When the Suffolk University men’s soccer season kicked off in September, captains Trevor Murdock and Dai Podziewski had a simple goal for their squad: win.
More specifically, Murdock and Podziewski wanted to have a home playoff game come November, and win the Commonwealth Coast Conference tournament.
With the playoffs beginning this week, the Rams have already achieved one of those goals, as they will host Salve Regina for the first round of the playoffs on Saturday.
“Everyone’s hyped up,” said Murdock. “We are all on the same page.”
The Rams sit at 9-5-4 at the conclusion of the regular season, following Murdock and Podziewski’s final regular season games as Rams. Suffolk tied Salve Regina by a score of 1-1 Tuesday night, earning them the number four seed in the CCC tournament.
“I didn’t even think about it until last week, and I was like wow, we have three games left,” said Podziewski. “I dont think it’s going to hit because we have bigger things to think about right now.”
Both four year members of the team, the captains have seen much in their time as Rams. This includes a conference change, a season lost to COVID-19 and a head coaching change.
“We’ve been through the worst of the program and this is the highest it’s been in a very long time,” said Murdock. “Seeing players grow, seeing how they adapt and how Dai and I also adapt to the different circumstances, for both of us to have the same experience, we were able to clamp down and help the younger guys.”
Murdock and Podziewski spoke about the new outlook that head coach Bill Maddock has brought to the team, which isn’t just trying to be the best team in the CCC and being a model program for the whole school.
“I think that mindset has changed a lot for the program and how we conduct ourselves off the field,” said Podziewski. “That’s leading to some of the changes now that we have good bases in recruiting and a solid player base.”
Maddock was named the head coach of the team in January 2020, with his first full season not beginning until September 2021.
This playoff season will be the Ram’s second in the CCC, after leaving the Great Northeast Athletic Conference following the conclusion of the 2019-2020 season.
“The CCC is very competitive. Anyone can beat anyone. The quality, the pace of play, the physicality, everything is a lot harder,” said Murdock. “We’ve kind of had to revamp our program and understand what we are going against and I think we’ve done very well coming from an eight seed to a three or four seed in just a year difference. It shows what we are capable of in such a small amount of time.”
While the Rams have become very familiar with their CCC opponents by now, Murdock is particularly familiar with the Endicott Gulls, having transferred from there after his freshman year. When asked what his favorite team memory was, he had six words.
“Beating Endicott. At home. For sure.”
Endicott currently sits atop the CCC standings with a 6-1-1 conference record, leaving Murdock the possibility of a playoff showdown with his old squad should the Rams advance past the first round.
Podziewski had several top moments in his four years as a Ram, including last year’s tie against Babson. While it wasn’t a victory, Babson was nationally ranked at the time and the tie took them out of the rankings. He also alluded to Suffolk’s shutout win over MIT in September.
“After they shelled us last year it was a pretty good feeling. They’re a really highly respected team in the region so it was great,” said Podziewski.
Murdock, Podziewski and the rest of the men’s soccer team will kick off the postseason this Saturday at East Boston Memorial park, time TBD.
Follow JD on Twitter @jdconte617
