A Good Run
Men’s Soccer won its first NESCAC championship and took Amherst to extra PKs in the NCAA DIII final.
The 2024 Men’s Soccer team put on a post-season show, winning the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) tournament championship for the first time in program history and making an NCAA run that took the team all the way to extra PKs in the championship game.
To say the team got hot at just the right moment is an understatement. Packed with talent, the team lost only twice during the regular season, but five ties kept their win total to just eight. The Camels were seeded sixth heading into the NESCAC tournament, and, after the team dropped its regular season finale against Wesleyan, head coach Reuben Burk admits things weren’t looking stellar.
“We totally didn’t show up,” Burk told New England Soccer Journal of that final regular season game. “There was a malaise over the team. We lost 3-1 and got counterattacked several times.”
Making matters worse, the team needed a NESCAC tournament run to even qualify for the NCAA tournament.
“Fortunately, the team really came together and we had conversations about the reasons of why we can’t be a highly successful team. It was, ‘What barriers are stopping us?’ It was, ‘What are the excuses if we can’t get this done?’”
It must have been one heck of a pep talk. The Camels drew Amherst in the quarterfinal round of the NESCAC tournament—the 11-2-2 Mammoths had beaten Conn 1-0 in the regular season. The Camels got on the board first, when forward Matt Quiros-Newton ’26 found the back of the net in the 31st minute. But the Mammoths tied it up with 19 minutes left, and the game remained locked at 1-1 through two overtime periods. With the game—and the season—on the line, Conn converted four penalty kicks to Amherst’s two to move on.
In the semifinals, Conn came out hot and went up 2-0 on Williams with goals by Jake Creus ’25 and Matt Scoffone ’25. The Ephs scored with 5:24 left in regulation to make it to 2-1, but the Camels held on for the win to advance to the NESCAC finals for the third time in four years.
Facing mighty Middlebury (then 14-0-3) in the championship game, the Camels had erased all trace of malaise—the team looked poised and confident. Conn scored first in the 21st minute and never trailed en route to a 3-1 victory, with goals by Marco Perugini ’27, Gavin Vanden Berg ’26 and Elliot Spatz ’26 and seven saves from goalkeeper Peter Silvester ’25. The win marked the first NESCAC championship for the men’s program and earned the team an automatic bid to the NCAA DIII tournament.
By now, the Camels were on a roll. Conn hosted first- and second-round games on Freeman Field in front of spirited home crowds—and never once trailed, beating Suffolk University 4-1 in the first round and Franklin andMarshall 3-0 in the second. In the Sweet 16, Kenyon battled Conn to a 2-2 tie in double overtime, but Conn took the contest in PKs 3-0; the Camels then beat Denison in the Elite Eight round 2-1 to punch their ticket to the Final Four in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The semifinal matchup against Washington and Lee was a rematch of the 2021 NCAA semis, which Conn won 2-1 in overtime. This time around, defender Alessandro Hovarth Diano ’25 sent a bending free kick past Washington and Lee’s goalie and into the top left corner of the net in the 60th minute to propel the Camels past the Generals 1-0 and into the National Championship game for the second time in three years.
If Camel Nation wasn’t already feeling a bout of déjà vu, the championship final was also a rematch of the 2021 final (which Conn won in PKs after a 1-1 tie)—against oh-so-familiar NESCAC rival Amherst.
The Camels battled Amherst to a 0-0 tie through regulation and two overtimes. Amherst outshot Conn 24-13, including 6-3 in shots on goal, and had a 17-0 advantage on corner kicks, but Silvester was spectacular in his final game in goal, finishing with six saves through open play. Silvester added three more saves when the match once again came down to PKs, but this time the Camels fell just short, eventually losing the penalty kick battle 4-3.
“In the end, our season can be defined by resiliency. We were resilient when it mattered most,” Burk said. “We beat three nationally ranked teams on the road to winning the NESCAC championship, we came from behind to win in both the NCAA Sweet 16 & Elite Eight games, and we defended like warriors against Washington and Lee in Vegas to scrape out a grueling shutout. Our character came through this year.”
Horvath Diano, Dylan Hoke ’28 and Charlie Miles ’27 were named to the NCAA DIII All-Tournament Team, while Silvester earned Most Outstanding Defensive Player of the Tournament. Burk, assistant coach Andrew Storton and goalkeeper coach Lee Elliott were named the 2024 Division III National Coaching Staff of the Year by the United Soccer Coaches.
“I’m so proud of our 12 seniors, who have given more to this school, community and athletic program than probably anyone will ever realize,” Burk said. “They lead through their character and bleed blue.”
Looking ahead, Burk said Conn is returning and recruiting many promising young student-athletes, but each year the team is “completely new and different” and past success is no guarantee of future success.
“We have to embrace going through the whole process again: of coming together, finding our identity, buying into our roles and sacrificing for the team. We are really optimistic about the future, while at the same time humbly conscious that everything must be earned.”