Garden City, N.Y. - The 2011 men's soccer program will officially open up the season on August 27 with a home opener against the Greyhounds of Loyola College (Maryland) at 7:00 pm. The Panther squad is coming off of a strong 11-6-2 2010 which included successfully defending their ASC Championship title.
Head coach, Carlo Acquista, who enters into his fifth season at the forefront of the program, has high expectations of his squad.
“We expect to keep building a winning mentality every year and build on last year's success,” Acquista said. “Our goals do not change as a program.”
The 2010 season was an exciting one and featured seven games that went into overtime, five of which went into double overtime. Right off the bat, the Panther's opener at Fordham set the tone for the year as they prevailed 1-0 in double overtime. They followed it up with another double overtime win in their home opener against Syracuse just three days later. Then they dropped the following two, but rebounded with a three game win streak which included a 1-0 victory over #25 University of Pennsylvania.
Closing out the regular season, the squad earned a #2 seed in the ASC Tournament where they took down NJIT 2-0 to advance to the Championship round. There, they defended their title against the Huskies of Houston Baptist, 2-1 in overtime, earning the right to host the 2011 ASC Tournament.
The Panthers will have to cope with the loss of three key seniors in keeper Thorne Holder, forward John Koutsounadis and midfielder Alexander Kouznetsov. Holder had a 0.77 gaa to go along with 58 saves, a .806 save percentage and eight shutouts. He was also a first team All-Conference selection, was named the tournament's outstanding co-defensive player and earned a third team NSCAA All-Region nod.
“Thorne's personality and athleticism to keep us in close matches will be missed this coming year,” Acquista said. “But we are looking for big things from our senior net-minder, Kyle Blackmer and freshman Ahmad Salamah and Chris Herrera to add depth and competition.”
The presence of Koutsounadis (3G, 3A, 9Pts) and the ASC Tournament's Most Outstanding and Offensive MVP, Kouznetsov (6G, 2A, 14Pts) will be greatly missed on the offensive attack.
“John and Alex's consistency will be missed in the attacking third. They were great players, leaders, and people,” Acquista stated. “We did recruit a good amount of attacking speed to make up for their losses.”
Despite the core group of senior leaders graduating, Acquista has confidence that his players are ready to step up and fill their shoes and lead the team back to the ASC Tournament in an attempt to three-peat.
Midfield
Chris Clarke and Michael Aquino are the only Panthers to leave at midfield which leaves the void to be filled by a slew of talent including senior Brendan Cullinan, juniors Henderson Hewes, Domenico Parrelli, Steven Rivera and sophomores Nicholas Costa, Michael Guerra and Aliyu Isa. ”With the returning midfielders and new additions, I feel we will have a great mix of flare, technique and speed for this coming year,” Acquista said.
The returners will be joined by junior transfer Greg Mallia who brings with him two years of Division I experience, and hails from the University of Delaware. Additionally, incoming freshmen Jordan Hibbert (Toronto, Canada/ Silverthon Collegiate Institute), Nick Orsaris (Long Island City, N.Y./Long Island City) and Gianluca Masucci (Brooklyn, N.Y./Xavier) will join the squad and will add depth to an already deep midfield. “Speed, mobility, and athleticism are the common themes for our incoming class,” Acquista noted. “We are expecting that our training will be extremely competitive from the start.”
Forward
At forward, First Team All-Conference and Second Team NSCAA All-Region honoree, Issa Tall will be at the forefront of the Panther attack. “Issa will be surrounded with some balance in the attack,” Acquista said. “We have built this year's team around speed and technique. We are expecting another break out year from the seasoned forward”.
With a strong supporting cast featuring veterans Brandon Stoneham, James Diana, Omar Edwards and Steven Kocal, Adelphi's offense . Incoming freshman Adrian Sundquist (Gothenburg, Sweden/Katrinelunds Gymnasiet) and Andres Torres (Norwalk, Connecticut/Norwalk) will add speed and versatility to the experienced line.
“One of our weaknesses in 2010 was scoring goals,” Acquista said. “ We have recruited two forwards for the upcoming year to support and provide spark in the attacking third.”
Defense
Despite the departure of Kris Nosworthy and Johann Craan, who played important roles in the exceptional Panther defense, the squad returns a solid group of upperclassmen that allowed just 14 goals in 19 games. Leading the way will be senior Mauricio Mora, who was the ASC Tournament (co) Most Valuable Defensive Player, a First Team All-Conference honoree and a Third Team NSCAA All-Region selection. “Mauricio has developed into a top 100 senior pro prospect this coming year,” Acquista said. “He has been a tremendous leader and consistent player for the Panthers over the past four years. With his attacking flare as an outside back, he keeps his opponents on their toes.”
Fellow senior Dan Larenius, a first team All-ASC selection as well as, will join Mora and will be heavily relied upon to stop the opposition attack. “Dan has blossomed into a smart and steady center back and has created a great partnership with Mauricio and his back line,” Acquista said.
Juniors Travis Tennie and Adam Weinzimer, who each are familiar with Acquista's defense, will be major contributors as their experience will help them perform to the top of their game.
New comers Philip Carllson (Stockholm, Sweden/Dubai American Academy), Matt Delph (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y./Comsewogue) and Danny Finn (St. Francis Prep) will all add depth at the defensive position as they adapt to the collegiate style of play.
“Each newcomer brings a different personality and flare to the team and will contribute in a positive manner toward a winning tradition,” Acquista said of his newest class of players.
Goal keeper
With the loss of Holder to graduation, the Panthers have a huge gap to fill at the goalkeeper position. The undertaking will likely be done by last season's reliable backup, senior Kyle Blackmer. The Marcellus, N.Y., native saw action in four games and did not let up a single goal in 155:37 minutes in net. “Kyle has developed into a consistent and steady keeper,” Acquista said. “We expect for him to solidify his position in pre-season.”
Blackmer will be backed up by two new comers; Christopher Herrera and Ahmad Salamah. Herrera, a 6'2” product of Francis Lewis High School, was a member of the NY Cosmos USSF Academy U-18 team while Salamah fairs from Niskayuna High School in upstate New York. “Both freshman keepers will provide depth, shot blocking ability, and athleticism,” Acquista stated. “They will certainly push each other to get better which will help them adapt to the collegiate system.”
Schedule
The Panthers will open with two scrimmages; the first on August 16th at Stony Brook and then home against Fairfield a week later before kicking off the season in a home opener against Loyola (MD) on the 27th. “We added two schools from each of the toughest conferences in the country (ACC & Big East),” Acquista noted. “We are excited for all of the games scheduled. Every year we try and upgrade matches to compete at the highest level.”
This year's squad will face six opponents who were ranked in the top-10 in their respective regions at the end of the 2010 poll. This includes three from the North Atlantic region with Loyola (MD), Marist and Iona, all of who ranked under #4 Adelphi.
Perhaps the biggest challenge of the year will be on October 11 when the Panthers travel to College Park, Maryland to take on the Terapins of the University of Maryland, the #3 nationally ranked school at the end of 2010.
“I felt that we needed to compete with the best to achieve greatness,” Acquista commented. “Maryland is arguably the premier college soccer program in the country. The university, team, and alumni are all excited about this match.”
The team will open up their conference schedule on October 1 with a game at Houston Baptist before playing four home stands out of the next five contests. A three game block on the road will ensue before they close out the regular season with a home game against a traditionally strong Columbia University team.
Since the Panthers won the 2010 ASC Tournament, they will play host to the conference tournament.
