NEW YORK — The 2025 Columbia men's soccer season begins Friday when the Lions visit Lehigh (1-0-1). The match begins at 6 p.m. at Ulrich Sports Complex in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
GAME COVERAGE:
Fans can watch Friday's season opener
live on ESPN+. Fans can also track the
live stats courtesy of LehighSports.com. In-game updates will also be provided on the @CULionsMSOC social media accounts.
RETURNING
The Lions return 22 players from last year's team. Of them, 18 returners played in eight or more matches last season, while 10 players started at least half of last season's 14 matches.
In goal, senior
Dean Kelliher returns with the most experience. He started nine matches a year ago in his first season as the primary keeper. It included his first collegiate shutout in a 1-0 victory over the previous season's Ivy League tournament champion, Yale. He would later make a career-high six saves in a one-goal loss to Harvard.
Alexander O'Brien played and started four matches in his rookie season. They will both compete for the starting spot alongside first-year
Aris Taki.
The defensive half and the back line also return a lot of game experience. Staples to last year's defensive formation included senior
Carmine Falco, junior
Joe McDaid, junior
Jack McDaid, junior
Jackson ten Oever and sophomore
Andrew Hilton II. All five started at least 12 of 14 matches, with Falco and
Joe McDaid starting all 14.
Jack McDaid and ten Oever each scored twice and shared the team lead in goals. McDaid was named Second Team All-Ivy League, while ten Oever earned All-Ivy Honorable Mention.
Returners in the attacking half include senior
Ryan Yang, senior
Joao Lima, sophomore
Luke Zielinski and senior
Alessandro Franciosa. Those four started at least half of last season's matches with Lima earning one goal and one assist.
Columbia returns 89 percent of its scoring from last season, but will look for an uptick in goal production. They managed to find the back of the net just nine times last season, averaging just 0.64 goals per game.
Will Case,
Luka Peric,
Peter Chang and
Andres Garcia also got plenty of experience last season, all playing in 10 or more matches. Garcia came away with a goal and an assist as a rookie.
THE CAPTAINS
Columbia men's soccer announced that its captains for the 2025 season are senior
Carmine Falco and junior
Jackson ten Oever. Falco has played in 38 matches and started 37 of them heading into his senior year. Last season, he totaled 1,075 minutes on the field and went the full 90 four times. Ten Oever was a 2024 All-Ivy League Honorable Mention and was also named to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District Team. He was named Ivy League Player of the Week following his game-winning goal while preserving a shutout against Yale. The Brooklyn native has played and started 27 matches in his career.
THE NEWCOMERS
In late June, Columbia
announced the addition of eight new players to the 2025 roster. In the announcement, head coach
Michael Casper stated, "We want players that fit the model of what we want Columbia men's soccer to look like – hard-working and technical with the ability to become difference makers."
Among the newcomers are goalkeeper
Aris Taki, defenders Conor Owen and
Sage Kinner, midfielders
Yianni Goulandris,
Stepan Kapranov,
Oli Sacks and
Amir Yahalom, as well as forward
Henning Myrvang.
YEAR THREE UNDER CASPER
In what is now his third season leading the Lions, head coach
Michael Casper will look to turn the corner and bring the program back to prominence. Last year saw a step in the right direction, when Columbia put an end to a five-year Ivy League winless drought by defeating the 2023 tournament champion Yale, 1-0, at Rocco B. Commisso Soccer Stadium. With key defensive pieces returning, he will look to a talented group of returners and newcomers to increase goal production.
ABOUT COLUMBIA MEN'S SOCCER
The 2025 season marks the 78th varsity season of men's soccer at Columbia University. The program was established in 1906 but discontinued as a varsity sport from 1916-57. The program regained its varsity status in 1957 and played 63 straight seasons until the 2020 campaign was canceled due to COVID.
Columbia men's soccer came to prominence in the late '70s, advancing to their first NCAA Tournament in 1978 before going all the way to the Final Four in 1979. After multiple NCAA Tournament appearances and Ivy League championships through the early '80s, the Lions made a run to the NCAA Tournament Championship Game in 1983. Columbia defeated UConn, 4-0, in the Final Four to take on Indiana for the National Championship. The Hoosiers outlasted Columbia, 1-0, in overtime.
Columbia owns 10 Ivy League championships and 13 NCAA Tournament appearances all-time.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
Lehigh has started the season 1-0-1, earning a draw at La Salle, 1-1, in the opener on August 21, and defeating Rider, 2-1, this past Monday. Friday's game against the Lions will be the home opener for the Mountain Hawks, who were 4-4-2 last year on their home turf.
Sophomore Bora Turker has scored in each of Lehigh's first two games. First year Luciano Larrea scored the game-winner in the 84th minute at Rider. Sophomore goalkeeper Anton Kinnunen is in his first season of action and has started each of the first two matches, playing all 90 minutes each time. He made six saves against Rider.
Friday will mark the fourth all-time meeting between Columbia and Lehigh. The teams are an even 1-1-1 against one another. Last time they met was the 2023 season opener in New York, which resulted in a 1-1 draw. That was Casper's first game as Columbia head coach.
FOLLOW THE LIONS:
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.
