Mount St. Vincent Soccer Teams Poised to Host Skyline Conference Tournaments

It’s extremely rare to have the two best teams in a collegiate sport to come from the same school. The University of Connecticut is a good example of this. Their men’s and women’s basketball programs have won Division-I national championships in each of the last three seasons. 

Division-III may not be as glamorous as the top collegiate competition, but it is home to something special going on in Riverdale. 

The University of Mount St. Vincent is on the precipice of doing something in men’s and women’s soccer that few other programs around the country have struggled to do:

Host their conference tournament as the top overall seed. 

After a slate of victories over the last week, both Dolphin programs are inching closer to that goal. 

On the men’s side, they continued their unbeaten season with a 3-2 victory over the Yeshiva University Maccabees on Oct. 26. Sebastian Ciurlizza broke the scoreless contest with his second strike in as many games just eight minutes into the second half. 

The Maccabees would answer back nine minutes later. 

Reigning conference rookie of the year Javier Trujillo netted the Dolphins a 2-1 advantage that was quickly answered by Yeshiva in the 80th minute. Finally, senior Luka Gelevski scored the game-winning goal in the 87th minute to give Mount St. Vincent the victory. 

The win was massive for the Dolphins in terms of seeding. At 12-0-2 and 8-0-2 in conference play, the Dolphins just need a win or a draw to host the Skyline Conference tournament as the top overall seed in the standings.

A loss would still put the Dolphins in a good spot with an automatic berth in the conference tournament semifinals in November. 

But hosting the tournament in Riverdale is something that the program is looking to push. 

It’s not just on the men’s side either. The women’s soccer program is also on the doorstep of hosting the Skyline Conference tournament if things go their way this week. 

A victory would give them the top overall seed, but it does come with a caveat. Mount St. Vincent cannot draw in their showdown against Purchase College. A draw would see them slated for third in the conference tournament behind St. Josephs of Long Island and Merchant Marine. 

These numbers were aided by the Dolphins 10-0 win over Yeshiva on Oct. 26. While they did drop a 2-1 contest to Ursinus College on Oct. 25, the program has won the last four conference games by a combined score of 36-1. 

If the program earns the top overall seed in the conference tournament, it would be the second straight year they accomplished the feat. In 2024, the Dolphins reached the conference championship game but lost. 

This season, though, the program hopes home field can carry them to an NCAA tournament appearance. And if the men’s team is able to join the women in 2025, it may put Mount St. Vincent on the map as one of the best soccer programs in the country.