Sudbury's Joe Mepham named CCC Rookie of the Year with Endicott College men's soccer team

It was the Saturday after Thanksgiving and a former Lincoln-Sudbury boys soccer star was speeding around the field in the L-S alumni soccer game. 

"He just loves soccer," said Lincoln-Sudbury boys soccer coach David Hosford, who coached Mepham from 2016 to 2019 before Mepham graduated in the spring of 2020. "I was at the alumni game the other day and Joe is out there playing. It's mostly washed up 30-year-olds and Joey is out there playing as well." 

That drive and love of the game is what has helped Mepham earn Commonwealth Coast Conference Rookie of the Year and All-CCC first-team honors after leading the Endicott College men's soccer team in every offensive category, points (27), goals (10), assists (7) and shots on goal (66) this fall. 

"Coming into this year we knew that we had a need for a big-time goal scorer to replace Evan Couchot, who was an All-American for us as a center-forward in 2019," Gulls coach Joe Calabrese said. "With Joe's versatility, his speed, his toughness, we thought he would be able to create some of his own opportunities for himself around the box and create some good scoring chances for himself and set up his teammates as well. 

"He's a difference maker at our level as a forward."  

On top of being named the CCC rookie of the year, Mepham was also named to the NCAA Division III All-Region II first team by United Soccer Coaches Association. 

"Honestly, I wasn't expecting it," said Mepham, a sophomore at Endicott. "To be compared to some of the best players in the region and not just the league, is a huge honor." 

"We weren't surprised by it," Calabrese said. "He is arguably the most complete player in the league regardless of class year in the Commonwealth Coast (Conference)." 

Mepham and Calabrese go way back. When he was younger, Mepham played club soccer for the Gulls coach on the Massachusetts Olympic Development team. When the time came to start looking at colleges, Endicott stood out for Mepham. 

"It was pretty easy for me, honestly," Mepham said. "When Coach Cal coached me in club it was the best year I've ever had and it was really a breakout year for me. I knew that playing under him really suited my playing style best and I knew that I can succeed under him." 

That success and familiarity is what drew Calabrese back to Sudbury to recruit Mepham. 

"I knew as a youth player that he was a pretty special talent," Calabrese said. "How dynamic of an attacking player he was from coaching him on the Olympic Development team but then we really watched his journey his senior year at Lincoln-Sudbury and his playoff run, leading Lincoln-Sudbury his senior year. That was the thing for us was one, having the connection with him as a youth player and two, just watching him handle himself as a high school player as a high school senior." 

Endicott and the Commonwealth Coast Conference did not play games during 2020,  Mepham's freshman season, due to the pandemic. Instead, the Gulls spent the year practicing and playing with each other. That year of practice really helped.

"Even though we weren't playing other colleges," Mepham said, "I was still in that college environment. So it definitely helped me get used to the speed of play and definitely helped for this year." 

Calabrese said he hopes Mepham continues to improve.

"Can he go from (10) to 18 goals as a junior, 18-20 as a senior?" Calabrese asked. "Just looking at his stats, can he become one of the top goal scorers in the entire country?

"I think he can set some of those goals and start chasing those goals but it's a matter of how willing he is to stretch himself to make himself better." 

Mepham knows that as long as he continues to improve, the individual – and hopefully team – hardware will follow.

"I'm just trying to get better," Mepham said. "Playing year-round. When I'm at Endicott or at home, I'm always playing, always in the weight room. So my goal is to just get better and the accolades will come and hopefully so will the championships."

Ethan Winter is a senior multimedia sports journalist at the Daily News. He can be reached at ewinter@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @EWints.