Andrew Ketchum’s father played soccer for years, and so did his grandfather. His brother played four years of it at Buffalo State College. It’s no wonder, then, that “Drew” has continued the family tradition of playing the “most popular sport on the planet;” he is a captain on the Mustang men’s soccer team and one of their leading scorers.

“I’ve been playing [soccer] since I was four or five years old,” said Ketchum, a Liberal Arts major from Rochester, NY, who got his first-ever hat trick earlier this year when he scored three goals against the Albany College of Pharmacy. A junior who is with the Mustangs now for his third straight season, Ketchum has netted a total of nine goals for Morrisville this year–second only to forward Shaman Mason–and also has four assists.

“Each year has been getting better and better,” Ketchum said. “It’s nice to get [the team] more organized and more serious.”  Ketchum and the other captains--three in all--often lead the team practices and are responsible for encouraging other players. This is exactly the kind of performance head coach Tom Daviau said he looks for in his veteran players. “We get tremendous leadership from our captains,” Daviau said.

This view is shared by other players as well. Oluwale Bamgbose is a junior from the Bronx, NY and a member of the team’s taxi squad, a group that practices with the team and sometimes gets field time during games. He said that although there are some negative attitudes that bring the team down, the players often look to their leaders to be a good example. “Drew [Ketchum] has a lot of class,” Bamgbose said.

Since the team is still on provisional status with the SUNY Athletic Conference, they will not be able to participate in any post-season play until achieving full membership, likely in 2009. Ketchum said this position is very tough for him because it means he will have to finish out his career at Morrisville without even having the chance to go to the playoffs. “I’m not a fan of the whole probation thing,” he said. “Four years is way too long to do that to a team."

Ketchum said it is particularly frustrating because he “can really see this team going somewhere,” and his past clubs have often gone on to the post-season. His high school team, the Churchville-Chili Saints, went to sectional competition twice during his run with them. He was their leading scorer in his senior year.

Although soccer has been with him nearly his entire life, Ketchum has other ambitions as well. He said he plans to eventually go into construction work when he’s done with college. And although he may not play soccer forever, he would love to coach a high school or college team some day.

With only six games left this year, Ketchum said he’d like to concentrate on the rest of the season and hopefully keep contributing to the scoreboard. He said he also plans to play for the 2008 Mustang team as well, which will be his last season with Morrisville.

The team played today at SUNY Brockport.