Penn State Lehigh Valley's men’s soccer team captured the gold and the trophy at the 2024 PSUAC Men’s Soccer Championship, defeating Penn State Greater Allegheny 2-1 on Nov. 5. This is the third time in four years the team has made it to the finals, and the first time bringing home the gold.
CENTER VALLEY, Pa. — The Penn State Lehigh Valley (PSU-LV) men’s soccer team captured the gold and the trophy in the 2024 Penn State University Athletic Conference (PSUAC) Men’s Soccer Championship, defeating Penn State Greater Allegheny 2-1 on Nov. 5. This victory followed an impressive season, with the team finishing undefeated in the conference at a record of 10-0-1 and the team’s best overall record of 13-1-3.
This is the third time in four years that the team has been to the PSUAC championship. The first time was in 2021 when the current seniors — Jerod Younes, Jack Cupitt, Jack Montesdeoca and Jacob Fetterman — were in their first year. For these players, it’s a nice way to bookend their career. The win goes far beyond the players and coaches, however, as the entire campus showed overwhelming support for the team all season.
“Winning this first trophy is very special. It makes a big difference in our eyes, especially with those first ever four-year seniors,” said Ibrahim “Abe” Mamari, head men’s soccer coach. “PSU-LV isn’t a typical campus with this program being built on a family atmosphere. We really want to give everyone on campus a medal because they all worked for it with the support we received. ... Even parents of injured players continued to come out to support us throughout the season. This is why we don’t have a No. 1 jersey — because our supporters are our No. 1 and we have reserved that number for them. Our motto is ‘We are one,’ but this year we could really feel the oneness between the 24 players, the coaches and the fans.”
PSU-LV’s soccer program is unique in many ways, and it shows. The players are students first, soccer players second. Maung Min, associate teaching professor and director of business programs at PSU-LV, is the team’s faculty adviser.
“I’ve had coaches from other campuses come to me and say, ‘It’s amazing there are faculty members supporting the team at home games.’ Other teams might see the support, but not that level of active support. I’m actually with the team on the bench, thanks to Coach Abe. I would imagine that’s one way our campus differentiates itself — our faculty and staff get emotionally involved with athletics and activities on campus.”
After a 2023 season plagued by roadblocks and only reaching the semifinal game, the team started the 2024 season with a different mindset.
“We had a full-time athletic trainer, so that helped us big time,” Mamari said.
Elaine Kimmel from Lehigh Valley Health Network was key, as she performed regular conditioning and rehab to help expedite recovery time. Striker Jerod Younes had a major injury halfway through the season.
“He was the top scorer in the conference at that time. We had other players step up to help us,” Mamari said. “We had injury after injury, but in the final, every player gave everything they had. Even though we went into the final not having 100% health, [with] the desire of the players, they stepped it up and gave it their all. They played with a lot of hustle and heart and pulled for each other. We always have that, but this year, it was different.”
The title has had a positive ripple effect on the program’s recruiting efforts, as well. Assistant coach Blaine Silfies Jr., who largely handles recruiting, has had several positive conversations with potential players.
“Already guys I tried to recruit for this year reached out to me after we won the championship and are now interested in playing for us next year. As soon as we got that success, and it meant a lot to win the PSUAC title, it will continue to go a long way for recruiting. I have one almost accepted already, and I’ve had calls with really good players.”
The championship was not the only highlight of the season. The team hosted its first alumni game, which Silfies expects to become an annual event.
“With the culture Coach Abe and I create, we are there to make the players better people,” Silfies said. “To have former players come back to campus and let us know how they’re doing and just to see the personal success of these guys — it’s a testament to our program. Winning the PSUAC title was just the cherry on top of a great season.”
Coach Mamari and Silfies pointed to one of those personal success stories being volunteer coach C.J Semet, who was part of the soccer team’s foundation in 2017-18 and has been an integral part of the coaching staff the last few years.
Richard Fatzinger, PSU-LV director of athletics, said Mamari and Silfies have created an “almost ideal college program. [They’ve] created a level of expectation that carries over from year to year. Whether they lost the game or won the game, there’s very little difference in how they treat their players. They truly do represent us at the highest level. They don’t do anything to make us not be proud.”
