot, the signal coming from the bench was that Seyefe should take the kick. Brouk stepped to the line and calmly slotted the ball in the lower corner to give the Current team, wearing the White jerseys, a 1-0 lead heading into halftime.
After some adjustments were made at half time, The White team was surprised to now be facing the Scarlet team in the 2nd half of the White/Brown game! The same type of play continued, great passing on both sides with some very hard attacking when going to goal. With just under 15 minutes to go in the second half of the White/Brown match, Andy Bednarsky '14, from a wide position, attacked the goal and found an opening on the right upper 90. The White team was now up 2-0, on a goal that was scored with virtually no angle! For those of you keeping official count, the scores are White 1 Brown 0, White 1 Red 0. Of course the young current White team was feeling very good about themselves and their play. The word on the street was the alumni would win all the matches in the spring of 2013, with the addition of 11 new alumni from the class of 2013!
White vs. Scarlet match:
One of the words of advice I constantly preach to our team, in our greatest success we must all remain honest to each other and humble. This lesson would soon show its importance as the Brown team took the field in place of the Scarlet team! Just 2:00 minutes into the second game the Alumni struke. Former All American and current St. Lawrence Women's Coach Franco Bari '98 weaved his way down the flank and combined with Yanick Brown'14, who then slip the ball across the top of the box, where Paul LaMarca '09, blasted a one-time shot into the upper quarter. This was almost a rerun of the goal that Bari set's up in 2012! The crowd and the Alumni teams went wild! Suddenly the tide was changing...The adrenalin was flowing heavy with the alumni, and just 2 minutes later Ryan Moore '09 gave the alumni their 2nd goal with a shot that looked exactly like Paul LaMarca's '09, just two minutes earlier. This goal was set up by the crafty work of Gil Schaper '06. Again the crowds at "SANDY" went wild and were calling for more! The BROWN team kept up the heat until the 19:26 mark, when a streaking Sean Scott '12 beat the flank defender and found Shaka Pilgrim '13 on the back door step. Pilgrim '13 calmly passed the ball on the ground and into the corner of the netting, as the alumni scored three straight goals! Just when the young White Saints team looked broken, Ozzy Morales '16 scores a beautiful goal from Mark Provost '15, with just 30 seconds remaining in the half!
White Saints 3 Scarlet & Brown Saints 3. But the official score; White team 2, Brown team 3, White team 1, Scarlet team 0.
In the final 30 minutes the Scarlet team came back on to try and take away the small burst of momentum the White team picked up at the end of the half. The pace was still high and as the Scarlet team tried to regained the momentum, five minutes into the final period, Mark Provost '15 connected from Andy Bednarsky '14 and Austin Alphonse'16 to get another one back for the White team. Despite this intelligent use of the alumni bench, alternating Brown and Red teams coming onto the field to stay fresh, The White team struck again, just three minutes later at the 8:05 mark. This time Praveen Balakumaran '16 worked his way around the defense after receiving a pass from Seyefe Brouk '16 and classmate Ozzy Morales '16. The momentum was now clearly back with the young White team as they were able to swing the ball side to side with confidence before they looked for more penetration. The Scarlett team was left with no choice but to try and pressure and chase the White team so they could get the ball back. Austin Alphonse '16, found Ryan Grant '16 on the split and he masterfully walked around the defenders to slip the ball into the far corner of the net to seal the scoring and the match.
Now the score was White team 6, scoring the last four goals, and the Scarlet and Brown team 3. However for those of you taking an official count; White team 2, Brown team 3, White team 4, Scarlet team 0
Although the outcome wasn't what the alumni were expecting, the current team is safe for one more season losing only 1 alumni game in the modern history of these historical events! However, I overheard alum giving the reason for the letdown going in to the final period: " Well every Goody era player injured themselves the week before the big day with their seal team training preparations! Except John "Toby" Tobin '73, who showed up to demonstrate to the younger alumni #1) the importance of using sunscreen as he actually aged 10 years over the course of the game without any; and #2) the intimidation factor of the "kung-foo" long ball which involves an intense "Hyah!!!!" shout at the precise moment one makes impact kicking the ball. Current Saints players parted like a Biblical body of water! Desi did attempt to play but his inflamed knees were done in warm-ups...he played a bit...and literally couldn't bare weight then next morning!" I also heard another Goody era player talking to all the alumni about recruiting more alumni from the 60's-70's-80's to wear the White team down! I also heard younger alum telling the old alumni that they needed to visit "CAMP DUROCHER" over the summer, to be more prepared for next season... Yes, grasshopper, wax on wax off, because only the ninja's attack at night!
It was a great game as always, and filled this coach with joy. There is nothing better than watching the beautiful game played the "right" way by all three teams. I can't wait until next year! Let's see if we can grow this event even more! Mark your calendar and call a teammate today!
Friday April 25th, AWARDS DINNER.Saturday April 26th Golf outing, Alumni Game, and time with Bob & Robin Durocher at the house. One of the alum's that was back for the first time described the post-game activity and what the weekend meant to him: " harkening back to the Bible, Bobby D attempted to feed all the alumni with only two pizzas. Hahaha...actually it took a long time for guys to show up and Bobby had already bought the pies. We all traded great stories and the crusty old alums got a real kick out of meeting and reminiscing with the BD-era players. We really are one big family and we can't wait till next year when we will really play ball! IF YOU HAVE NOT BEEN TO ONE OF THE ALUMNI SOCCER EVENTS, YOU HAVE GOT TO GET BACK. YOU ARE PART OF SOMETHING VERY SPECIAL. This type of thing doesn't happen with the teams and the schools very often."
I want to thank each and every one of you for your ongoing support and service to the Men's Soccer program at St. Lawrence. Thank you all for making this program very special!
In my next correspondence I will be recognizing each of you here and also providing an update on the Bob Goodwin Men's Soccer Locker Room.
Until then... Get in shape, Stay in shape, never give up!
Bob D
