Under new coach, Saint Vincent men's soccer hopes to reverse fortunes

The Saint Vincent men’s soccer team struggled to a 2-11-6 record last season. But as rising sophomore midfielder Jack Billick sees it, that wasn’t an accurate reflection of the team’s ability.

“We had a great preseason, and then I think in the regular season, we just got unlucky,” said Billick, a Seton LaSalle grad who earned Presidents’ Athletic Conference honorable mention. “We gave up unlucky set-piece goals. … On the offensive side, we were just unlucky creating chances. We would hit the post, hit the crossbar.”

Five of the Bearcats’ 11 losses were by one goal — three of those were 1-0 defeats — giving credence to the notion they were close to having a much better record.

Still, there were warts. Saint Vincent scored only 17 goals, third-to-last in the PAC. The defense was only marginally better, finishing in the middle of the pack in goals against.

To change their fortunes, the Bearcats turn to first-year coach Tyler Gallagher. This is the first college head coaching job for Gallagher, whose only head coaching experience was at the high school level at Hoosac School in New York.

Gallagher has been on the job a little more than two months. He met twice with his returning players before they left campus for the summer and has been keeping up communication via phone and video chats.

He said he believes his team, which returns most of last year’s players, can turn around its fortunes.

“I could see (on video) as games were going on, there was an experience in managing the game,” he said. “So now it’s just about pushing the next level. How can we bring the game a little bit more to the opponent? And how can we be a little more tenacious in how we attack?”

Offensively, Gallagher wants to spread the field. Defensively, he wants to create stress for the opposition by pressing high.

“I think that’s probably our best way to create chances,” Billick said, “to create turnovers in the opponent’s half. Our wingers and attackers are very fast and very good. … We definitely have the guys to do it.”

Along with Billick, who was the only player to start all 19 matches last season, rising junior Cameron Mulvanny earned all-PAC honorable mention. Mulvanny scored three goals and figures prominently in Gallagher’s plans. The Bearcats also return three captains: Cade Coldiron, Ethan Bridges and Kameron Rock (Pittsburgh City Charter).

In his conversations with the veterans, Gallagher kept hearing one name: Jayden Gyan. A rising sophomore forward from Ghana, Gyan appeared in only eight matches last season but had a goal and showed enough promise to impress his teammates.

“What he’s really about is taking guys on, having that confidence, trying to make things happen,” Gallagher said. “He also has a willingness to defend and close down space and do the gritty side of the game, which is going to be a very important part of our team moving forward.”

The primary area of concern for the defense, meanwhile, will be set pieces. Billick said the Bearcats yielded too many goals on set pieces, contributing to all those close-call losses.

Saint Vincent’s first match is about a month away, and there is a lot of work to be done in the meantime. Gallagher doesn’t have a specific number of wins by which he will define “success” this season. Rather, he will define it by the foundation the players build.

Billick is optimistic the Bearcats can lay that foundation while winning more games.

“Last season, we had a decent team. We just couldn’t get the results we wanted,” he said. “I think this year we can definitely get the results that we wanted while having more or less the same team.”