From Team of Greats to Great Team: Flashback Friday from the Justice, November 11, 1975

TEXT: Homecoming 2022 & Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, Saturday October 8
BACKGROUND IMAGES: Collage of Hall of Fame Coaches

This summer, we'll be taking a look back at our 2022 Hall of Fame inductees through the lens of The Justice, Brandeis's student newspaper.

We hope you can join us for the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in Gosman Sports Center on October 8, 2022. Discounted early registration tickets are now available for purchase

This week, how Mike Coven built the base of the University's first national championships!

Article reprint from the Justice; full text is below

 

THE JUSTICE, NOVEMBER 11, 1975

FROM TEAM OF GREATS TO GREAT TEAM

By Gary Jones

To a greater extent than other sports, soccer is a game of luck. Even a team loaded with excellent soccer players is not immune to this factor. This can lead to frustration. And that has been at least a part of the story of Brandeis soccer, before this year. 

Mike Coven came to coach the Judges after the 1972 season. In 1972, the team compiled a somewhat less than mediocre 3-11 record. The team did have a few excellent athletes, including Larry Robinson and Jon Tumen who are seniors this year. But if the team was to be much more successful, it needed a lot of help from its newcomers.

For Coven’s first years as coach, the team got that help. In the freshman class of 1973 were a few guys named Robbie Mueller, Mike Shannon, Eric Friedberg, Peter Schacter, and Murray Greenberg. 

And Coven said, ”Watch these guys, they can play.” He was right, and things were different that year. The team played to an incredible 7-4-1 season. Muller and senior Justice Zormello were both selected as Greater Boston League all-stars. It was obvious that the Brandeis soccer program had turned the corner. 

Last year, Coven brought another good group of freshmen, led by Cleveland Lewis and John O’Connell. Again, Coven said, “Watch these guys, they can play.” He wasn’t kidding. 

The team won some important early season victories, including an incredible 6-0 romp over Babson, a team that was ranked 4th in New England. It looked like that was the year that Brandeis was to become one of the top New England soccer powers. 

But it didn’t work out that way. Largely due to a number of injuries, particularly to goalie Greenberg, the team took late season losses to BU, BC, and Bentley. Even with the injuries, these teams had no right to beat Brandeis. But Coven’s men didn’t get the breaks, and the lesser teams won.

There was another problem last year that was perhaps more important than either the injuries or lack of luck, and it was brought on by the players themselves. After the win over Babson, the team began to realize how good it was. The athletes’ ability went to their heads and they believed that victory would come easy to them. The Judges paid dearly for their misconception.

The team finished with what is objectively an excellent 6-4-2 record. Muller, and Greenberg, were GBL all-stars, and Lewis was, of course, the MVP of that league but still, the Judges had expected more. They were clearly better than their record indicated.

This year, Coven brought what might be the best freshman class ever to Brandeis for soccer. Ed Podbelski, Dean Hanks, Bernard Roy, John Prairie, and Josh Gindin were in fact good enough to move right into the starting lineup. 

Again, the talent was multiplying, but this year, the coach was reluctant in making predictions for the season. There could be no doubt about it; the team was full of great soccer players, but in this sport that is no guarantee that the team will win. 

This realization caused the team to approach the new season with a different and better attitude. The team was less self-assured and less optimistic but much more determined.

With the early-season loss to Lowell, it looked like a good idea not to be too optimistic. But an important 1-1 tie with Babson and a win at Tufts served to revitalize the team.

As the season continued, the fans noticed something different. Not only was the team providing great soccer, but it was winning consistently. Before anyone had realized what was happening, the team had compiled an 8-1-1 record and had won the GBL title for the first time in history. 

In the same game that Brandeis won the GBL, Muller was to take a spike above the knee which has forced him to miss the rest of the season. But Coven was undaunted. One thing, he reminded up, that separated this team from the others is the incredible amount of depth brought to the club from the freshman class. He even dared to hope that injury to Muller could be covered for adequately. 

And in the next game against St. Anselm’s, he appeared to be correct. Mike Liechtenstein, a walk-on from Israel, who was subbing for Muller, figured in the scoring of the goal that had apparently won the game for Brandeis. But with 30 seconds to go, that element of luck came back to haunt Brandeis again and St. A’s tied the game. It was the first goal that the New Hampshire team had scored in five games. 

This fluke hurt Brandeis. It was clear that the team needed victories in its last two games against Clark and Bentley if it was to have any chance at post-season play.

It would have been easy to justify losses in either of these games. After all, it had appeared that the team not only had Muller’s injury to overcome but fate as well.

The team passed the first hurdle as Greenberg shut out Clark, 2-0. But in the process, captain Larry Robinson hurt his leg badly enough  that he is likewise out for the remainder of the season. Even with this burden, Brandeis was determined not to be denied its due. 

In the last game of the season, the score was tied, 0-0, going into the last few minutes of play when a storybook goal was scored. The old stalwart star, Shannon, assisted the new man called into service, Liechtenstein, who sent in the winning shot as Greenberg wrapped up another shutout. 

With this season Brandeis has proved something. It can overcome what used to be an overbearing problem of not being able to fill the position for an injured player. It cannot hope to completely overcome the element of luck that comes with soccer but it has reached the point of excellence that luck is much less of a factor.

And most importantly, the team has realized that ability without hard work does not win games. 

Brandeis soccer in 1975 has become a great team and not just a team of great players. Brandeis soccer fans will no longer have to be content to watch just individual performances. The headers of Lewis, throw-ins of Muller, the dribbling displays of Robinson and the fierce competitiveness of Shannon were there this year, but just like last year, there is more now. This team is a winner.