Lions Owe Fast Start to Stellar Play of Freshman Goalie

Although the men’s soccer team’s two-game winning streak can be partially credited to the team’s recently rediscovered ability to score, the scorecards don’t reveal the strength of the Lions’ performance on the opposite side of the field. At the heart of the defense is freshman Alex Aurrichio, the starting goalie that has played every minute of Columbia’s five games. And thanks to Aurrichio’s performance in goal, opponents of the Light Blue have yet to score more than one goal in a single game.

Hailing from Long Island, Aurrichio started playing soccer in the first grade, coached by his father. He went on to play travel ball in fifth grade, continuing his club soccer career until the end of high school. In his final year at Half Hollow Hills High School, his team won the Long Island Soccer Championship and made it to the New York state semifinals. Aurrichio also earned All-American honors in his senior year.

“My high school team was really a great team to be a part of,” Aurrichio said. “We were a team in the sense of the word team—we played as one and everybody rooted for each other, and in the end it paid off.”

But as a star player in soccer, baseball, and basketball, Aurrichio’s ability gave him several paths to choose from coming out of high school.

“As far as playing soccer in college, I was very unsure of where I would end up, although I knew that I wanted to play soccer. I received offers from different schools for each sport, but I loved the chance to be a part of the men’s soccer team at Columbia. This is the opportunity of a lifetime,” Aurruchio said.

As just one of many freshmen recruits on the team this year, Aurrichio is a member of a team largely composed of younger players, a team that head coach Leo Chappel hopes will soon become one of the nation’s most prominent programs. Aurrichio has similar aspirations for the team, and the recent success has only whetted this desire to win.

“I believe this team has the ability to be the number one team in the country,” Aurrichio said. “It doesn’t matter at the end of the day what each person earns on an individual basis, but what the team earns as a whole, and that should be a national title.”

One of the greatest indicators of the team’s ability to compete with historically stronger opponents was in its victory against sixth-ranked UC, Santa Barbara, in which the Light Blue’s strong defense turned away a flurry of shots in the final stages of the game.

“That game was just a great overall job by the defense taking care of our third and shutting down a very potent offense. I owe a lot to my defense as a whole this year, every guy has been playing hard. Even though they have been banged up pretty badly, they still play hard,” Aurrichio said.

This physical aspect of the game has required Aurrichio to adapt to the different style of play and has posed one of Aurrichio’s greatest challenges.

“The greatest difficulty has been adapting to the college soccer game itself. You have to learn to play through everything. Goalies just don’t get many calls in soccer—you get pulled, you get hit and kicked, but you just have to play through it,” Aurrichio said.

Aurrichio’s continued success in the sport has been fueled not only by a personal desire to succeed, but also by support from those around him. Coached by his father at a young age, Aurrichio continues to see support and encouragement from his parents, who attend as many games as possible. Much of the guidance has also come from his coaches over the years, and the Lions’ coaching staff was a key factor in the choice to come to Columbia.

“The coaching staff here at Columbia in Coach Chappel, Coach McMenemy, and Coach Testa made the difference,” Aurrichio said. “When I met these guys I understood what they were all about and what their goals were—I knew this was the place I wanted to be. You can’t put a value on great coaching, and that’s what Columbia has in these three coaches.”

To achieve the success he has so far this year, however, Aurrichio has had to face several challenges, and as with any Columbia athlete, academics play as big a part in his life as sports do. With aspirations to become a lawyer, success in school is just as important as success on the field.

“Being an athlete here is difficult but it really does pay off ... At the end of the day I just have to do a good job managing my time.” Aurrichio said.

With his first Ivy League opponent, Brown, less than two weeks away, Aurrichio is looking forward to seeing how he and his teammates will match up against one of the league’s strongest squads.