SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - The American International College men’s soccer team is looking to return to the Northeast-10 championship tournament for the first time since the 2005 campaign in 2008. The Yellow Jackets rallied late in the season a year ago and missed the tournament by a single point.
2007 RECAP: AIC finished the season with an overall record of 6-9-3 a year ago, including a 5-7-1 mark for 17 points in the Northeast-10. The Yellow Jackets finished ninth in the conference standings, just one point behind Southern New Hampshire. AIC won five of its final six games of the season, a streak that included a 2-1 win at Bentley (10/6) and a 1-0 overtime victory over Bryant (10/20). The Yellow Jackets also posted a 2-2 tie against Bridgeport, which was ranked 17th in the nation when the two teams met. Chris Charles (Brooklyn, N.Y.) was named to the all-conference team after the season as a third-team selection.
KEY LOSSES: AIC lost three of its top four scorers from a year ago. Charles led the team in scoring with six goals and 14 points while Rickey Morris (Victoria, Grenada) and Leo Santos (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) each tallied two goals and three assist for seven points. Euan McCraw (West Lothian, Scotland) chipped in with two goals and five points. Goalkeeper Matt Marcoux (Blackstone, Mass.) started 11 of his 13 games played, posting a 4-6-2 record, a 1.35 goals against average and a .761 save percentage. Anthony Tranghese (East Longmeadow, Mass.) posted a record of 2-3-0 with one shutout.
FORWARD: Senior
Benard Kessie (Worcester, Mass.) was the team’s second-leading scorer in 2007 with three goals and a tem-best four assists for 10 points. Sophomore
Sean Stevenson (Holyoke, Mass.) will split time at forward and midfield after playing all 18 games last season and scoring two goals with two assists for six points. Classmate
Gustavo Duarte (Leominster, Mass.) appeared in 10 games and handed out two assists. Sophomores
Keon Bobb (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and
Casey Davidson (Southwick, Mass.) and freshmen
Drou Goff (Pembroke, N.H.) and
Anton Nevalainen (Espoo, Finland) will also compete for time on the field.
MIDFIELD: Senior Derrick Ofori (Pawtucket, R.I.) started each of his 17 games played, scoring two goals with two assists for six points, while classmate
Theo Abbey (Brooklyn, N.Y.) registered one goal and three points in his 18 games played. Junior
Andrew Rousseau (Springfield, Mass.) appeared in 13 games with four starts. He will also see time on defense this season. Senior
Lucas Wetnicka (Warren, Mass.) and sophomore
Thomas Watson (Devonshire, Bermuda) also return this season. New at midfield graduate student
Chris Carrozza (Methuen, Mass.), junior Michael Lapointe (Southwick, Mass.), sophomore
Antonio Candido (Campinas, Brazil) and freshmen Kevin Anagnostou (Enfield, Conn.),
Tim Britt (North Chelmsford, Mass.),
Thomas Denomme (North Smithfield, R.I.) and
Cory Harbinson (Boca Raton, Fla.).
DEFENSE: The Yellow Jackets return four starters on defense in seniors Ofori and
Pawel Kapinski (Ilawa, Poland) and sophomores
Alan Johnathan (Central Islip, N.Y.) and
Trevin Ming (Devonshire, Maine). Johnathan, Ming and Ofori each appeared in at least 17 games a year ago. Adding to AIC’s depth in the backfield are graduate student
Luke Consolini (West Springfield, Mass.) and freshmen
Brett Barry (Springfield, Mass.),
Barnaba Madol (Manchester, N.H.),
Keith McClure (Buxton, Maine) and
Matias Mononen (Joensuu, Finland).
GOALKEEPER: Who will play in goal is by far the team’s biggest question mark without a single player returning. Senior
Jon Thorpe (East Longmeadow, Mass.), junior
Sebastian Keczmerski (Ilawa, Poland) and freshman
William Herrera (Flushing, N.Y.) will compete for time between the pipes.
SCHEDULE: AIC will face six teams that qualified for the NCAA tournament in 2007, four of which reside in the Northeast-10 and includes defending national champions Franklin Pierce (10/29). The Yellow Jackets will face New York Institute of Technology (9/7) and Bridgeport (9/13) as part of their six-game non-conference schedule. NE-10 rivals UMass Lowell (9/17), Le Moyne (10/14) and Southern Connecticut (10/22) also participated in the national tournament.