Toronto Metropolitan University’s (TMU) Bold Men’s soccer team is one of the top 10 national teams in Ontario University Athletics (OUA). The coach, players, and fans had high expectations for the team this season; however, they endured many challenges that unfortunately led to their season ending early.
According to Filip Prostan, the team’s head coach, the TMU Bold Men’s Soccer team placed fifth at the U Sports national tournament in last year’s 2022/2023 season. However, this year, after losing in penalty shots to the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks, he said they were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs and were unable to reach nationals.
“We are always in the final four or knocking on the door to go to nationals and winning a banner in the conference,” Prostan said. “So, for our high expectations, we didn’t quite achieve what we wanted to.”
Early into their season, TMU Bold was suspended for two games due to an investigation regarding alleged concerning behaviour. Afterwards, the investigation commenced, and the team was able to continue playing.
This early obstacle into their season held them back, according to Prostran. Playing extra games and playing away from home due to the two-game suspension was a major challenge for the team.
“The adversity at the beginning of the year set us back in terms of standings in the table,” Prostan said. “We had to play an extra playoff game; we had to go away and play playoffs versus having to host the playoffs as we traditionally do.”
Like many fans and players, Prostran also believed that this year’s squad had major potential.
“We probably had one of our most talented squads, but soccer is a funny game sometimes,” he said.
Sam Rankin, the right-back player for TMU Bold, had his first year with the team as a freshman. He believed the team environment was filled with competitive, hardworking, and talented players who he expected would make it to the nationals.
Rankin believed that the main problem for the team this year was capitalizing on their chances to score, as he said in an interview, “We lost in penalties, we had lots of chances in that game to win it, we just have to take our chances in those moments.”
Rankin does not believe that the two-game suspension period posed any challenges for his season, as the coach took leadership and helped the players manage the early adversity.
“Once we started playing after [the suspension,] we completely forgot about it, and our coach made a rule [that] no one mentions it again because our focus is this season,” Rankin said.
Harsh Kumar, a first-year journalism student at TMU and a contributor for The Eyeopener — TMU’s independent student newspaper — is a fan of the team and has covered articles on the team during their games.
As a spectator, Kumar’s most notable takeaway was during the team’s final match when they struggled to make due with the multiple chances to score. Kumar believed the team performed as expected until their final game in the playoffs.
Although TMU Bold did not have their best season, the coach, players, and fans are excited to return stronger and with better odds next year.