The 2005 NESCAC men's soccer season had a little bit of everything: a seemingly untouchable defending champion, some midseason reshuffling and, best of all, a Cinderella story.
And to think, the encore is shaping up to be even better.
Following a 2005 season in which it vaulted from a middle-of-the-pack squad to a NESCAC champion, Wesleyan continues to lead its conference, amassing a 10-game winning streak to start the 2006 campaign.
In his first five years as Wesleyan coach, Geoff Wheeler guided the Cardinals to three winning seasons, but the team found itself unable to compete with the league's powerhouses. And by the end of the 2005 regular season, it seemed the Cardinals had actually taken a step backwards, as they entered the NESCAC tournament carrying a five-game winless streak.
"I expected us to play well every game," Wheeler said. "But we had so many ups and downs during the regular season that it was hard to predict how we were going to play in NESCACs."
Indeed, there was no way to foresee seventh-seeded Wesleyan's subsequent magic carpet ride through the NESCAC tournament. After upsetting No. 2 Bowdoin in the first round, the Cardinals traveled to Williamstown to take on the four-time defending NESCAC champions, who had not lost to Wesleyan in the teams' last 15 meetings. But the Cardinals pulled off the stunner, shutting out Williams 1-0 before edging Amherst 3-2 in the championship game.
The victory gave Wesleyan soccer its first-ever conference title and a berth in the NCAA Men's Div. III Soccer Championships. The clock finally struck midnight on the Cardinals' Cinderella run in the second round of National, when they pushed eventual champion Messiah to overtime before losing 2-1. Nonetheless, Wesleyan, the first seventh seed to win the NESCAC championship and the first team to score a goal off Messiah in the NCAA Tournament since 2003, emerged from the postseason a new team.
"We did have a tough regular season," said Jared Ashe, senior tri-captain of the 2006 squad. "But by coming close in so many games, we knew the talent was there. It just took until the postseason for us all to gel."
With this unprecedented success pushing them forward, the Cardinals headed into the 2006 season with the challenge of proving they had not simply caught lightning in a bottle last fall, that their run through NESCACs was actually indicative of a team that had taken that once-elusive step towards conference supremacy. And a look at the regular season to this point suggests mission accomplished.
Returning 16 regulars from last year's title-winning squad, this experienced Wesleyan team has steamrolled through its early-season competition, compiling an 8-0-2 mark that has earned it sole ownership of top spot as the league's only undefeated team. The team's 10-game unbeaten streak is enough to launch it into the Wesleyan record books.
Along the way, the Cardinals, ranked 13th in the latest Div. III NSCAA/Adidas National Poll, scored victories against opponents they had not beaten in years, earning their first wins against Tufts since 2002 and Middlebury since 1996 in September.
In addition, six of the team's eight wins in 2006 have come in one-goal games, and three of those have been come-from-behind victories. And it was the lessons gleaned from the 2005 postseason that have enabled Wesleyan to come away with these victories.
"We have a confidence from 2005 that we didn't have in years past," Wheeler said. "We played in so many tight games and faced such strong competition throughout the end of last year that it prepared us well to pull out some close games this year."
But with showdowns against Amherst and Williams looming this weekend, Wesleyan's toughest test has yet to come. While the Cardinals got victories against the Ephs and Lord Jeffs in last year's NESCAC Tournament, Wesleyan knows that this year, the onus to win these games has shifted to them, as they have moved from spoiler to defending champion.
"We don't approach the game any differently, because then we would be letting things outside of the game itself influence the way we play." Wheeler said. "But our success has definitely put the target on our backs."
And while both Amherst and Williams know the weight attached to these games, both symbolically and in the league standings, they are both downplaying the importance of avenging last season's losses to Wesleyan.
"The league is so competitive that people are going to beat you on any given day." Williams coach T. Michael Russo said. "It is difficult to go through the entire season winning all regular-season games against this conference. You have to take it one game at a time. Right now, I'm focused on our game against Tufts [on Saturday]. I haven't even given thought to Wesleyan."
