Massasoit (MA) Community College’s 7 Kessy Alves and Mercer County Community College men’s soccer co captain 18 Anthony Tweh battle for the ball at Mercer in West Windsor on Sunday, September 6, 2015. Trailing the play is Mercer’s 12 Guilherme Franca. (Photo by Martin Griff.)
Massasoit (MA) Community College’s 10 Andrew Revanales and Mercer County Community College men’s soccer co captain 21 Dave Udijohn battle for the ball at Mercer in West Windsor on Sunday, September 6, 2015. Photo by Martin Griff
Eight games into the season, the Mercer County Community College men’s soccer team was not only undefeated, it was running wild, outscoring opponents 44-7 en route to a No. 15 national ranking.
In the middle of it all has been a core of players from Hamilton Township, with two of them helping provide the leadership. Nottingham’s Anthony Tweh and Notre Dame’s Dave Udijohn, a township product, are Viking sophomore captains along with Aldo Jean-Baptiste.
The two took different routes to MCCC, with Udijohn coming up through the township recreation and travel leagues and playing four years of soccer with ND, while Tweh moved to America from Africa in eighth grade and only played high school soccer his senior year.
“It was funny,” Udijohn said. “When I met Anthony, he told me had played for Nottingham but I didn’t remember him at all. I couldn’t put my finger on it. Then I found out he only played his senior year. I was a year older than him, so he never played when I was at Notre Dame.”
Tweh was one of the first guys to introduce himself to Udijohn after the ND grad transferred from Rutgers, and the two have both been valuable members of the Viking juggernaut. Udijohn is the starting center-back, while Tweh comes off the bench to play all over the field.
“It was great to get Dave,” Tweh said. “We were lacking a center back before he came, so having him on the team was a lot better.”
Udijohn feels the same about Tweh.
“Anthony is kind of a utility guy, and he’s been doing great,” he said. “He’ll play outside back, outside mid, go up to the top. One of our players got a yellow, he came in for him and stayed in the rest of the game. There was no reason to take him back out.”
Tweh grew up playing soccer in Liberia. Since his step-father was from America, the Twehs moved to Hamilton when Anthony was 13, and he attended Crockett Middle School in eighth grade. The adjustment went fairly smooth.
“I spoke English, but I spoke with an accent so I had to change that and sound more American,” Tweh said. “With the [customs], I’m pretty good at adapting so it wasn’t that difficult.”
Tweh began playing travel soccer and, when he arrived at Nottingham, decided to go out for football as a freshman.
“I was just trying that to try and do another sport,” he said.
The football career lasted just one season. From there, Tweh did not play soccer for the Northstars because he wanted to focus on his academics. He continued to play travel ball but admitted he missed representing Nottingham on the field. He even made his way out to watch a few Northstar soccer games.
Prior to Tweh’s senior year, Nottingham coach Mike Braender asked him to come out for the team and he relented.
“That was a lot of fun playing with those guys,” Tweh said. “I’m glad I did it.”
It would prove to be a sign of things to come as Tweh teamed up with Aaron Stovall, Arinze Iloka, Obinna Iloka and Uzo Iloka. All five former Northstars are now Viking teammates seeing regular time.
In mid-September, Obinna Iloka was second in the NJCAA Division I national statistics in assists with nine, and tied for second in the nation in points with 27. His nine goals—all coming in a reserve role—led the Vikings. Arinze Iloka, who also came off the bench, had four goals and two assists while Uzo Iloka, a defensive starter, had two goals and an assist. Stovall had a goal and an assist coming off the bench.
“They’ve all gotten a lot better,” Tweh said of the former Northstars. “They’ve gotten a lot more mature and are all just playing well.”
Udijohn, who knew all about the Ilokas from playing against them in high school, has also seen a difference, calling the trio some of the team’s “strongest players.”
“Obinna is one of those guys, who comes in off the bench and wreaks havoc,” Udijohn said. “That’s another chalk-up to our relentless subs who come in and attack. Uzo is starting at right back, he gives us a lot going forward. Arinze comes off the bench and controls the midfield. He comes in and relaxes the entire team. He moves the ball around and you can tell when he gets on the field we become a better team. It’s incredible to watch.”
Udijohn isn’t quite at the “incredible to watch” level, but neither are most backs. He is just a good, solid defender who helps steady things in the back. It’s something he’s done since starting in the Hamilton Recreation League before moving on to play travel ball with the Hibernians.
He played on Notre Dame’s freshman team in ninth grade and, one year later, made the jump to varsity and became a three-year starter on defense. Udijohn admitted to some surprised at being on varsity as a sophomore.
“I went into tryouts that year with the expectation of making JV,” he said. “But [coach Mike] Perone was talking to me a lot, and I was getting a lot of first-team reps and made the team as outside back.”
It’s where he played all his life, never getting much publicity since he didn’t score goals.
“There was a little bit of envy as far as your name getting in the paper goes,” he said with a laugh. “But I always enjoyed defense. I was one of the quicker kids, I liked the challenge that defense brought.”
Udijohn feels that the mental part of the game is as important as the physical aspect when it comes to being able to defend.
“Having a high soccer IQ is important,” he said. “You kind of realize what needs to be done, you’re talking to guys in front of you. I kind of control everything out there because the center backs sees most of field. So it’s a combination of communication with your teammates and your soccer IQ as a whole.”
Udijohn gained a soccer maturity from his travel ball days, as he began playing up one age group when he was 14.
“When you’re playing with bigger, faster, stronger guys, you have to find a way to keep up,” Udijohn said. “That was a big thing for me. Eventually that team folded and I went back down, and it was a big difference playing with kids my own age again.”
Udijohn was recruited by Rutgers coach Dan Donigan and redshirted his freshman year, but discovered that the school was not to his liking and transferred after the spring semester.
“In reality, the school wasn’t good for me,” he said. “It had nothing to do with soccer. It was a big school, and having such big classes it wasn’t the fit. I came back to Mercer to sort out what direction I wanted to head, and what I wanted to do.”
When it came time for college, Tweh decided on Mercer just to get a feel for college and try to figure out what he wanted to do.
“It’s been great, it’s been a lot of fun,” he said. “It’s a great environment.”
Both players are hoping to continue their playing careers at four-year schools. For now, they are eyeing a national tournament berth in their final season at Mercer after winning the Region XIX title last year before losing in the District semifinals.
“Our expectations are pretty high,” Udijohn said. “We’re holding ourselves to a high standard. Last year was a great year and we got close (losing in the District semifinals), but this team is better, faster and stronger. Right now our mentality is ‘Nationals or bust.’ We’re not going to be happy if we don’t make it to nationals.”
“That’s the goal,” Tweh agreed. “We think we have enough here to do that.”
And a lot of what they have comes from Hamilton Township.
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