By Gary Fitz, Nashua Telegraph
You don't have to be big to be a soccer player. Some of the sports superstars have been under 5-feet, 10-inches, and weighed in the range of 165 pounds.
The major exception is in goal. There are definite advantage to being tall and having a longer reach as a goalkeeper. That may be why Merrimack's Jon Mayo didn't get a lot of long looks from college coaches when he graduated from high school in 2006.
Sure he was an athletic and aggressive net minder, easily one of the state's best. But at only 5-8, he didn't it the prototype. So Mayo headed for New England College, a small Division III program in Henniker, where he had two outstanding seasons for the Pilgrims in the Commonwealth Coast Conference.
Mayo loved the school and his teammates. But he wanted a chance to prove he could play at a higher level, so he transferred to Southern New Hampshire University.
"We told him we'd give him a chance, but there was no guarantee he could play for us," Southern New Hampshire coach Marc Hubbard said. "We were already pretty deep in goal.
"What Jon has is an incredible drive and work ethic. He takes criticism well and strives to improve. He was an animal in the gym."
Mayo didn't play a single minute as the Penmen won their regular season Northeast 10 title last all, then advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division II Tournament.
But more work in the off-season, including a stint with the Phantoms of New Hampshire, put Mayo in position to challenge for a job this fall. He'd get his chance.
Through their first six games, he's sharing the starting job with junior Joey Kapinos of Ludlow, Mass. Together, they have allowed just one goal. The team's 0.17 goals against average is second best in the country and the Penmen are ranked fourth nationally in Div. II.
"I wouldn't say I'm a different goalie now, but I've fine tuned my skills and become more consistent," Mayo said. "I'd say I'm two times the keeper I was a couple of years ago, maybe five times the keeper I was in high school."
He's still short, but so is Kapinos. Both are listed at 5-10 on the roster, but Mayo says the numbers are a little inflated for both.
"We can both jump," Mayo said, "and our attitude in the box is, nobody beats us to the ball."
Still, a team doesn't allow just one goal in six games strictly on the merit of its goalkeepers.
"We are extremely organized in the back," Mayo said, "and everyone on the field plays defense. It's a team effort."
Mayo is listed as a senior, but because he didn't see action last fall he can return next fall for another season. Then, Mayo says, he's like to take a shot at playing professionally.
