Auburn, ME – The CMCC Men's Soccer team put the finishing touches on celebrating their 2024 USCAA National Championship, with a ring ceremony on Monday morning in Kirk Hall. Now all that's left for the Mustangs to focus on is climbing the mountain again.
Central Maine is coming off an impressive 17-1-2 overall record that saw the team go unbeaten against in-state NCAA opposition, blister through the YSCC regular season with a 9-0-0 record, and pick up their fourth straight YSCC Tournament crown. In November, they finally reached the pinnacle, claiming the first national championship in program history with an impressive run down in Pittsburgh, PA that culminated with a 7-0 thrashing of #2 Central Penn in the title game.
There were plenty of individual honors collected as well. Ivan Domingues and Jeremiah Gomez were named USCAA National Co-Players of the Year after phenomenal seasons. Domingues lit up the record books leading the team with 26 goals and 9 assists to be selected YSCC Player of the Year. Gomez led the nation in assists with 19 helpers and added 10 goals himself while earning the National Tournament MVP and CMCC Male Athlete of the Year awards.
Gomez, Domingues, Mitch Cameron, Sam Boynton, and Raimundo Lubota were chosen for the USCAA All-Tournament team. Gomez and Domingues were joined by captain and center back Alfie Bashford on the All-American and YSCC All-Conference lists. Cameron was named YSCC Tournament MVP while goalkeeper Cody Cleaveland led the country in wins, save percentage, and fewest goals against.
After a season like that, you would imagine the pressure would be on for the Mustangs to live up to expectations.
But a core group of 11 players return to Auburn to mount their title defense. Captain Bashford is back for his junior season joined by Cleaveland, Boynton, Cameron, Matty Waters, Mikel Soto, Stephan Samba, Massimo Di Pilato, Exaucee Namwira, Guelor Kazadi, and Harrison Garcia. All 11 featured in the national championship triumph and each played in a minimum of ten matches over the course of the season. Boynton and Garcia are expected to battle for playing time up front, Cameron, Soto, Samba, and Namwira will bring plenty of pace and flair to the midfield, and Bashford, Waters, Di Pilato, and Kazadi return to a back line that was rock solid in front of Cleaveland.
There are of course plenty of fresh faces to round out the squad with 12 newcomers to the team. Three more arrivals from England; Daniel Semple, Albie Fozard-Oakes, and Michael Quinn, give the Mustangs a full six players from across the pond. Midfielders Matthew Greco and Yoan Thériault come down to Maine from Canada while Charlélie Leclerc and Angello Del Vechio Arias travel up from Florida. There are some local faces in the mix as well with Mitchell Maceda, Jacob Donnell, Drew Hatala, Alexander Corey, and Isaac Breau all coming from Maine high schools to round out the team with 23 rostered players.
There is also a new addition on the coaching side with second-year head coach Dalton Wing being joined by Jeremy Croston from Florida.
The team gets right into the thick of things with their season opener on the road against NCAA DIII opponent Husson University on Monday afternoon. Fellow NCAA school Maine Maritime Academy along with UMaine Fort Kent from USCAA DI and Northern Essex CC in the NJCAA will help test the squad ahead of Yankee Small College Conference play.
The Mustangs won't have the conference tournament being played in their backyard to look forward to in November, with this year's edition moving to Word of Life Bible Institute in New York. But when the season comes to a close, the Mustangs hope to be hoisting their fifth straight conference crown and heading back to Pennsylvania in search of a second straight national championship.
