In the end it wasn’t the result Jay Chapman and the Michigan State Spartans were hoping for.
Damon Rensing’s side fell 3-2 to Providence in the Elite Eight of the Men’s College Cup this weekend, ending their 2014 campaign.
Chapman, a TFC Academy mainstay and arguably the Spartans’ most effective player in the tournament, opened proceedings at the DeMartin Soccer Complex in East Lansing with a bang.
The Campbellford, Ont. native’s pass in behind Providence’s fullback led to Adam Montague’s marker in the eighth minute, giving the Spartans a 1-0 lead in front of a raucous home crowd
Providence stemmed the tide however, scoring three consecutive goals to give the Friars a 3-1 lead. Chapman’s tally in the 70th minute gave MSU hope, but the equalizer never came.
“I think we played eight Top 25 games going into this game, and we were undefeated,” said Rensing following the game.
“When you have a program and a team that can take that kind of responsibility and take that pressure and still succeed, that's special. This is a special group of guys.”
Chapman enjoyed an incredible junior season under Rensing. The midfielder is a semifinalist for the 2014 Mac Hermann Trophy, an award given to the top male and female college soccer players in the United States. Past winners of the trophy include Patrick Mullins, Darlington Nagbe, Teal Bunbury and Andrew Wenger. The former Canadian U-17 star became the first Spartan to be named a semifinalist for the award.
Chapman registered five goals, five assists and 21 games for the Spartans. Those stats don’t really tell the whole story. Top Drawer Soccer ranked him as the 25th best player in the country at the midseason mark. Chapman and his central midfield cohort, Fatai Alashe, dominated the Big 10 this season. They’re one of the reasons the Spartans survived a hellacious schedule that saw them compete against eight teams in the Top 25.
“We are very excited for Jay,” said Toronto FC General Manager Tim Bezbatchenko on Tuesday. “He has shown a great deal of growth in his development as a leader on the pitch. He is a very technical player, with the ability to control games in the midfield. He fits in nicely into the direction we are heading as a club in terms of our team’s style of play.”
“We are all proud of his nomination for the Hermann Trophy this season and we’d also like to congratulate Jay and his teammates at Michigan State on advancing to the Elite Eight in the NCAA Championship.”
With a number of seniors set to graduate, including Alashe, Chapman will serve as one of the team’s leaders next season. Though they came close in 2014, redemption will be on the mind of Chapman and his teammates in 2015.
