Championships are a rarity that few athletes get to enjoy especially at the college level, but for the five seniors on the Saint Joseph’s College of Maine Men’s Soccer Team it has been a regular occurrence around this time of year. These upperclassmen have been apart of Seacoast United Maine over the years and took their success from the club level and brought it to Saint Joes.

 

JT Taylor from Gorham, Maine, majoring in Exercise Science and Sport Performance described his early memories playing on the pitch. 

 

“I moved to Maine when I was eight and played for local Gorham travel teams. From there I played Maine Metro and at thirteen started playing Seacoast.” 

 

His hometown friend and senior teammate Cody Eilliot, also from Gorham, majoring in Physical Education, had similar experiences at an early age. 

 

“I played Maine Metro early on, went through GPS at age nine to ten, and then followed one of my favorite coaches, Gil Aguirre, to Seacoast. I played for the club all the way from age twelve to eighteen.” 

 

Noah Robinson, Wappingers Falls, New York, majoring in Business and Sports Management talked about his early years explaining, “I played rec league, moved through travel, and went to the Soccer Plus Academy in Newburgh, New York.”. 

 

Three more Mainers round out this incredibly successful group of seniors: Keenan Welzel (Brunswick, Maine) majoring in Management, Quinn Hewitt, a junior from Cape Elizabeth, Maine, majoring in Business and Sports Management, and Mitchell Duncan (Sanford, Maine), majoring in Medical Biology/Pre PA mentioned their experiences on the pitch as kids in Maine. 

 

Keenan: “I started at age seven playing for Coastal Soccer Club and played Seacoast until I was eighteen with Coach Jim Wade and Steve Twombly to name a few coaches.”

 

Quinn: “I played town soccer in Cape and around U12 was recruited by Seacoast and Steve Twombly was my coach. I later went on to play for Ian Scott in the Academy in New Hampshire.” 

 

Mitchell: “Similar to everyone else I played rec league and town soccer. I followed my sister into Coastal Soccer Club and was coached by Rob Cook. Later on I was coached by familiar faces Jim Wade and others.” 

 

What was your favorite memory being apart of Seacoast United? 

 

Kennan: “I remember playing for Coach Gil and making it to Pennsylvania for the Region 1 tournament. Also, I remember playing against the Revs Academy at Gillette Stadium.” 

 

JT: “I liked playing for the coaches: Gil, Jim Wade, Peter Mills, and James Blackwell. Also, getting a taste of what college soccer could bring at the Region 1 tournament with some of my current teammates was great.” 

 

Cody: “As some of the boys mentioned, going to the Region 1 championships after winning three straight Maine State Cups.” 

 

Noah: “I liked playing for Coach Hatherly for the NPSL team. It gave me a good level of play in the offseason preparing for the fall season with Saint Joes.” 

 

Mitchell: “I remember getting to the quarterfinal of the Region 1 Tournament when I was fourteen. We were a team from Maine playing against some high competition in an east coast wide tournament.” 

 

Quinn: “As Keenan mentioned playing in Gillette was a surreal experience. We also by chance played against Christian Pulisic when he was playing for a Pennsylvania Select team.” 

 

Current Men’s coach, former Seacoast United Maine Goalkeeping Director, and Gorham native, Will Pike summed up this group explaining how they were prepared for the college game.

 

“These are a good group of guys. They adapted well to the college game from knowing each other from Seacoast and getting a similar competitive atmosphere on the pitch.” 

 

Dan Malone an assistant coach at Saint Joes and former teammate of this group also added:

 

“These core group of seniors played together before college and are socially tight off the field which makes a difference. They are committed to the game outside of the lines by taking care of their bodies and their leadership for the underclassmen.”

 

This group leaves Saint Joes with an unprecedented amount of success including three conference championships and national and regional individual recognition. To say the least they raised a record number of trophies throughout their early years in Seacoast and brought that to the pitch at Saint Joes.

 

Rapid Fire Questions: 

 

Favorite Food?

JT: Cheese Pizza

Cody: Buffalo Wings  

Keenan: Steak

Noah: Spaghetti

Quinn: Ravioli 

Mitchell: Chicken Parm 

 

Favorite soccer team/player? 

JT: Manchester City/Messi

Cody: Kante 

Keenan: Tottenham 

Noah: Barcelona/Messi

Quinn: Barcelona 

Mitchell: Liverpool/Coutinho 

 

Favorite Netflix series? 

JT: The Office

Cody: The Office

Keenan: Big Mouth 

Noah: Black List 

Quinn: The Office 

Mitchell: Big Mouth 

 

Favorite genre/type of music? 

JT: Alternative Rock 

Cody: Country 

Keenan: Hip-Hop 

Noah: Hip-Hop

Quinn: Rap 

Mitchell: Rap

 

Make Sure to Like and Follow our Social Media Pages:

 

Facebook       Twitter      Instagram