Men’s club soccer captain Dominick Shraeder ’26 celebrates with Fin Spitaleri ’28. Photo by Clyde Dwyer ’25.
Davidson men’s club soccer defeated the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) 2-1 in a Sept. 6 game that was called early due to inclement weather. The victory spoke to the strength of an oft overlooked team: Davidson, a team with only one postseason appearance, beat the Tar Heels, a team with a National Intramural Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA) national championship and two regional championships to their name.
The ‘Cats fell behind early and went into halftime down 1-0, but scored two goals early in the second half. The first goal, right after halftime, came from Gabriel Onoratini ’29. Minutes later, Azim Mithaiwala ’29 scored a second goal, putting the Wildcats up.
The team is led by co-captains Zack Davis ‘26, Eli Naughton ‘26, and Dominick Schraeder ‘26. Major influences from underclassmen, including Onoratini and Mithaiwala, have contributed to the team’s success so far.
“I think what’s been really evident this semester is the wide variety of talent we have. We have a large group of new first-years and returning sophomores/juniors who continually show up for practices and games,” Naughton said, “Zack, Dom, and I all met through club soccer our freshman year, and it’s great to see how seriously the underclassmen are taking it, especially within these first few weeks.”
Davis said the difference in program management further dignifies the team’s performance.
“One factor that creates the culture we have is the fact that we are completely student-run,” Davis said.
“Most of the other teams we play against have coaches, while we just have student captains.”
In recent years, UNC has succeeded at the club level, ranked as the best team on the east coast last spring—including two second team All-American defenders.
Beating a strong program such as UNC makes the win even sweeter for the ‘Cats. With roughly 10 times the male population of Davidson, their player pool is much bigger.
Davis said the community is one factor behind the team’s success. “Our team is very tight-knit, especially for how big of a community we have,” Davis said.
“We have completely open practices to whoever wants to come. We have two practices a week that are open to anyone, and then we choose a roster based on availability for each individual game.”
Club soccer balances the casual fun of pickup soccer with the competitiveness of regional competitions. It also nourishes a large community on campus, with over 200 people on the email list and around 100 regular attendees to practice.
The team has been gradually improving the quality of its game, and last year the team qualified for the regional tournament for the first time in the program’s history.
“Last year was the first time we qualified for the regional tournament, and that has been a huge motivator for us this year,” Naughton said.“We lost to UNC and other much larger schools last year, and having that experience to develop as a team was great. Being able to discuss that experience with the first-years and hold ourselves to a higher standard than what Dom, Zack, and I have previously experienced with this organization has been incredibly impactful.”
Davis and Naughton agreed that fan support was key to their victory.
“What has been different, and what we saw at the UNC game especially, was other students who came out to support our games,” Naughton said.
“The support gave us a huge advantage […] we are excited about having that atmosphere more this year,” Davis said.
What can we expect from the men’s club team for the rest of this season? Schraeder believes that the team has what it takes to make it back into the postseason if they can stay disciplined.
“We are going to take things one game at a time,” Schraeder said. “We don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves. We have a lot of talent, but that can only take us so far.”
“I’m very optimistic about this year. We have already proven that we can hang and beat powerhouses like UNC. If we keep playing how we did against Chapel Hill, we will go far.” Schraeder said.
Returning from a 2-1 victory against Elon University on Sept. 14, the Wildcats travel south to UNC-Charlotte the weekend of the 20th and follow it up with their next home game against Wake Forest on Sept. 21.
The captains encouraged fans and prospective players to visit the club’s instagram account, @davidsonmensclubsoccer for information on games and practices.