Kansas City, Mo. - The United Soccer Coaches Association announced their regional staffs for the year with Mercyhurst Men's Soccer finding their way onto the list as the Atlantic Region Staff of the Year for 2022. After a historic season that saw several team and individual records broken, Head Coach Ryan Osborne and company are rewarded for leading the Lakers.
Mercyhurst Men's Soccer finished the 2022 campaign with a record of 19-1-1 while going 10-0 in conference play, claiming both the PSAC West Regular Season title and PSAC Championship. The team was one of the top squads all year long as they found themselves ranked as high as 2nd in the United Soccer Coaches national poll while being given a #3 seed in the NCAA DII National Tournament and the right to host.
Their 19 wins on the season was the most since 2014 when the Lakers finished 19-3 while making it to the third round of the NCAA DII National Tournament. Mercyhurst's 10-0 record in conference play was the first time they had gone undefeated in the PSAC West, earning them the top spot in the conference. Their dominance in the PSAC did not stop there as they ended up winning the conference title in a 1-0 win over Bloomsburg in early November. As a team, the Lakers led the PSAC in scoring average (3.5), opponent average (.3), average margin (3.2), penalty goals (8), assists (57), and save percentage (.903), showing them to be an extremely tough team to beat when faced with conference foes.
As far as national ranks go, Mercyhurst's 57 assists were good enough for fourth in the country while the team's 74 goals were third. They allowed only six goals all season for the fewest in the nation, giving them a goal differential of 68 for the third highest in NCAA DII. The Laker's defense was superb past their minuscule goal total as they had the highest save percentage in the country of .903, giving them one of the most feared defenses.
Mercyhurst racked up plenty of awards for their efforts in 2022 as they had seven players named to an All-PSAC West team while Dylan Sumner was named the PSAC West Athlete of the Year and Jonathan Gomes the PSAC West Defensive Athlete of the Year while Coach Osborne earned the PSAC West Coach of the Year. They then had four players named to the DII CCA All-Atlantic teams in Gomes, Sumner, Sean Kerrigan, and Martin Grzywa while Gomes, Sumner, and Kerrigan were named DII CCA All-Americans. The awards did not stop there as Gomes, Sumner, Kerrigan, Axel Aronsson, and Nic Münch were all awarded spots on the USCA All-Atlantic teams while Sumner and Kerrigan were once again honored by the United Soccer Coaches Association as All-Americans.
During Coach Osborne's tenure at Mercyhurst, he has racked up an impressive record of 37-5-3, increasing the team's win total in each season. Mercyhurst has proven to be one of the top teams in the PSAC during that time as they have lost only one game to a conference opponent under Osborne's leadership, going 17-1-2. Osborne and company hope to see that success continue next season as they try to provide a great encore to what was one of the program's best campaigns to date.
