Coach Gojcevic and Lehman Soccer Teams Seeking CUNYAC Championship Double

By Adolfo Miliano  

The Fall semester is fast approaching, and that means it's almost time for the Lehman soccer teams to compete again. With a fresh season in sight, both the Men's and Women’s  

soccer teams will try to surpass last year’s results and hope to get their hands on the CUNY Athletic Conference Championship title. But how are the teams preparing for the Fall 2024 season, what are their goals, and how do they aim to achieve them?  

The Men’s team started the 2023 CUNYAC season strong. After a 4-0 win over City College (CCNY) in the opening game, the Lightning went on to finish first in the CUNYAC standings with a comfortable record of 6-1. This would place them directly in the semifinals of the CUNYAC Championship against Brooklyn College. Unfortunately, they were knocked out of the running when Brooklyn College's Bulldogs beat them 1-0. Toma Gojcevic, Lehman’s Head Coach for the Men’s and Women’s soccer teams, reflected on the result. “It was weird the way we lost,” he explained. “The Brooklyn goalkeeper had a great game. The way I look at it, we didn’t lose. The goalkeeper beat us. We out-shot them 18 to 4 shots. In soccer, sometimes the best team doesn’t win.” The Men’s team was also knocked out of the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) in the first round following a 3-1 defeat against St. Elizabeth University. When asked about the early exit, he claimed, “We should have won 7-3. We missed two penalties, and we hit the post three times.” He addressed the lack of leadership in the team and intends to improve it this coming season. 

The Women’s team also started the 2023 CUNYAC season strong after a captivating 5-1 win over Brooklyn College in the opening game. They went on to finish third in the CUNYAC standings with a 3-2 record, qualifying for the CUNYAC Championship semifinals. The season ended in the Semifinals for the Women’s team as well, after a 5-1 loss against John Jay College. “The Women’s team has been a work in progress,” Gojcevic said. “This year, we will get better with the new recruits coming in. I think this year is going to be a different outcome.” 

In total, the Men's Lightning have been crowned CUNYAC Champions 4 times, with Toma Gojcevic serving as head coach for the most recent three. They earned their first title in 2011, won back-to-back championships in 2016 and 2017, and most recently in 2022. When asked about the three championships he witnessed them win, Gojcevic praised his players. “You have to give it to the players. Of course, coaching is big because you make the decisions. But you have to have good players.” A former player himself, Gojcevic expressed his admiration for all of CUNY's athletes. “The CUNY Athlete is an amazing athlete,” he claimed. “Not only they are students, but they are athletes, they are working, some of them are taking care of relatives, some of them have kids. So I appreciate these students and the CUNY athletes like no other coach.”  

Winning each title made the Men’s soccer team eligible to play for that year’s NCAA Division III (DIII) Championship, but they struggled to get past the first round each time. In 2011, they lost 3-0 against Stevens Institute. Rowan University beat them 4-0 in 2016, and the following year they lost 2-0 against Lycoming University. In 2022, they fell short against Johns Hopkins University, finishing 3-0 in favor of the Blue Jays. Gojcevic spoke about the differences between the CUNYAC Championship and the NCAA DIII Championship. “CUNYAC is not the toughest conference in America,” he assured. When CUNYAC teams like Lehman College play against NCAA teams, “we play against the top teams in the country. John Hopkins was ranked 8th in the country.” What sets teams in different conferences apart, Gojcevic emphasized, is the difference in quality and resources. 

The Women’s team has yet to bring home their first CUNYAC Championship title. Each of the three times they made it to the Championship finals, they finished as runners-up. First, in 2015, they were defeated 2-1 in overtime by the College of Staten Island (CSI). Two years later, the Lightning and CSI faced each other in the finals once again, and a 2-0 win for CSI's team had them crowned champion for the 8th time in their history. The Women’s team played their most recent CUNYAC Championship final in 2021, ending in a narrow 1-0 defeat against John Jay College. 

Gojcevic's goals for the Fall season are to “win the CUNYAC Conference, win the CUNYAC Championship, and win the first round of the NCAA DIII. No CUNYAC team has won the first game in NCAA DIII in Men’s Soccer. That’s what drives me. I would like to be the first coach to do it. I want Lehman College to be the first team to ever do it.” Gojecvic mentioned how the Men’s squad was transitioning away from the team that won the CUNAYC Championship tournament in 2022 and is very confident about the team he has built for the upcoming season. “This might be the best team I ever had this year. I’m bringing 16 new players. Me and my team recruited well this year. I think technically we are going to be better. The team has changed.” 

Gojcevic is also pushing to bring the Women's team their first CUNYAC title. “With the recruits that we got this year, the goal is to get to the final,” he said. “We’ve been in the semifinal two years in a row. It’s going to be hard, but winning the first title would be awesome.”