2020-21 Men's Soccer Report Recap

Tulsa men's soccer head coach Tom McIntosh sat down with Bruce Howard to recap the 2020-21 season.

COVID Pandemic Postponed 2020 Fall Season to Winter 2021

The fall 2020 men's soccer season was postponed until winter/spring 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the shortened season TU only played American Athletic Conference games prior to The American Championship.

Led the Way for Tulsa

Alex Meinhard had team-bests of seven goals, 15 points and 34 shots
Ben Barkley added two scores, while Jonathan Cervantes, Mariano Fazio, Luke Jeffus and Alvaro Torrijos each added one goal.
Barkley, Malik Henry-Scott and Marcos Moreno each had a team-leading two assists
Lucas Cline played all 1130:50 in goal, picked up 34 saves for a .723 saves percentage and allowed 13 goals for a 1.03 goals-against average.

Golden Hurricane Players, Staff Earn American Athletic Conference Honors

Alex Meinhard was named as the American Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year, as well as to the First Team All-Conference and All-Rookie Team.
Chase Bromstedt, Mariano Fazio and Henry Sach were all The American Second Team All-Conference honorees, while Malik Henry-Scott was also an All-Rookie Team honoree.
Bromstedt, Jonathan Cervantes and Alvaro Torrijos were named to The American all-tournament team
The Tulsa coaching staff was also named The American Coaching Staff of the Year.

Conference Championships

This was the Golden Hurricane's fourth appearance in the title game, but first since 2016.
All three of TU's American Athletic Conference Championships have come by a shootout, tying USF (0-0) in 2014, UConn (1-1) in 2015 and USF (1-1) in 2016
TU has played in 11 games that have gone into a shootout and has advanced or claimed the title in nine of those contests. Five of those shootouts came in The American, with the Hurricane advancing or claiming the title in each instance.
Besides the Golden Hurricane's three American Athletic Conference titles, Tulsa won four Conference USA tournament titles and one Missouri Valley Conference tournament title
The Golden Hurricane also has four (3 C-USA; 1 MVC) regular season championships

Five Game-Winners

Tulsa won six games during the 2020-21 season and Alex Meinhard had had five game-winning goals, while Mariano Fazio had the game-winner against USF.
Meinhard's game-winning goals came in the 9th minute (UCF), 30th minute (UCF), 55th minute (Memphis), 101st minute (Memphis) and 81st minute (SMU).
Meinhard had a team-best seven goals and 15 points, and attempted a team-high 34 shots.

In The American Championship Game...

Tulsa dropped a 1-0 decision to 18th-ranked UCF in the American Athletic Conference Championship at the UCF Soccer and Track Complex in Orlando, Fla.
Lucca Dourado put the Knights on the board as he drilled in a kick into the upper left corner with just 8:40 ticked off the clock. The two teams battled and the Golden Hurricane had two solid shot attempts in the 27th minute back-to-back from Til Zinnhardt and Jonathan Cervantes. The attempts had to be reviewed through officials replay but were determined not to have crossed the goal line. TU had a 6-4 lead in shots, including a 4-2 advantage in shots on goal, but went into halftime down, 1-0.
Will Edwards took a great shot at the 55:52 mark that bounced off the cross bar, Cervantes had a free kick from 30 yards out that he drilled into the goalkeepers' hands at the 83:05 mark, and then Mariano Fazio hit the crossbar at the 85:50 mark.
The Golden Hurricane had an 11-4 lead in shots, including a 5-2 advantage in shots on goal, and a 5-2 lead in corner kicks.
Cervantes had a team-best four shots, Fazio added two attempts and five others had one shot. Lucas Cline logged all 90 minutes in goal and picked up one save.

Cashion and Meinhard Claim National Weekly Accolades

Mitchell Cashion and Alex Meinhard were both selected to National Teams of the Week
Cashion was tabbed to the College Soccer News and Top Drawer Soccer Teams of the Week on February 8th and 9th, respectively
Meinhard picked up College Soccer News and Top Drawer Soccer Teams of the Week honors on March 1st and 2nd, respectively, and was again tabbed to the CSN Team on March 29

Hurricane Among Nation's Best

Tulsa entered the 2021 polls on March 1, marking the first time the Hurricane had been ranked since September 9, 2018
The Golden Hurricane's highest ranking came in 2010, when TU was ranked at No. 2 in the NSCAA (now United Soccer Coaches), Soccer Times and Top Drawer Soccer polls
Tulsa has been ranked as high as No. 3 in the College Soccer News and Soccer America polls, and No. 4 in the BennettRank (now the HeroSports) poll

260 Wins

Tom McIntosh has earned 260 wins at the helm of the Tulsa men's soccer program, including 106 conference wins as a member of four conferences
He has an overall 260-186-54 record and has notched a conference mark of 106-83-25
Since he first walked on campus as a student-athlete in 1986, McIntosh has been a part of 330 of TU's 417 victories either as a player (29; 1986-88), an assistant coach (41; 1989-91) or as the head coach (260; 1995-Present)

TU Picked Sixth in The American Preseason Coaches' Poll; Finishes Second on the Year

The Golden Hurricane team was picked to finish sixth in 2020-21 in the American Athletic Conference, as voted on by the league's head coaches
The predicted order of finish of SMU, UCF, USF, Memphis, Temple and Tulsa.
The actual order of finish was UCF, Tulsa, Temple, SMU, USF and Memphis.