It was an eventful week for St. Joe’s men’s soccer as senior midfielder Matteo Mazzotta, redshirt junior goalkeeper Cooper Jennings and fifth-year defender Kobe Perlaza swept weekly Atlantic-10 and Philadelphia Soccer Six awards. Mazzotta earned A-10 and PS6 Offensive Player of the Week, Perlaza was named A-10 and PS6 Defensive Player of the Week and Jennings took PS6 Goalkeeper of the Week.

“For all three of us to get awards in the same week was really good for the program as a whole and shows that we’re starting to really put performance together,” Jennings said.

The honors come during a turnaround for the team that has already surpassed their wins from the previous season. The team is also on track to finish the season above .500 for the first time since 2018. This comes after the hiring of head coach Tim Mulqueen ’88 in December.

“The team’s going in a positive direction under Mulqueen,” Perlaza said. “Having a new coach and a new culture is helping the program out.”

Taking over the role of head coach, Mulqueen said he wanted to put together a structure that highlighted the talents of the players.

“It’s a talented group of guys, and I wanted to be aggressive in our defending,” Mulqueen said. “I think we’ve done that. All credit to the players. They bought into the system and the structure and, to their credit, they’ve been really good at it. I’m just trying to put people in the right places to be successful. It’s so far so good.”

Jennings said the team’s goals have been very clear, and the work the team has been putting in during the offseason is showing on the field.

“We’re starting to believe a lot more in ourselves and where we can go and finish the season,” Jennings said. “With that and the mentality of the team being together right now, we have a very good chance to do what we want to do.”

Mazzotta said Mulqueen made his expectations for the team clear from day one and that the team understands it needs to work as a group in order to succeed.

“We’re trying to do the best record we’ve had at SJU,” Mazzotta said. “Every day, [Mulqueen] keeps reminding us and telling us, ‘How can we go in this direction to be the best version of ourselves?’”

The team aims to keep up the momentum that has led to its successful season. With seven regular season games left, and four of them being against A-10 opponents, the next month will determine the outcome of this year.

“We know that the job’s not done,” Perlaza said. “We’re not satisfied just being over .500 halfway through the season, and that’s something that coach reiterates to us. Nothing is really changing our mindset. It’s still going in every game and winning and just trying to compete.”

Mulqueen said the three players have put a “tremendous” amount of effort into their performance on the field, and the acknowledgements are well-earned.

“They’ve been such a key part of us winning back-to-back campaigns and getting off to a pretty good start,” Mulqueen said. “[I’m] proud of all three of them.”