Wentworth Institute of Technology: Athletics > Varsity Sports

As much as the 2006 Wentworth men’s soccer season ended on a sour note, as the Leopards were forced to withdraw from postseason play after having used an ineligible player, the 2007 campaign was one that members of the Leopards certainly will never forget.

Playing a very tough non-conference schedule, Wentworth opened the 2007 season at the Babson Invitational. The season opener saw the Leopards battle WPI and come away with a 2-1 win. That win was the 100th career victory for head coach Bob Long, who recently completed his 11th season as the Leopards’ head coach.

Eight games into the season Wentworth was 5-3 and had just been upset, 2-1, by Curry in a game that snapped a 13-game home unbeaten streak. That loss would be the last for the Leopards for exactly one month, as Wentworth went on a seven-game winning streak would see the Leopard strikers outscore their opponents by a 28-2 margin and included five shutouts. The streak would come to an end in the regular season finale at Colby-Sawyer and would seed Wentworth third in The Commonwealth Coast Conference Tournament.

Wentworth’s first-round game was against New England College, a team that the Leopards had beaten with less than a second remaining in overtime in the regular season match-up. A solid, two-way effort would propel the Leopards to a 3-0 win and a berth in the semifinal round.

Over the last 11 years, the Leopards and Roger Williams have had some outstanding battles on the pitch and this year would be no exception. Wentworth won the regular season meeting by a 2-1 score, but the semifinal round battle would take place on the Hawks’ home field. After 110 minutes, nothing was decided and the game was officially declared a 0-0 draw. However, to determine advancement, the two teams engaged in a shootout. In the final round, the Leopards converted their kick and won 3-2, advancing Wentworth to its first TCCC championship game since 2000.

In order to earn the program’s first trip to the NCAA Tournament, Wentworth would have to get past conference newcomer and perennial New England power Western New England. The Golden Bears, the top seed in the tournament, scored two goals in the first eight minutes of the contest and prevailed, 3-0.

However, all was not lost, as for the second time in three seasons Wentworth was selected to play in the ECAC Tournament and would be the third seed. In the final home game of the season and the final home game of his career, senior Chris Hartmann scored all three on the Leopards’ goals in a 3-0 win.

In the semifinal round, Hartmann and his teammates defeated a tough Framingham State team, 2-1, to win their school record 15th win over the year and advance to the ECAC finals at Norwich. Despite jumping out to a 1-0 lead, Wentworth could not stop the top-seeded Cadets in a 2-1 loss, ending the season with a 15-6-1 record and bringing the record over the last two seasons to an admirable 28-8-2.

Hartmann paced the Leopard offense by setting new seasonal standards for goals (16) and points (42) and posting the program's second-highest seasonal assist total (10). He ends his illustrious career with 90 points, coming on 33 goals and 24 assists.

Junior forward Kyle Nasman, a transfer from Northeastern, scored seven goals and added a pair of assists for 16 points, while his brother, Ben, a freshman, found the back of the net five times and helped on three goals for a 13-point season. Junior midfielder Geoff Hackett led the team with eight assists and also scored two goals.

On defense, seniors Joe Carroll and Kevin Neilan anchored a solid group of defenders that helped hold opponents to under a goal per game and held opponents scoreless in eight games.

Backboning the defensive group was senior netminder Joe Simon, who, in his first year with the Leopards, was 14-5-1 with a 0.89 goals against average and six shutouts.

Postseason honors were bestowed upon seven student-athletes. Hartmann earned First Team All-TCCC honors, as well as being named Second Team All-New England. Senior midfielder Ben Hamlin, Hackett and Kyle Nasman, Carroll, Neilan, and senior keeper Joe Simon were all named Honorable Mention All-TCCC.

Looking Ahead

Graduation will take seven players off of this year's team, including Hartmann and Simon. However, there is a strong nucleus of players returning that will help the Leopards continue to be a contender within TCCC.

Schedule

The Leopards play a 17-game regular season schedule, which includes 12 games against CCC opponents such as Salve Regina, Roger Williams, Colby-Sawyer, Endicott, Western New England, and Gordon. The non-league schedule features games against Brandeis, WPI, and MIT.

History

The men's soccer team has been a varsity team since the 1985-86 season and has played its home games on Sweeney Field since 1996, the year of Wentworth's lone CCC title. Wentworth made its second CCC title game appearance in 2000 and earned the program's first-ever ECAC berth in 2001. The Leopards earned their second ECAC Tournament berth in five seasons during the 2005 campaign and tied its best regular-season record in 2006 (13-2-1). This past season was Wentworth's finest to date, finishing 15-6-1, making its first appeaance in the finals of the conference tournament since 2000, and advancing to the finals of the ECAC Tournament for the first time in school history.

Meet the Coaching Staff

Bob Long is entering his 12th season as the Leopards' head coach. After serving as an assistant coach from 1995-1996, he assumed the role of head coach for the 1997 season and has posted 114-83-5 (.577) record. Long is a two-time (2000, 2006) CCC Coach of the Year. He is assisted by Carl Betterley (Wentworth '95) a former Leopard standout, who was All-CCC in 1993.