After finishing the year with an overall record of 9-4-3 and 4-1-2 in conference play, NYU men’s soccer is advancing to the 2022 NCAA Division III Men’s Soccer Tournament. 

In its road to the postseason, the team never lost by more than one goal and outscored its opponents 38-13.

Across the final six matches, the team did not lose a single game. The Violets scored 15 goals and allowed three goals en route to a 4-0-2 record. One of those ties came in the historic matchup against No. 2 University of Chicago, who finished the season undefeated, on Oct. 28. After losing sophomore forward Nathan Bennett to a red-card ejection in the first half, NYU held its own to finish with a 0-0 draw.

Following the tie versus the UChicago Maroons, the team registered back-to-back 3-0 wins versus Washington University in St. Louis and Brandeis University.

“It was the best thing that happened to my team all year,” head coach Kim Wyant said about the draw against the Maroons. “We just came away from that game with a massive amount of arrogance and confidence.”

The Violets now look to build upon their strong finish in the regular season in the NCAA tournament, where they will face off against the Williams College Ephs in the first round on Saturday, Nov. 12 at 3:30 p.m. in Grantham, Pennsylvania at Messiah University. 

“They just defend really well,” Wyant said about the Ephs. “They’ve scored 20 goals this season. We’ve scored 20 goals in three games.” 

This season, NYU has averaged 2.38 goals per game, and Williams averaged 1.18 goals per game. Unlike the Violets, the Ephs’ 20 goals are widely distributed amongst the Williams’ roster. 

“It doesn’t seem like they have a scorer like Bryce Lexow or Arkan Tahsildaroglu, or some of our players that are scoring pretty much every game,” Wyant said. 

If the Violets were to advance to the next round, they would play a game the following day versus the No.1 Messiah University or the Presidents’ Athletic Conference champions Franciscan University of Steubenville.

Throughout the season, the Violets have been underdogs and unranked nationally, but have proven their strength against the top teams across the country late into the season. Now, they hope to ride their wave of momentum into their biggest game.

“This is football, so any team on any day,” Wyant said. “You just have to go there, compete and do the things we’ve been working on all season — and that’s it.”

Contact Ethan Rendon at [email protected].