UNB Saint John Athletics
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There was a common thread connecting the 2023 men’s and women’s soccer teams at UNB Saint John. Both squads finished in fifth place with 5-7 records, just missing the ACAA playoffs.

Although the women’s side lost four games to start the season, they finished strong by winning four of their last five.

“We’ll have a bit more experience and I’m pretty happy with where we’re going for future seasons,” Seawolves head coach PJ Ward said. “There was a learning curve for some players, but overall I was still quite happy with the way we finished considering the number of new players we had.”

Ward is excited about a returning core that includes all-conference first team player Joce Splitgerber, who scored a team-leading eight goals despite moving from striker to attacking midfielder.

“We needed a bit more experience in the middle of the field, and we wanted to try something different this year to see if Joce was able to have more of an impact in the game instead of being up top and waiting for the ball to come to her,” Ward said. “We tried to put her in a place where she could be more impactful in terms of not just scoring goals, but also in setting up goals. She did a really good job this year.”

So did right-back Braya Robertson, an all-conference second team selection and another key returnee.

“She was the most consistent player on the field,” Ward said. “She worked her butt off and never gave up on anything, regardless of how hard certain moments of the season were. She was always leading by example and stepping up to the challenge.”

The men’s side, also coached by Ward, started the campaign with a 1-0 win over Mount Saint Vincent University, but a 2-1 loss the following day to the University of King’s College began a three-game losing streak from which the Seawolves never recovered.
“The big key is playing the game for 90 minutes,” Ward said about looking ahead to next year. “We need a bit more maturity in terms of not letting the small things get underneath our skin. The other key is that we need to have a bit more desire in the off-season to constantly improve in every aspect of the game. That being said, I couldn’t have asked for a better group. The season could have gone completely different if we were able to finish and put the ball in the back of the net.”

Tosin Abe earned all-conference first team honours after notching a team-leading six goals, but his academic pursuits will take him elsewhere next year. Fortunately, all-conference second team selection Ryan Benner will be back to stabilize the defence.

“Outside the two weeks that he missed due to a concussion, he had an excellent season,” Ward said of Benner. “As a first-year player, I couldn’t have asked for anything more from Ryan. He stepped right up and did exactly what we recruited him for. He helped in the back line with our captain, Trystan Burnham.”