Montclair soccer career a ‘crazy ride’ for PDS grad Donovan Davis

Donovan Davis had only one way to describe his collegiate soccer career.

“It was,” he said, “one hundred percent a crazy ride.”

And that may be understating it.

Donovan’s career ended on a high note and he deserved it after all he went through.

From the time Davis graduated from Princeton Day School as a two-time All-Mercer County player in 2018, up through Montclair University’s penalty kick loss to Central Connecticut in the NCAA Division III tournament Nov. 18, he endured the kind of adversity that turns a boy into a man.

“I think he matured drastically in his last two years,” Montclair coach Todd Tumelty said. “He’s grown. He understands things.”

To his credit, Davis stuck with it despite circumstances that would cause others to wilt. This past fall, he was a key member off the bench in the Red Hawks’ drive to the New Jersey Athletic Conference championship and their run to the Division III Sweet 16.

That made it all worthwhile for a guy whose career zig-zagged more than the stripe on Charlie Brown’s shirt.

“It never goes according to plan,” Davis said with a laugh. “There’s always something that comes up. I’m just really happy I came back for this season. I was really debating it. But how we ended last year is why I wanted to come back this year.”

Davis graduated last spring with a degree in physical education and a minor in coaching. He had a year of soccer eligibility remaining and after a lot of soul searching, decided to use it and is now pursuing a masters in sports administration.

The fact he went from a starter to a reserve did not faze Davis, and proved invaluable to the Hawks.

“I told him to understand that early in the season we’re gonna try to let some of the young guys learn a little; they need to get more time and understand how to grow,” Tumelty said. “But when we got down the stretch he was gonna find himself in a lot more games. He was mature enough to understand that, and he bought into it, which was good.

“I think his value to the team was just being a steady ball winner in the middle of the field who was reliable. You knew what you’d get from Donovan Davis every time he stepped on the field. If we were up a goal and we felt we were in the driver’s seat we threw Donovan in there and he’d lock it up in the back for us.”

There were two major factors in Davis’ decision to return. One is that Montclair was denied an NCAA berth in 2022 despite being ranked in the top 10 of Division III. The other is that he felt his career was just getting started.

“When I was debating coming back this year, I kept saying last year felt like my first year of college soccer and it was my senior year (academically),” he said.

* * *

There were a lot of reasons for that feeling.

Things started normally enough, as Davis played in Hamilton rec and Hamilton travel. He moved to Upper Makefield travel in Pennsylvania, and eventually ended up with Match-Fit. After starting as a freshman for Hamilton West, Donovan transferred to PDS.

“That was never about going to a better soccer program,” he said. “Moreso, the academic piece made it look more intriguing to colleges.”

Davis was recruited by Division I Elon University as a center-back. But the Phoenix had four guys at that spot between 6-3 and 6-5 and coach Mark Reeves told Davis he may have trouble getting time right away. He began training at outside back with the goal of starting there.

And then “the crazy ride” started.

During preseason training in his freshman year, Davis herniated two discs in his lower back.

“I thought my hamstring kind of went, and I would have woken up the next day and just rehab and practice,” he said. “I woke up and the back was locked up and I couldn’t walk.”

Davis wanted surgery but the coaches and trainers advised against it.

“They said ‘If you get major back surgery at 18, you’ll get another at 21,’” he said. “They gave me the talk that you want to be able to run around with your kids in the backyard. At 18, that was kind of funny to comprehend.”

In lieu of surgery, Davis did physical therapy and received injections for the next five months. He took a medical redshirt and watched from the sidelines.

“It was extremely frustrating,” he said. “I was so far away from home (in North Carolina). That was my first major injury. I’ve sprained ankles, broke a wrist, but nothing that’s sidelined me for that long. You’r coming in as a freshman, coaches are still loving ya, you’re gonna come in and star. Then you get there and two weeks in you’re done for six months.”

Frustrations continued in 2019 when Davis rolled an ankle and then fell into bad graces with Reeves and did not play a game.

“I was done with it,” he said. “Two years of not playing, I had all these dreams and aspirations at the time and it was like ‘Alright, probably time to move on.’”

Even that became an issue when Covid hit in 2020. Davis entered the transfer portal and received Division I interest, but did not reciprocate.

“It’s so tough at D-I, with all these international players these days, and in January you’re waking up at 6 a.m. to lift,” Davis said. “That’s what I was getting kind of sick of because I wasn’t playing. I’m doing all this extra work, for what?”

He narrowed his choices to six Division III programs and was set to visit each when Covid shut down campuses throughout the country. Thus, Donovan opted for Montclair and his tour was a bit bizarre due to social distancing rules. He and his mom, Kelli, followed Tumelty in his car and the coach would point out various buildings through BlueTooth conversations.

Davis decided on Montclair and started all six games in a Covid-shortened 2020 season. “I finally got a taste of it,” he said. “But with me, something always happens.”

Yeah, it does.

Two games into the 2021 season, Davis suffered a groin tear and missed the remainder of the season. In 2022, Donovan finally had the kind of season he hoped for, playing in 20 of 21 games and starting 12 of them for a nationally ranked team.

Prosperity could only last so long, however, and Davis got in an auto accident one day before 2023 spring practice started. He missed the entire spring and wondered about returning for another year. But he knew the Hawks had a talented roster and wanted to be part of it, even if he wasn’t quite ready.

“I probably wasn’t in the best shape,” he said. “I missed all of the spring season and I wasn’t sure if I was coming back, so that had something to do with it. We went to Germany for a preseason trip and I played a half and felt like I played three games off my life that day.”

When Davis made it official that he would return, Tumelty had a talk with him about coming off the bench.

“He’s a competitor, he wants to play, but he also understands what’s best for the team,” the coach said. “In the beginning of the year I could see the frustration on his face like ‘I want to play, I want to play.’

“I told him ‘You’re breaking down a little bit, let’s make sure you’re totally healed. We’re gonna need you at the end more than the beginning. If you trust the process I guarantee you’ll be there in the end.’ As you get in the playoffs, tackles get harder, play gets more difficult and usually your veteran players respond well to those moments. That final game he started because we had an injury. I was happy that his career ended that way for us.”

Tumelty attributed Davis’ injury issues to his being “a hard, tough player. He tackles hard and he gets hit hard on tackles.”

Davis had no problem with coming off the bench, as he and Tumelty had gained a mutual respect for one another.

“Coach always said I’m a gamer,” Davis said. “Last year, I didn’t always give 100 percent in practice, but when it was time to play he knew what he was getting. When it was a big game that’s when I got my minutes.

“So it was definitely not like last year where I was starting and playing 90 minutes. But by the end it got to the point where I was in for the big games. Any time we got a lead, it was ‘Alright, go win headers, go win challenges in the middle of the field, be a leader, show some leadership presence out there.’”

Davis not only showed leadership, he became the steadying influence, much to his surprise.

“A bunch of the guys who played were freshmen,” he said. “It’s funny that I was the voice of reason. I was the one calming kids down, when my whole life it was the other way around. I was the hot head on the field. Now it got to the point where I was the one that had to calm everyone down.”

The Red Hawk players were crushed after losing on PKs to Central Connecticut, especially when they had two overtime goals — one by Davis — disallowed. But the tournament experience was what Donovan waited six years for, prompting him to say “I’m very, very happy. I’m grateful for coming here.”

He will now look to get into teaching and coaching with the ultimate goal of becoming an athletic director. He will always look back on his college days as a time of great personal growth.

“It was,” he said, “a helluva ride for sure.”