Heading into his freshman season on the men’s soccer team at Medaille College in Buffalo, New York, Dante Gesamondo wasn’t expecting to get a ton of playing time.
Through the first six games, the Mavericks were treading water at 3-3. Gesamondo saw action in only one game, notching a little more than 16 minutes of garbage time in Medaille’s 5-0 blowout win over Thiel in early September..
About three and a half weeks later, he got his first start. He didn’t disappoint, posting a 2-0 win on the road against Houghton, turning away five shots.
“I got comfortable after that first game and it was really exciting for me because I didn’t expect to get minutes,” he said. “The more and more games I saw myself on the starting lineup, it just gave me confidence that I gained (throughout the season).”
From that point, Gesamondo showed why he deserved to be the Mavericks’ starting goalie. Medaille went on a magical, 11-game unbeaten streak, which ended with a 2-1 loss to Mt. Aloysius at the Medaille Sports Complex at Buffalo Color Park in the championship final of the AMCC Tournament in early November.
Gesamondo finished the season with a record of 10-1-1, leading the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) in goals against average (0.59) and save percentage (.887), earning First Team All-Conference honors.
Gesamondo was a brick wall in net for the Pioneers in his senior season. Lynnfield finished 7-1-2 and Gesamondo was named a first team Cape Ann League all-star after allowing just four goals with six shutouts.
Gesamondo was looking at Division I offers but the COVID-19 pandemic threw a wrench in his plans. After discussions died down with a group of schools that included Northeastern and Bryant, Gesamondo decided to go to the Division III Medaille.
He said he didn’t expect to get a ton of playing time, as a freshman as a first-year college player’s main priority is to learn about the game at the next level.
“You are supposed to learn from the older guys, get comfortable with the team,” he said. “I mean, it’s the same thing as high school. Freshman year, you learn from the older guys so when you get to be an upperclassman you are ready to go. Honestly, (starting) caught me by surprise.”
Gesamondo stated that his footwork and goal kicks saw the most improvement. In high school, he never took goal kicks but in college it was a necessary skill to develop. Gesamondo mentioned that if he didn’t change his play style, he wouldn’t have been able to play at the collegiate level.
Medaille has a young roster, with only three seniors graduating this season and the starting 11 looks to remain relatively the same as it was this fall.
Next year, Gesamondo is hoping to bring home some hardware when the Mavericks join a new conference, the Empire 8.
“Our main goal next year is to win the conference title obviously,” Gesamondo said. “We played a couple of Empire 8 teams this year and performed well against them so I really feel like we are going to cause some damage next year.”
