By Richard Heaton
It isn’t really a secret that the York College athletic teams have had an extensive run of bad luck over the years. But, that changed this month as the Men’s soccer team did something that they haven’t done in more than a year. They won a match.
Yes, they actually won a match. On Sept. 3, they played their first game of the 2018-2019 season against the Sarah Lawrence Gryphons and they won by a score of 1-0. During the first match of the season, they already equalled the total number of matches they won during the 2017-2018 season.
The one match that they won last season came on Sept. 2, 2017, meaning it’s been more than a year since the last time that they claimed victory. It’s also a good sign to have won a match so
early in the season because the last time they won more than one match during a season was during the 2014-2015 season.
Yes, the team has been that bad. For most of this decade, the team was bad. Normally when a team plays poorly, the only direction they can go is up, but that wasn’t the case here. In 2013 and 2014, the team went a combined 11-24-1.
That’s a really bad record, but at least the team won a game every now and then. All that changed in 2015 when the team literally hit rock bottom. During the 2015 season, the team failed to win a single match.
That year they went 0-13-2. Even the matches that ended in draws were bad as York only managed to score one goal each time. For the season, York averaged just 0.67 goals per match while opponents averaged nearly 5.
Players, coaches, and the few fans were left thinking it couldn’t get any worse, but that’s exactly what happened in 2016. In 2016, the team was much worse as they went 0-15-2 and averaged 0.65 goals per game while allowing 5.35.
In 2016, the team took on average less than five shots per game while opponents averaged nearly 30.
The 2017 season was much of the same. They scored even fewer goals but finally managed to win a match. On Sept. 2, the team played their first match of the season and won their only game. That year they went 1-13.
It was a time to celebrate because it was their first win in more than two years, but the party died as quickly as it started. This season, things are starting very similar to how they started last year, but maybe the team can keep it up this time.
The team won their match on Sept. 3, 2018, one year since the last time they won a match.
The Goalkeeper for York was Johan Bermeo. It was his first match as a member of the soccer team and it must have been a very proud moment for the Jamaica resident as he saved three shots. It must have been a very emotional day for the Junior.
Perhaps the team can rebound from their previous seasons and have a successful season. The team doesn’t have to win a championship to be successful, but if they can just win a few more matches here and there, it will be a step in the right direction.
