Staying alive and staying hot the men’s soccer team is. Even with the leaves falling onto the field and, weather changing, nothing is slowing down this team.
After finishing their regular season with just sixteen games. The Mavs ended their regular season on a high note with a huge win on Senior Day over St.Thomas Aquinas. The win was anchored by a two-goal performance by Johannes Hanken Tjostheim and a great defensive performance only allowing one goal. The Mavericks now sit at a record of 9-2-5 as they show no signs of slowing down any time soon entering the playoffs as the two seed.
The offensive and defensive play has been outstanding for the Mavericks as of late. The offense finished the regular season scoring 42 goals while first-team conference and ECC player of the year, Johannes Hanken Tjostheim led the team with 22 goals and six assists. The defense only allowed eleven goals throughout the sixteen-game season while second-team all-conference Erik Elvestad, finished the regular season with sixty saves.
A big identity for Coach Pedro Velasquez’s team is the leadership not by the seniors but, by the whole team.
Coach Velasquez had a lot to say about the team’s leadership this year compared to years past.
“What has made a big difference for us this year compared to other years prior is the team’s leadership. Guys are holding each other accountable not only with the seniors and captains. We have juniors and sophomores who are pushing for the same common goal of wanting to work for the regular season championship.”
Velasquez is very proud of how this team has grown and learned a lot about themselves throughout the season thus far.
“We have realized each game so far we are growing and learning about ourselves. The good thing about us is that it hasn’t been the losses where we learn, it has been the ties. However, we are still learning valuable lessons and hopefully, it travels into the playoffs.”
One of the biggest names in Division II men’s soccer is junior and ECC’s Offensive Player of the Year Johannes Hanken Tjostheim. Johannes leads Division II soccer in goals with a total of twenty-two with a helping six assists. However, the most interesting part about him isn’t his stats.
Johannes is not from the United States, he is from Norway which is a long way from home for him. He talked about many reasons why he chose Mercy as the place he wanted to call home away from home.
“Obviously this school is very far from Norway. One aspect that stood out to me about Mercy was the academics. As a Scandinavian, I was able to finish my undergrad in three years which was a big reason”
Johannes shared a little about the community at Mercy and how that stood out to him on his recruitment visit.
“After I spoke with the coach and met a couple of the guys and heard their experience at Mercy. I just got a good feeling about the community here at this school.”
Johannes weighed in on the team’s goals for this season.
“A big team goal this year is to win the conference, which I am 100 percent sure that we have the quality to do so.”
Johannes continued to comment on the leadership of the veterans of this last dance group.
“We have a lot of seniors who want to finish on the strong end. We want to have something to be proud of when we look back at it. It is almost like a last dance for many of us, we are very positive we can make a great thing happen this year.”
After, an amazing regular season finishing at an overall record of 9-2-5. The Mavericks now sit as the number two seed heading into playoffs hosting a semifinal game this Sunday. Coach Velasquez’s team looks to stay red hot on the Hudson this Sunday against the winner of third seed Roberts Wesleyan and six seed District of Columbia quarter final game. They aren’t turning down the temperature just yet, they are just getting started.
