Bates Men’s Soccer Alumni and Friends, 

I hope you and your families are doing well, and you’re enjoying the start of the summer! The 2023-24 academic year just wrapped up at Bates and we are greatly appreciating the 75+ degree weather in Maine lately. Below are some exciting program updates and details on our upcoming alumni events. It has been great to connect with so many alumni over the last few months, and I look forward to connecting with many more in the near future!

FBA Challenge Recap

The FBA Giving Challenge was a big success this year! We raised $21,672 and finished 4^th on the leaderboard among all Bates Athletics teams with 91 total donors. A MASSIVE thank you to everyone who participated. Your support is greatly appreciated, and will allow the coaching staff to enhance the experience for the Men’s Soccer student-athletes. 

May 11 | Men’s and Women’s Soccer Alumni Game

We followed up the FBA Challenge with a fun and competitive Alumni Game on Garcelon! 31 Men and Women soccer alumni returned to campus, and the current student-athletes came out to support. We followed up the alumni game with drinks and appetizers at Side By Each Brewing in Auburn. Brian Anton’s (’99) son Jack (13 yrs old) was the star of the game in net. We may have a future Bobcat in the class of 2029 between the pipes! It was also great to have former Bates Men’s Soccer head coach George Purgavie (1983-2012) in attendance. 

Graduating Seniors

We had three seniors graduate from Bates this spring and enter the real world: Seba Niehenke, Harry Corman, and Rawson Welch. We thank them for their contributions to the program, and wish them well in their next chapter! Read below for more information on their jobs next year. 

Seba Niehenke: working at MetLife Investment Management as a Portfolio Management Analyst in New Jersey

Harry Corman: working at Union Beer Distribution as a Sales Representative in New York City

Rawson Welch: working at Stifel Financial Corp. as an Investment Banking Analyst in New York City

Assistant Coach Hired

I recently hired Amo Houghton as my assistant coach. Amo played at Franklin Pierce and has coached at Aurora, UMass, St. Joe’s, and SMCC over the last 6 years. Amo is from Maine, has his C coaching license, and graduated with his MBA from Aurora in 2019. He will be a valuable asset to the program, and we are lucky that he is now a Bobcat!

Closing Thoughts

It has been a busy and exciting first few months at Bates! The team made strides this semester in terms of their mentality, commitment, and togetherness. These will be crucial traits for our short- and long-term success as a program. We sent the student-athletes home with their summer conditioning programs, where the next big challenge is to report for preseason on August 19 fit and excited to compete each day. 

The coaching staff is hitting the road this summer to recruit in Nashville, San Diego, Richmond, local camps/clinics in the Northeast, and will also be hosting the first two “Bobcat 50” ID Clinics here at Bates, all while gearing up for the fall 2024 season on a new Russell Street Field. 

Your support for the Bates Men’s Soccer program is much appreciated. I hope to meet you at one of our upcoming Alumni Events this year! 

Go Bobcats! 

Ben Brewster
Head Men’s Soccer Coach