It takes some players more than a season of soccer to score their first goal.
For redshirt freshman Sam DeNormandie, it took one shot.
DeNormandie scored his first collegiate goal on his first and only shot last Sunday when the Massachusetts men's soccer team played against Fordham. Seeing his first action in a game in his entire career, DeNormandie drove home a header off a corner kick in the 51st minute of the game to give the Minutemen (7-6-2, 5-1-1 Atlantic 10) a 2-0 lead. The goal would prove to be the deciding factor as UMass won a 2-1 game to move to second place in the conference.
"We went nuts, I couldn't believe it," DeNormandie said. "I sprinted over to the sideline and the whole team was jumping all over me, the other team had no idea what happened, they thought it was just another goal."
"It was a goal we needed. So one, to get a goal no matter who scored it was important, and that fact that he got it…the team was so excited," UMass coach Sam Koch said.
It was a complete surprise to DeNormandie who, prior to last weekend, had not been traveling with the team on road trips. He was excited to be tabbed to go on the road with the team for the first time. DeNormandie did not expect to enter the game, and was thrilled to get a chance to play for the first time when Koch put him in.
DeNormandie will never forget what happened next.
"The ball went out for a corner kick and I was at the top of the box with (midfielder) Mike DeSantis and he said, 'Sammy, your going near post!' so I said 'Alright,'" DeNormandie said. "Ben [Arikian] whipped the ball in near post, it went on my head and it was perfect."
DeNormandie came into the UMass program listed as a defenseman, but he was subbed in as a forward because Koch felt that DeNormandie had a hard shot and would be more useful to the team on offense. His success shows the versatility that Koch wants from all of his players.
"We hope that most of our players can play anywhere, but he has a very good, hard shot, and we are very solid in the back," Koch said. "There's an old saying, don't fix something that's not broken and the back four [defenders] are doing fine. My feeling was he would give us new energy up top [on offense]."
DeNormandie did not mind the change of position and enjoyed playing in a new position.
"I'm a defender, but he put me up top to run around and terrify the defense a little bit," DeNormandie joked.
At the beginning of the season, DeNormandie and Koch had some differences and it seemed as though DeNormandie would spend another year in training, but his effort in practice earned him the chance.
"He didn't think that I'd been working as hard as I could've at the beginning of the season," DeNormandie said. "So I really worked hard to bust my [tail] in practice and he saw it and thought I deserved some time."
"He's trained hard, he's worked hard in practice and he showed us that he earned the playing time, so he got his chance and made the most of it," Koch said.
This weekend, the Minutemen host No. 10 Saint Louis and Charlotte in a pair of games critical to their season. Koch would not say whether DeNormandie would be inserted into the line-up.
"Yes he could be up there, will he come in? I can't promise anything," Koch said.
Scott Feldman can be reached at sfeldman@student.umass.edu
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