The William Paterson Men’s Soccer team faced nationally ranked Rowan on Saturday October 11, in a match where they also celebrated their seniors.

Jimmy Bruno, Luca Misko, Roberto Cacaci, Seydou Camara, Daniel Janosek, Delvin Nketia, and Jakub Paszczyk were honored before the start of the match.

Coming into the game, the Pioneers had worked hard in practice to prepare for the match, which they knew was going to be a tough one.

“We’ve talked about their ability to score goals from a distance; they have very good players…outside the box, so a lot of our preparation was just making sure we identified that,” said Head Coach Matt Heitmann after the game.

The first half kicked off the Pioneers’ senior night with a light drizzle and good communication within the team. While celebrating the seniors at William Paterson, Rowan began by warming up and playing drills, seeming to be focused on their match.

Every player from the William Paterson team seemed to be pumped up and excited for the match against Rowan. Regardless of the hard matchup, the Pioneers were not intimidated heading into the first half.

Rowan liked to keep control of the ball during the first 20 minutes of the game, but the Pioneers kept up their phenomenal defense. The Profs were continuously unable to convert their ball handling and offense into productive turnovers.

Senior backs Jimmy Bruno and Jakub Paszczyk, and goalie Luca Misco, were continuously communicating where their teammates needed to be so they were ready to defend but also so they were in the best position to gain control of the ball for offense.

The Pioneers came out with an intense amount of energy and communication with each other while playing, which translated into their ball handling throughout the first half.

Although the Profs seemed to have majority possession, the Pioneers had a special skill of stealing the ball and stopping their opponents’ momentum, which was only helpful for them throughout the entirety of the match.

When Rowan had possession of the ball, they were loud but were fairly relaxed when they were communicating and defending against the Pioneers, which could be why they were lacking production from an offensive standpoint.

The Pioneers and Profs were constantly vocal on the field, consistently communicating with each other despite the bad weather, playing hard, and striving to maintain possession of the ball in order to score.

With a scoreless first half, the Pioneers went into their huddle, fairly positive after defending the Profs, who were aggressive in their offense.

“We thought it was an excellent first 45, and we were kind of stressed that there was another 45 to go… Just keep working hard and, you know, battling through it,” said Heitmann during the half.

William Paterson began the second half with the same amount of energy they had at the beginning of the match. It was evident in their huddle that the whole team wanted to fight hard and defend on their home field.

The rain began to go strong once again after giving the teams a break during halftime, but the weather did not affect the Pioneers’ play.

Rowan seemed slightly quieter but had more possession of the ball than the Pioneers did.

Both teams at first seemed to be playing noticeably slower for the first 15 minutes of the second half, but there was more ball play near the boxes on each side of the field.

William Paterson’s back defensive line was very communicative throughout, but during the second half, it seemed to be more so, as the Profs were gaining possession of the ball more easily.

The William Paterson sideline remained loud and supportive, even though the team was not very productive in creating turnovers and was focusing more on defense.

With 15 minutes left of the game, the energy on the field shifted, specifically with Rowan. They began to play much more aggressively, generating more possession of the ball but also generating more fouls.

The crowd for the Pioneers was generating energy as well, which began to translate to the players, who became more and more aggressive in their playing, especially with their defense.

With under ten minutes left on the clock, Rowan was fouled by the Pioneers and was awarded a free kick. Johnny Troiano scored a goal, giving the Profs the lead for the first time in 83 minutes.

Even down one nothing, the Pioneers did not let the goal affect their level of play and began to play even harder.

In a jumble after a mistouch from a William Paterson throw-in, senior midfielder Kane Fisher, who is from the UK, volleyed the ball right into the back net, tying the game.

“Five years, it took five years, my last season, senior night,” said Fisher while getting emotional. “My family was here from the UK; it means everything.”

With the game tied, in the remaining five minutes, both teams were fighting hard to score but were unsuccessful, resulting in a tie game.

“So happy to see it. Definitely a game where we were fighting for it in the second half and probably a little more defensive-minded and not going after the win,” said Heitmann, “but, you know, credit to the guys for not giving it up in a lot of minutes of the game to get one.”