A big day for Poulin, USMMA soccer
Undated photo of goalkeeper Gary Poulin, a junior from Hauppauge, broke his leg during preseason training in July. Credit: Handout
Four months ago, goalkeeper Gary Poulin had a broken leg and was uncertain of the role he would play for the USMMA men's soccer team.
On Monday, Poulin was named the Landmark Conference's defensive player of the week -- and his team was selected to play in the NCAA Division III Tournament.
It was a banner day for Long Island college soccer as five schools received NCAA bids.
UMMMA (11-6-1) will play at Rutgers-Camden (16-2-2) on Saturday. The Mariners will be making their third straight appearance in the NCAAs.
Poulin, a junior who attended Hauppauge High School, missed the first five games because of his injury, which he suffered in practice, then returned to action and finished with a 1.10 goals-against average.
"Originally I knew it would be about a month and a half, two months. I was hoping to recover as soon as possible,'' he said. "The closer it got to the season, the tougher it got to get back into shape. Going from fully healed to being able to play took longer than I expected.''
Poulin said a goalkeeper's legs are paramount in playing the position. "Everyone bases it on hand-eye coordination and catching the ball,'' he said, "but I would say more than half of it is moving your feet and having fast footwork. On crosses and corners, you have to be able to come out and jump, and that all depends on your feet, your legs, your ankles.''
The Mariners advanced to the Elite Eight last year. "The goal has always been to go one step further than last year,'' Poulin said, so that means the Final Four. He added, "It would be nice to take that trip down to San Antonio.''
In Division II, NYIT (14-3-2) will play St. Thomas Aquinas (10-3-4) Thursday at Franklin Pierce in Rindge, N.H. NYIT earned the automatic bid in the East Coast Conference by defeating nationally ranked C.W. Post (16-2-1). The Pioneers will play Nyack (13-5-2) Friday at Southern New Hampshire.
NYIT was not expected to be a postseason team this year. "That was great motivation from the beginning that we were going to finish seventh,'' sophomore forward Matthew DiDonna of West Islip said. "We knew in preseason the players we had and that we were going to make a big run this year. We just beat Post and we know they are supposed to be one of the best teams in the nation . . . We know that we can beat anyone.''
The Dowling women's team (12-5-1) won the ECC bid and will play UMass-Lowell (11-5-2) Friday at Bridgeport. The Farmingdale State women (15-3-3) captured the Skyline Conference in D-III and will meet Misericordia (13-4-2) at Amherst.
