NEW YORK — For the first time in almost two years, the Columbia men's soccer team takes to the pitch for intercollegiate competition on Friday, opening the 2021 season at home against George Washington (1-0-1). Kickoff from Rocco B. Commisso Soccer Stadium is slated for 1 p.m.
Fans who can't attend Friday's opener can watch the action on
ESPN+.
Live stats will be provided by GoColumbiaLions.com. Fans can also keep up with the match on Twitter by following
@CULionsMSOC.
Fans attending games at the Baker Athletics Complex must adhere to Columbia Athletics and the University's venue protocols.
Please find Columbia's venue policies here.
Below are five facts Columbia fans should know heading into the weekend.
#1 | 657 DAYS IN THE MAKING
Friday's season opener will mark 657 days since the Columbia men's soccer program last competed. The Lions last played Nov. 16, 2019 in that year's season finale up in Ithaca, New York. It's been six additional days since Columbia last competed at home, which came Nov. 10 of that year and resulted in a 6-1 Senior Day victory over Harvard. Five different Lions scored in that match, including current senior
Sebastian Gunbeyi.
#2 | THE RETURNERS
Columbia returns 10 players from the 2019 season. The lone returning goal scorer is senior
Sebastian Gunbeyi, who scored four times that year and also tallied three assists. Returning seniors
Blake Willis and
Andrew Stevens each tallied one assist in 2019. In total, Columbia returns just 18 percent of its goal scoring and 24 percent of its assists. The majority of Columbia's returners come from the back line, which include junior
Max Gonzalez, senior
Blake Willis, junior
Keenan Foley and senior
Will Todd. Gonzalez, Foley and Todd each played in all 17 matches of the 2019 campaign. The Lions also return goalkeepers
Michael Collodi and
Matthew Goodman, forward
Jon Ned and midfielder
Brian Timoney. Collodi was Columbia's starting keeper in 2019, totaling over 1,400 of the team's 1,610 minutes on the season.
#3 | NEW IN TOWN
Seventeen of the 27 players on Columbia's roster are new to the program since 2019. Of those 17 players, 14 have never competed in a collegiate match. Four new faces are transfers, which include sophomores
Lenny Aharon (UNC Chapel Hill),
Ryan Wallace (Yavapai College),
Will DeNight (Brandeis University) and
Yusuf Hafez (Worcester Polytechnic Institute). Of the four, only Hafez did not compete at his prior institution because WPI cancelled the season due to COVID-19.
The eight remaining members of sophomore class are made up of forward
Jake Novoshelski, attacking midfielder
Bryson Bezdek, midfielders
Hugo Hamilton and
Jacob Daum, defensive midfielders
Gannen Headrick,
David Walley and
Jack Muoio, as well as defender
Matthew Leong. None of those players have competed in a Lions uniform due to the 2020 season being cancelled from the pandemic.
The first-year class consists of five new faces. Three of them are forwards in
Adrien Wheaton-Schopp,
Paolo Primavera and
Ryan Kipness. Primavera's father, Nick Primavera, is a Columbia men's soccer alumnus who graduated in 1992. Defender
Bryan Cosman and goalkeeper
Andreas Zamanian round out the five first-years.
#4 | 73 YEARS OF VARSITY SOCCER
Columbia men's soccer begins its 73rd season as a varsity program. The program first competed as a varsity sport in 1906 but was discontinued after the 1915 season until competing as a club in 1957. The Lions have competed as a varsity sport every year since 1958, aside from the cancellation of the 2020 season due to COVID-19.
#5 | FRIDAY'S OPPONENT
George Washington (1-0-1) opened its season August 26 with a 4-0 home victory over VMI. The Colonials most recently played on Monday and drew Howard, 1-1, thanks to an 88th-minute goal from Liam Emson. Tom Cooklin has three assists through two games this season to tie for the national lead in the early going. GW played 10 intercollegiate competitions during the spring of 2021, going 5-3-2 and falling in the Atlantic 10 final, 2-0, to Fordham.
Friday will mark the first all-time matchup between Columbia and George Washington.
--
For the latest on Columbia men's soccer, be sure to follow the team on
Twitter and
Instagram (@CULionsMSOC), on
Facebook (ColumbiaMensSoccer), or by visiting
GoColumbiaLions.com.
