Category: Athlete of the Week

by Justin Bishop '24 on November 10, 2023
Sports Co-Editor

     Providence College men’s soccer team is 7–4–3 overall this season, and an astounding 5–0–1 in their last six matches. This recent stretch can be attributed to this week’s recipient of Athlete of the Week, Brendan McSorley ’24. McSorley has hit his stride during these recent games, which includes the match on Oct. 14 where he had two shots against then No. 5 Georgetown University where the Friars upset the Hoyas 1–0 on Chapey Field. The senior forward’s playing was also stellar last week in matches against the University of Connecticut and Butler University. In those two games, McSorley from Randolph, NJ totaled three goals and one assist, and the Friars won both of those games.

     McSorley’s first goal of the three came in the match against UConn. During the 17th minute, Nathan Messer GS ’23 crossed the ball across the pitch to McSorley who then headed the ball into the bottom right corner of the net. This goal quickly put the Friars up 2–0 against the Huskies as Messer had previously tucked one in in the sixth minute of the game. The next goal that McSorley knocked in came later in the same game during the 70th minute. Pearse O’Brien ’27 had a corner kick that McSorley ran to the near side post and headed the ball into the goal past the goalkeeper. This second goal for McSorley extended the Friars’ lead over the Huskies to 3–0. The team would concede one goal late, but ended up winning the game 3–1. The Friars closed out their home game schedule with the win and ended with a 5–3 record overall in the comfort of Chapey Field.

    In the following game, McSorley and the team traveled to Indianapolis, IN to take on the Butler Bulldogs. The team took care of business winning the game 3–0 thanks to the one goal and one assist performance from No. 9. The last goal McSorley would score for the week occurred in the 65th minute. He two-touched a pass from Gevork Diarbian ’24 that snuck in at the near post. The goal put the Friars up 1–0, but the scoring did not stop there. McSorley dished a through-ball to Bruno Rosa ’26 and he put one past the Butler keeper, which expanded the Friar lead to 2–0. McSorley also had six shots and three shots on goal when the horn sounded at the end of the game, which were both the most on the team.

     The team has qualified for the Big East Tournament with their win against Butler and they will look to McSorley to lead them in scoring, as he evidently has found his game after explosive games to end the year and leads the team in points up with a total of nine goals and one assist for a total of 19 points. He also leads the team in shots with 38 and shots on goal with 19. It is clear that the offense starts with McSorely. Look for him to be the go-to guy when the Friars need a goal down the stretch.

The Friars finish up their regular season on Saturday, Oct. 28 in South Orange, NJ against Seton Hall University.