2015 St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers men's soccer team
The 2015 St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers men's soccer team represented St. Francis College during the 2015 NCAA Division I men's soccer season. The Terrier's home games were played at Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 5. The team has been a member of the Northeast Conference since 1981 and was coached by Tom Giovatto, who was in his ninth year at the helm of the Terriers. In 2014, St. Francis Brooklyn won the NEC Tournament Championship and played in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. For 2015, St. Francis Brooklyn was voted as the NEC preseason favorite by the league's head coaches. The Terriers, which have won six NEC Tournament titles in their history, received five first place votes in the annual poll. The Terriers ended their season at 10–4–4 overall and 3–2–2 in conference play. The Terriers qualified for the NEC Tournament with the 4th seed and lost to LIU Brooklyn in the semifinals on penalty kicks after two overtime periods. Of note, the Terriers ended the season first in the country in Shutout Percentage and were nationally ranked after winning their first nine games.
Regular season
The Terriers started the season unbeaten in their first 9 games and as a result were ranked at 22nd Nationally by the NSCAA Top 25 Coaches Pollfor the first time in the Tom Giovatto era. After the national ranking, the Terriers were stunned by a double-overtime loss to NJIT. The loss brought St. Francis Brooklyn to a 7–1–2 record and marked the end of their non-conference schedule. Between their rise and fall in national rankings St. Francis Brooklyn and LIU Brooklyn co-hosted the first annual Brooklyn Bridge Cup. The field included UMass Lowell, St. Bonaventure and both Brooklyn teams. St. Francis went on to win the inaugural Brooklyn Bridge Cup. In Northeast Conference play the Terriers finished at 3–2–2 and 10–3–4 overall. Throughout conference play the Terriers received votes from coaches for the NSCAA Top 25 in the nation ranking. Yet, with the final loss of the season to LIU Brooklyn, they stopped receiving votes. With the loss St. Francis Brooklyn cemented its 4th seed and faced 1st seed LIU Brooklyn in the opening round of the 2015 Northeast Conference Men's Soccer Tournament. At the end of the regular season St. Francis Brooklyn still led the nation with a minuscule 0.38 goals against average and.71 shutout percentage, they were also second in save percentage. Also of note, the Terriers have outscored their opponents 30–7 in the regular season, and their 31-team goals have come from 15 different players. Prior to the start of the NEC Tournament, Senior goalkeeper Jack Binks, senior midfielders Harry Odell and Vincent Bezecourt, along with senior defender Cyril Coisne were selected to the All-NEC's First Team. Junior defender Paul Galimi was named to the Second Team and freshman Tomas De Andrade was named to the All-Rookie Team.
NEC Tournament
The Terriers had won two consecutive NEC Tournament Championships and were looking for a third. The Terriers qualified for the Tournament with the 4th seed and faced 1st seed LIU Brooklyn on November 13. LIU Brooklyn went a perfect 7–0–0 in conference play. The last time St. Francis and LIU Brooklyn met in the NEC tournament was in 1997, the Blackbirds won 2–0. The Terriers lost to LIU Brooklyn on penalty kicks 3–4 after being tied 1–1 for two overtime periods.
