his players, Morais said. “They see
the facilities and the locker rooms and
they want to prove they belong,” he
added. Competition is “settled on the
field,” Coach Jusino said. Sometimes,
arranging games with these schools is
difficult, possibly because DI and DII
schools feel they only have something
to lose. It’s just another obstacle for
the Briarcliffe program to overcome.
At 10-2-1, Morais believes he
has the talent to once again make a
run at the national championship. In
addition to Caldas, Briarcliffe has
another outstanding mid fielder in
Senior Nicolas Serolini (Uruguay)
and one of the USCAA’s leaders in
assists, sophomore forward Alan
Acevedo. Acevedo was actually on
the 2008 national championship team,
Morais’ first as head coach, then left
for four years and came back to play
as a sophomore this season. Of his
exciting game, Morais said, “I never
know what to expect.”
Marais doesn’t think his team has
quite played to its potential yet, but he
doesn’t question their ability. When I
asked him about back-to-back early
season losses at Essex County College
and St. Thomas Aquinas, he presented
one of the fundamental challenges of
playing in the USCAA. Sin ce there are
no conferences or divisions, entry into
14
the postseason tournament is based
strictly on a selection committee.
Hence, regular season games carry
only that implication. Early in the
season, the postseason may seem too
far away for the players to channel
the proper motivation. Suffice to say
Morais, whose team lost one game last
year, believes his squad will follow
the pattern of previous teams and play
best when the games become most
important. The Bulldogs have won
their last five games in convincing
fashion, and only have two regular
season games left.
When Morais recalled last year’s
title game, he told me about their
undefeated opponent from West
Virginia and how Caldas blanketed
their 6’3” 220 lb. leading scorer so
badly the other coach removed him
with time to play in a 2-1 game. The
way he described the game and the
events leading up to it, I assumed
Briarcliffe pulled a big upset. I asked
Morais if that was the case. He smiled
humbly and told me, “well, no, not
exactly you see we only lost one
game that year and we had made it to
the last four title games and won one
so…” Even as favorites, Briarcliffe
plays like bulldogs.
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