That the men's soccer team from Montreat College completed 2009 with a .500 record at 9-9-1 was, ultimately, perfectly fitting, for it seemed that Head Coach Brenton Benware's Cavaliers were two totally different teams this past season - equal parts struggle and triumph.

In discussing the campaign, Benware joked that his team played "two seasons in one autumn" - a frustrating "first season" during which the Cavaliers finished 2-6 before his team came together - and got healthier - and a "second season" with a 7-3-1 record.  

The Cavaliers struggled through their first eight games, amassing a poor goal differential of 11 goals scored versus 27 goals allowed; outside of a key 5-0 thrashing of conference foe Virginia Intermont College, Montreat averaged less than a goal per match a game to open the season while allowing more than three per game.  

The early-season failings didn't match the talent at Benware's disposal, and senior goalkeeper Howard Fisher and an able and experienced backline tightened the defense as the team turned the corner.  If September was a month to forget, October marked a turn-around for the Cavs.  Beginning with a tidy 2-0 win on October 3 against Cumberland University, Montreat began the long climb back to the .500 record that became a target.

This "second season" saw the Cavaliers go 7-3-1 with a 19-13 goal differential over the final 11 matches of the year, leading to that final 9-9-1 mark.

Expressing pride in his team's resilience, Benware said that "We had many obstacles to work-through as a team this year, and I'm extremely proud of my boys for overcoming them."

The second-half surge - that "second season" - allowed Montreat to finish 4-2-1 in the Appalachian Athletic Conference, and the Cavs entered the AAC tournament in early November as a team few opponents wanted to face.  After dispatching Reinhardt College in the opening round on November 7, Montreat travelled to Johnson City to face top-seeded Milligan College.  On an afternoon when "fan support was key" and students lined the field in Montreat blue, the Cavaliers earned their biggest scalp of the season with a 2-1 victory, as leading scorer Shaka Bangura and promising freshman forward Paul Connell both tallied.

With the Cavaliers one match away from crashing their way into the NAIA national tournament, they faced second-seeded Bryan College in the AAC finals.  Despite Bangura forcing overtime with another goal, Montreat fell short as Bryan scored the final goal for a 2-1 victory and the AAC title.  

To no one's surprise, Bangura was named First-Team All-AAC at Forward, won the league's Golden Boot Award given to the conference's top striker, and finished second overall - only one vote behind - when the conference's player of the year award was voted to a defender from Bryan College.  

Fisher completed his career on the field at Montreat with six shutouts in his senior year and a school record 34 career shutouts (in 73 games played), as well as a place on the All-AAC second team.  Fisher also won an AAC Defensive Player of the Week award, awarded during the same week in October when Montreat senior midfielder Stephen Jackson won the AAC Offensive Player of the Week honor.