By Collin Bolebruch
Plattsburgh State men’s soccer is putting forward an outstanding season, standing at 6-0-3 and receiving its first national ranking since 2016. While Chris Taylor, head coach, says the team feels “brand-new,” the key to its success was a years-long process.
Center back Brian “Cogs” Coughlan, midfielder John Hayes and goalkeeper Teddy Healy, the goalkeeper, are the team’s only four-year seniors. Between them, the vets have played 170 games, starting 164.
“As a trio, they’re tough to please,” Taylor said. “I’d rather have us try and figure out how to reach their standards than let us lower our standards.”
On the season, Cogs has played the second-most minutes with 788, Hayes has the most points with 18 and Healy has posted a 0.57 goals against average.
The three have carried a heavy responsibility over their careers as the team’s best players. Now, in their final year, they’re putting their money where their mouth is as a complete unit.
“I love those two to death,” Healy said. “They’ve been my best friends now since freshman year.”
TEDDY ‘THE UNIFIER’ HEALY
“Ted is someone who can relate to everybody in the room,” Taylor said. “Ted is maybe the one that brings the group together more.”
In his rookie season, Healy won a goalie competition and the right to start every game. Taylor said Healy was “super mature” from the start, and as the last line of defense, was the steadiest of his first-year peers.
“We needed them to learn through some tough moments of playing well and playing poorly,” Taylor said. “We needed to play them to help them try and reach their potential.”
After a shaky start, Healy won the final five games of his initial season. He said that being thrown into the fire was important to his development.
“When you’re in the games, it’s kind of like a do or die thing,” Healy said. “You get used to everything so quickly.”
In the years since, Healy has kept his demeanor. As the “cool, tested, steady goalkeeper,” as Taylor described, he can keep the rest of the field level when Coughlan or Hayes tries to take over the game.
“Ted’s just the mild-mannered guy that I can have a logical conversation with when maybe the other two are not as logical as they could be,” Taylor said.
Through their games together, the trio have developed a chemistry on the field that goes beyond words. Taylor said it’s “fun” to watch and Coughlan can be his stoic self.
“There’s some things now that I don’t even have to say to Teddy that I would say last year,” Coughlan said. “It’s really all about trust.”
BRIAN ‘THE TACTICIAN’ COUGHLAN
“Cogs is certainly quieter,” Taylor said. “But when he talks, people listen.”
Coughlan, from when he stepped onto the field, commanded respect with his play. Taylor said he was, arguably, immediately the team’s best — even if he was the quietest.
“He has a presence. When Cogs is around, you know it,” Taylor said. “His composure and ability to dictate the game from anywhere on the pitch makes him a leader.”
Coughlan and Hayes both attended Pearl River High School in Rockland County, New York, and are now playing their eighth year together. Both have a tendency to take the game into their own hands when they feel they need to.
“With him, and probably John too, they’ve been very much like, ‘I’ll just do it myself. I don’t need anyone else,’” Taylor said. “We’ve tried to develop them into making everyone around them better and not just putting the cape on and trying to be the superhero all the time.”
Taylor described Coughlan as “one of the most intelligent players” he’s ever coached. He’s able to see things on the field some of his teammates can’t.
“When him and I discuss the game, he’s talking about it on a level that I can really relate to,” Taylor said.
Last season, Coughlan suggested a move from forward to center back, where he’d be more valuable to the team while sacrificing numbers — a year removed from scoring 26 points. His monster leg and field vision allows him to succeed in front of Healy.
Headed into this season, Coughlan was the only returning backliner with significant play time. With three new starters, he’s forced into a position to use his voice.
“When I talk, people know now,” Coughlan said. “This year, I realized I had to. There’s no real other option with the age of the team.”
JOHN ‘THE AGGRESSOR’ HAYES
“He’s a winner. John is just a born winner,” Taylor said. “Winners find it hard to relate to other people and other people find it hard to relate to winners because they’re rare.”
Hayes lets his emotion be known on the field. When the team needs a score, he forces himself toward the net and takes anyone in his way down with him.
“Everyone says they’re a winner, but not everyone is a winner,” Taylor said. “John is an uncompromising, aggressive winner and sometimes that causes friction because he can’t understand why people don’t want to win as badly as he does. There’s another level to it John has and it scares people.”
Between his sophomore and junior years, Hayes realized the importance of team success. He’s always had a voice, but in practice, he began directing it to make underclassmen better.
“I’m loud. I can be probably hard to play with at times, sometimes I’ll be yelling at kids or just getting into them, wanting more out of them,” Hayes said. “But I try to do it for the benefit of the team.”
In the process of his maturation, Hayes has learned when to use his voice to invoke and when to lift up.
“There’s a time and place for that passion and extreme competitiveness to come out and for when it’s good to keep it in,” Hayes said.
Hayes has harnessed his passion into a persona that underclassmen can pull from and be inspired by. Taylor commended Hayes for the standard he’s set for the program.
“I wouldn’t trade what John is for the world,” Taylor said. “There’s been times when it’s been challenging, because John can hurt people’s confidence, but I’d take 100 Johns over and over and over because that’s a personality you cannot teach.”
BEYOND THE BIG THREE
When the trio leaves, the roster will be left to a senior class largely without much starting experience with the Cardinals. Like Coughlan, Hayes and Healy, they’re learning how to become an eliciting voice.
“In athletics, leadership is a hot topic because it’s something that’s not coming naturally anymore,” Taylor said. “We have to kind of build leadership, and we have to give leadership opportunities for people who maybe aren’t leaders yet to try and develop those qualities.”
Plattsburgh has three players that could be four-year starters — Xavier Kamba, Jack Murphy and Lucas Arbelaez. While Taylor hopes they learn from the seniors, he also wants them to be their own selves.
“We’re not looking for someone to turn around and be John or be Cogs or be Teddy,” Taylor said. “But can you take the best of each of them and try and make yourself an even better leader?”
The seniors, while trying to craft a storybook ending to their careers, are making the most of perhaps their final season of competitive soccer. Next year, Taylor can look back happy, knowing they left nothing out on the field.
He said, “The three of them are being themselves, and that’s all we’ve ever wanted.”
