Forty-five minutes. Three quarters of an hour, or in NCAA soccer, one half of a 90-minute game. Over the last four seasons, the Northeastern men’s soccer team has played 77 games, including the postseason. And for all but 45 minutes of those 77 games, senior keeper Sergio Saccoccio has been in net 7,290 minutes – a school record.
At the end of the day, Saccoccio’s name will comfortably stand not only in the pages of the Northeastern record books, but in the NCAA record books as well. His 7,290 minutes are good for 16th all time in NCAA Division I history.
“Wow. I didn’t even know that,” Saccoccio said. “I was just lucky enough to start as a freshman and really fortunate to be able to contribute to the program.”
In his tenure at NU, Saccoccio has truly gone above and beyond. He not only has given his team a chance to win virtually every game – with 19 career shutouts and 65 games in which he held opponents to two or fewer goals – he has at times carried the team as well.
“The most important thing he’s done from his first game to his last is give his team a chance to win,” said Ed Matz, the current women’s head coach and formerly the men’s coach. “You tend to take him for granted until you step back and think, ‘Wow.'”
Although his minutes-played record gives him a lasting legacy at NU, there is no category for timely saves, or team-carrying performances.
I wasn’t in Bethlehem, Penn., on Nov. 23, 2002, when the Huskies played and won their first ever NCAA College Cup game against Lehigh, but that’s when Matz, Saccoccio’s head coach up until this year, knew for sure he wouldn’t need to recruit a keeper for the next few years.
“I think his defining moment was at Lehigh,” Matz said. “I’ve never seen conditions like that for a soccer game and [Saccoccio] is in net for regulation, a 30-minute overtime period and a penalty kick round.”
The temperature was in the low 30s, yet Saccoccio did what he has done his whole career. He made four saves and stopped two penalty shots, advancing the Huskies to the second round of the tournament.
NU soccer alum Joe Parrish played with Saccoccio for three years but said he knew before the Lehigh game what this keeper was about.
“The first game of his freshman year,” Parrish said. “We knew he was supposed to be good, but in comes the 13th- ranked team in the nation [Fairleigh Dickinson] and he makes some incredible saves and we ended up tying them 1-1.”
Saccoccio made seven saves that day.
“He’s the best goalkeeper Northeastern has ever had,” Parrish said. “And the best I’ve ever played with.”
Not that you need any more proof, but I was at Nickerson Field on Nov. 5, 2003 – the day Saccoccio’s legend began to take shape in my eyes. The 2003 regular season was a disappointment for the defending America East champion Huskies. The Huskies, following a 12-8-2 2002 campaign, initially ranked No. 16 in the nation after their first game, but fell to the middle of the pack in the conference by season’s end at 4-4-1.
They entered the conference tournament ranked No. 5, but lucked out when their first-round match was five minutes away against No. 4 Boston University.
Saccoccio, then in his sophomore year, had a 1.21 goals-against-average which ranks fourth best in school history.
Against a Terrier lineup that rocked him for four goals in their first meeting, Saccoccio made seven saves in the shutout win and the underdog Huskies advanced to the conference semifinals. In the second half against Binghamton in the championship game, Saccoccio’s 238 shutout minutes came to an end on a deflection in front of the net. Although his team didn’t win, Saccoccio was named to the America East All-Championship team.
The team has struggled over the last two seasons, but Saccoccio has been a bright spot. His 75 saves this season give him an NU record 320 for his career.
Friday, the Huskies will have 90 minutes to try and slip into the Colonial Athletic Association playoffs. There are 90 more minutes before it could all be said and done. But if it is done, you can be sure minutes won’t measure the lasting legacy left by Sergio Saccoccio.
– Max Lederman can be reached at [email protected].
