University of New Haven Men's Soccer

After leading the Mount Saint Vincent Dolphins to its first ever conference championship, Tom Mattera was named the 16th head coach in the 61-year history of New Haven men’s soccer in February of 2023. In his second season at the helm, Mattera led the University of New Haven men’s soccer team to a historic 2024 campaign, marking one of the most successful seasons in program history. The Chargers finished with a 12–4–4 overall record and a 5–2–2 mark in Northeast-10 Conference play, earning an at-large bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament — their first appearance in the national tournament in 40 years. Under Mattera’s leadership, the Chargers battled Concord University to a 2–2 draw in the NCAA First Round, ultimately falling in a tightly contested penalty shootout (4–2). The postseason berth capped a season filled with both team success and individual recognition. Nine Chargers earned All-Conference honors, including three First Team selections: Pau Santanach, Sandro Branquinho, and Anthony Denis. The team also placed five players on the NE10 Third Team and had two All-Rookie Team honorees, Luke Fiscella and David Huang. In his first year with the Chargers, Mattera led the Blue and Gold to a 6-7-2 overall record, improving the win by five victories over the previous season. Individually, Mattera led freshman Saar Almoznino to Northeast-10 All-Rookie accolades, the third straight year a Chargers has been honored among the first-year players. In addition to his coaching responsibilities at Mount Saint Vincent, Mattera also served as the Assistant Director of Athletics for Gameday Operations for the Dolphins. In his two seasons on the shores of the Hudson River, Mattera saw unprecedented success, leading Mount Saint Vincent to its first ever Skyline Conference Championship in 2021, returning to the field for the first time following the CoVID-19 shutdown. In addition to its conference Championship, the Dolphins concluded his first season at the helm with the most wins in program history (14), earned the program’s first berth in the NCAA Division III Tournament and secured the first ever win over a top-10 program, defeating No. 7 New York University, all leading to his being named the Skyline Conference Coach of the Year. Last season, Mattera led the Dolphins to a second-straight winning season, with a 7-6 3 overall record, advancing to the conference championship for the second consecutive year. Overall, in his two seasons at Mount Saint Vincent, the Dolphins racked up a record of 21-8-5, while he led eight players to All-Skyline Conference accolades and coached the Skyline Rookie of the Year in both of his seasons leading the program. Prior to being named the head coach at Mount Saint Vincent, Matter was the assistant coach at Columbia University from 2019-21, while the four seasons prior he was an assistant at the University of Bridgeport. Mattera made his collegiate coaching debut as an assistant at New Haven from 2010-12 before heading across town to Southern Connecticut from 2012-15 where he helped lead the owls to the NCAA Division II semifinals in 2014, ranked as high as No. 5 in the nation in Division II. Mattera played collegiately at Southern Connecticut State from 2005-07, helping lead the Owls to the 2007 Northeast-10 Conference Championship and an east regional championship in 2006, advancing to the national quarterfinals that same season.