Garden City, N.Y. - Thursday, September 5 will mark the first time the men's soccer program will be competing on the Division II level since 1975. After concluding their Division I stretch last season as an independent institution, the Panthers will now be playing with a Northeast-10 title and NCAA berth on the line.
 
"The transition from an independent Division I school to a Division II member of a great NE-10 conference puts our student-athletes in a better position to succeed and play for post season championships," stated Carlo Acquista, head men's soccer coach.
 
A feature of this year's Panther squad will be the 14 new faces that will don the Brown and Gold uniform; half of which are freshmen. "We have a lot of new players that comprise a great mixture of talent and experience," describes Acquista. "The team chemistry has come a long way since the first day of preseason and it's growing by leaps and bounds with every practice."
 
Acquista will look toward the leadership of seniors Nicholas Costa and Juan Aguiar, juniors Jordan Hibbert and Julian Hohns, and sophomore Alejandro Penzini. He believes that these four players bring a sense of maturity to an otherwise fairly young team and have dubbed them as players he and the team can always rely on.
 
"Leadership is very important to this team, especially with so many players putting on the Panther uniform for the first time this year," explained Acquista. "Our goals are basic: to win an NE-10 Regular Season and Tournament title. It's going to be a difficult road but I think that leadership will be a crucial asset if we are going to achieve our objectives."
 
Penzini, Costa and Chris Joseph are the lone three returning attacking midfielders. The trio accounted for a third of Adelphi's total team points from a year ago and will be joined by a slew of capable individuals that should give the Panthers a strong attacking front. Gabe Maurello, Yannick Laroche, Aguiar, Caelan Hueber, Shane McLaughlin and Diego Zuniga will join the three returners and will be tasked with scoring goals for the Panthers. "We are excited to have creativity and speed going forward. I expect contributions coming from all of these players."
 
On the defensive midfield end, the team welcomes back Michael Guerra, John Sabal, Hibbert, Matt Delph and Danny Finn. Depth will be added through transfers Momodou Sawenah, Hohns and Christian Lird while freshmen TJ Butler and Tyler Jablanski will join the crop of defensive midfielders as well. Sergio Pardo and Will Rezin will act as utility midfielders that can play on both the offensive and defensive ends of the field.

Between the pipes, the Panthers are carrying five keepers. Ahmad Salamah was Adelphi's go-to man last year and started in all 16 contests while backup Ben Nichols returns for his sophomore season. Each of the two will be pushed by freshmen Sergio Reyes, Spencer Powell and Brian Morgan.
 
"We're very excited to kick off the season and be a part of Division II and the Northeast-10," stated Acquista. "I think I speak for the team when I say that we're all eager to embark on a new journey and be in such a competitive league."