If you have walked down the short hallway in the bowels of the Rec Center that leads out to the School of Law and Education, you have probably walked past the men’s soccer locker room.

Since August, a lone piece of paper has made its home on the door to that locker room. That piece of paper lists preseason rankings — rankings that placed the Hawks in the bottom half of the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC).

With their victory over Suffolk University on Oct. 26 from a penalty kick by junior midfielder Javi Beltran in the downpouring rain in extra time, the Hawks split the regular season CCC title with Endicott College and earned the second seed in the conference tournament.

“We knew we had a good team this year and have the ability to be able to compete for a conference championship,” said Head Coach, James Greenslit.

The team is confident and focused from what Greenslit has seen in the preparation leading up to the tournament game.

In August, The Hawks’ Herald asked Greenslit about the piece of paper that hung outside the locker room.

He said it was placed there to serve as a “constant reminder that the conference underestimates us. This has happened in the past, and we’ve proved the rankings wrong before.”

Like many sports, playoff soccer has keys that influence the success of teams. In baseball it is pitching, in basketball it is matchups. Greenslit believes the keys to success for the Hawks on the pitch boils down to their focus — specifically on the defensive end.

Playoff goals are difficult to come according to Greenslit, and over the course of a 90-minute match, one moment can be the difference between moving on and going home.

“We need to be sound defensively throughout each match and be focused on all set pieces,” he said.

The Hawks look to make their first CCC Championship game since the 2018 season and bring home their first title since 2006.

The CCC Tournament began on Oct. 28 with a play-in game between Wentworth Institute of Technology and Suffolk. The Hawks will face the Wentworth Institute of Technology in the quarterfinal round on Saturday, Oct. 30 at Bayside Field — start time 1:00 p.m.