Merrimack Warriors men's soccer

Merrimack Warriors men's soccer
2024 Merrimack Warriors men's soccer team
Founded	1970; 55 years ago (1970)
University	Merrimack College
Head coach	Tony Martone (39th season)
Conference	MAAC
Location	North Andover, Massachusetts
Stadium	Martone-Mejail Field (Capacity: 3,000)
Nickname	Warriors
Colors	Blue and gold[1]
Home Away
NCAA Tournament appearances
Division II: 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017
Conference Tournament championships
Northeast10: 1995, 1996, 1997, 2017
Conference Regular Season championships
NEC: 2019 Northeast10: 1994, 1996, 1997, 2012

The Merrimack Warriors men's soccer program represents the Merrimack College in all NCAA Division I men's college soccer competitions. Founded in 1970, the Warriors compete in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. The Warriors are coached by Tony Martone, who has coached the program for 39 years, the longest of any NCAA men's program. Merrimack play their home matches at Martone-Mejail Field.

In 2019, the Warriors began play in Division I, reclassified from Division II. In their inaugural Division I season, the Warriors earned their first Northeast Conference regular season championship and fifth overall.^[2] Due to their reclassification, they could not compete in the NEC Tournament. In 2024 the Warriors joined the MAAC conference

The Merrimack soccer team date back to 1970 when then had their first season. They would not see much success in their first decade of existence. Going through 5 different head coaches during this period. But things changed when they hired Tony Martone in 1981. They would then join the NE10 in 1984. Martone would start to slowly build up the program over his first decade as coach. So by the time the 90s rolled around the warriors started to hit their first real form of success. As in 1994 they would win their first ever regular season championship going undefeated in conference play 9-0-0. They would then build off this momentum winning 3 straight NE10 tournament championships from 1995-1997. They would also win a ECAC tournament championship in 1997 as well. Steve McAuliffe would also be the first player in program history to be named an all American in 1997. The program would then decline a little till the 2010s where they would see a nice stretch of success. Still under the helm of Martone the warriors would have one of their best seasons in 2012. Going 15-4-2 overall and 9-3-1 in conference play. Securing their first regular season title since 1997. They would fall 2-1 to SNHU in the NE10 championship. But they still were able to get a at large bid to the NCAA tournament as the #16 team in the country. This would mark the programs first appearance in the tournament. They would go on to beat Franklin Pierce in the first round 1-0 before eventually falling to SNHU in the second round. They would narrowly miss the tournament the falling year. But in 2014 they would make the NCAA tournament for a second time with a 14-3-2 record. They would beat Philadelphia University in the first round 2-0 and would pick up a second round victory over #10 Southern Conn. St. 1-0. Punching their ticket to the third round where they would eventually lose to LIU post 1-0. They would make the tournament for a third time the following year in 2015 going 14-3-2 overall. They would win their first round match up over Le Moyne 2-1 before once again losing to SNHU in the second round. Then in 2016 the team would make the tournament for third year in a row. Where would once again lose in the second round. Then during the 2017 season the team would go 16-3-2 and would beat Bentley 2-1 in extra time to win their first NE10 tournament in 20 years. Punching their ticket to their 5th and final NCAA D2 tournament appearances.^[3]

In 2019 Merrimack would move to Division I and would join the NEC. The warriors would not back down to the challenge though. As in just their first year as a division I program the team would go 11-3-2 and a perfect 9-0 in conference play. Securing a NEC regular season championship. They were not able to compete in the NEC tournament though due to the NCAA transition period. Still though this would be a very historic year for the program. Coach Martone would be honored as NEC coach of the year and Mirko Nufi would be named defensive player of the year. He would also be the first player in program history to be named a DI all American.^[2] The warriors would spend another 4 years in the NEC.

In 2024 the program would move to the Metro Athletic Conference.

Source:^[4]

Source: ^[5]

NE10 Player of the year

• Joe Lococo (1989)
• Steve McAuliffe (1997)
• Robbie Sabodoz (2009)
• Francis Lemus Peña (2012)

NE10 Rookie of the year

• Steve McAuliffe (1994)

NE10 Defensive player of the year

• Dan Pearce (1988,1989)
• Steve McAuliffe (1995, 1996)
• Josue Ruiz Maya (2017)

NE10 Goalkeeper of the year

• Jose Silva (2012, 2013, 2014)
• Lucas Rezende (2017)
• Tyler Packett (2018)

NE10 Coach of the year

• Tony Martone (1987, 1994, 2002, 2012)

NEC Defensive player of the year

• Mirko Nufi (2019)

NEC Coach of the year

• Tony Martone (2019)

• Steve McAuliffe (1997)
• Robbie Sabadoz (2009)
• Franklin Lemus Pena (2012)
• Jose Silva (2012, 2014)
• Augusto Silva (2015)
• Joseph Briers (2015)
• Lars Sund (2016)
• Josue Ruiz Maya (2017)
• Lucas Rezende (2017)
• Mirko Nufi (2019)

Former Merrimack Defender Steve McAuliffe number 2 was retired by the Warriors soccer team. He is the only student athlete in Merrimack history to have his number retired. He was later inducted into the NE10 hall of fame in 2012.^[6]

• Official website

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