By Jim Fenton

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The two championship celebrations occurred six months apart on the campus of Bridgewater State University.

The first one was on Nov. 5 at Peter Mazzaferro Field where the Bears' men's soccer team clinched its first Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament title since 2018, defeating Westfield State University, 5-0.

The second one took place on May 4 at the Rosen Memorial Tennis Courts where the BSU men's tennis team defeated Rhode Island College, 5-1, for the Little East Conference (LEC) tourney crown.

In the middle of both of those celebrations was Filippo Mucci, a soccer midfielder and the No. 5 singles player in tennis.

The native of Italy, who attended Martha's Vineyard Regional High for two years before enrolling at BSU, has had a memorable sophomore year, winning regular-season and tournament titles in both men's soccer and tennis.

Mucci took part in the NCAA Division 3 soccer tournament last November when the Bears lost to Tufts University, 3-0. And he will be back in the NCAAs on Friday at 2 p.m. when the BSU tennis team takes on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Middlebury, Vt.

"It is definitely a good feeling," said Mucci, a business management major. "I'm happy be be part of both of them and going to NCAAs with both of them.

"Soccer, we were ranked fourth in the preseason (MASCAC poll) and showed we were the better team. Tennis, we were ranked fifth (LEC poll) going into the season and put it all together to win the championship."

Mucci was born in Milan and his parents now live in Tuscany. He moved to the United States as a junior in high school, joining his grandparents, who own a house in Vineyard Haven. The Mucci family spent a lot of summers on the island, traveling from Italy.

After going to high school for two years on the Vineyard, playing sports for the Vineyarders, he wanted to attend a state college in Massachusetts.

"Once I visited Bridgewater State, I liked it," said Mucci. "I liked the campus. I liked it was close to Boston and the Vineyard. So far, so good."

Mucci came off the bench for the soccer team in 2022, scoring two goals in 12 games. He became a starter last fall, contributing six goals (tied for second on the team) and three assists in 19 games for the championship team.

"I hadn't seen him play, didn't know much about him," said soccer coach Brendan Adams. "He came in and did really well.

"Second semester, freshman year, he got to the gym and committed himself and it showed in the fall where he really did well. There were some games he was the best player on the field. He ended up being a marked man at times."

Another BSU soccer player, Lukas Ekmanis (Baxter, Tenn.), has been on the Bears' tennis team. Mucci played some tennis while on Martha's Vineyard and was at the BSU courts hitting balls with Ekmanis when tennis coach David Purpura spotted him last year.

Mucci wound up becoming part of the 2024 team and has gone 5-1 in singles (1-0 in the Little East), 5-0 at No. 5. He is also 4-5 in doubles, 2-0 in the conference.

In the two Little East tourney matches against UMass Boston and RIC, it was Mucci who recorded the fifth and clinching point for the Bears.

"He's a competitor," said Purpura. "He's the type of kid that the second we put a tennis racket in his hands, he was rusty, but he comes out and says, 'I want to be No. 1.' That's the mindset he has.

"He's magical on the soccer field from what Brendan and his teammates tell me. He's creative. I see that on the tennis court. He can do things without being coached when it comes to shot selection, knowing how to attack his opponents weaknesses. These are things that are sort of instinctive to Filippo from him being a multi-sport athlete.

"Sometimes he does these things that we haven't coached him to do and pulls out these shots that sometimes look magical. For him, it's an athlete having fun and competing. To him he's going to make the shot and not think about how. That's what makes him so great."

Soccer is Mucci's favorite sport after starting to kick the ball around when he was three or four years old.

Mucci would follow his older brothers around to games and learn from them in Italy.

"When I grew up in Italy, soccer was the main sport and you play year round," he said. "It's the major sport in Italy. My older brothers played soccer, so I was always around people playing soccer.

"I'd play mostly every day in the streets and the fields and parks. Soccer is a big part of me and it will be for a long time.

"I'm tactically good, so I know where I should be. It puts me in a position to score more than others. Technically, I'm pretty good. My vision, left foot, sense of position on the field are good."

Mucci played tennis at a club on Martha's Vineyard while visiting summers and had some experience with the sport in Italy.

Jumping onto the BSU roster this spring was a new experience for Mucci as he shook off the rust.

"Things came back to me slowly, muscle memory," said Mucci. "I had stopped playing when I was 14 or 15. Now I got back into it. Playing every day, you get back into it. It was fine. I fit the lineup perfectly and got better. For the first year, I cannot complain."

The improvement throughout the season has been steady with Mucci providing the Bears a solid option at No. 5 singles as well as No. 3 doubles.

"I shudder to think about what he would do if he actually played tennis in the summer," said Purpura. "Just what he was able to achieve in a little amount of time was a miracle."

Said Mucci: "I'm happy. It's been a while since I played. Once I'm on the court, I'm competitive and happy. I like playing. I have fun. I enjoy it very much.

"At the beginning of the season I can say I was probably at 30 percent of where I was when I was playing and now I'm up maybe 60-70. It's a big jump. Tennis is an every day thing. I definitely improved a good amount."

Mucci learned how to manage his time while playing two sports and pursuing the business management degree. And the steadiness that Mucci shows while playing both sports helped get him through.

"He doesn't get too high or too low," said Adams. "For tennis, it's a great thing to have. A lot of times you make mistakes and the other player is putting you in a tough spot. You've got to move on pretty quick. His mindset is pretty good for the tennis team.

"He's a calming voice. He stays the course."

Mucci is headed home to Italy for a few weeks once the season ends and will be back at BSU training during the summer.

"He's one of a kind," said Purpura. "What he brings to both programs is invaluable."