Bronx, NY

Harmon will have the services of his two other CUNYAC all-stars, sophomore defenseman Thomas Nelson (Brooklyn, NY) and classmate Noel Watson (Brooklyn, NY), who led CUNYAC with 14 assists, which more than doubled the runner-up passer in the league.

"Watson will make a big difference this year,” said the 2002 CUNYAC Coach of the Year. "We're going to push him to play in the front to make up for the loss of Forbes. He can do it, he can dribble and shoot the ball with accuracy. It's early to say, but based on last year's performance, we'll be in the top pack of CUNY.”

Other starters returning for the Cougars include sophomore Ancil Steeple (Brooklyn, NY) in the net, seniors Dillion Baptiste (Brooklyn, NY) and Juan Luxama (Brooklyn, NY) on defense and sophomore Omar Gordon (Brooklyn, NY) and senior Richard Howe (Brooklyn, NY) in the midfield. Junior transfer Cogan Dowden (Brooklyn, NY) will help spark the defense and senior Kenwyn Dennis (Brooklyn, NY) returns after a year off in 2002.

Coming off of a second CUNYAC regular season title in the last three years, City College (12-4-1, 7-0-1) is also expecting big changes this season, with the combined losses of three-time all-star keeper Roger Cyrus (0.86 GAA) and CUNYAC Player of the Year sweeper Gary Byrne to graduation. Head coach Ray D'Argenio has moved on, making way for Osborne Carter, the Beavers new skipper.

CCNY will have two the conference's top four scorers returning in sophomore forwards Douey Wright (Mount Vernon, NY) and Ernand Pellumbi (Bronx, NY), who averaged 1.76 and 1.25 points per game respectively. Junior all-star Santiago Helman (Buenos Aires, Argentina), a play-making midfielder also returns along with two other sophomores, Kemba Walcott (Brooklyn, NY) and Juan Gomez (New York, NY) – the remaining 14 players on the roster are all freshmen.

"The team is mostly freshmen,” said Carter, a former player at Columbia University. "At this point I'm pleasantly surprised at the quality of play. The freshmen are finding out what it takes to compete on the collegiate level.”

Last season, New York City College of Technology (7-7, 5-3) was a surprising third place finisher, under head coach Stefan Charles-Pierre, who has left the City Tech program to pursue a Doctorate degree. This season, new coach Andy Haynes, a former conference all-star and later an assistant coach at St. Francis College (NY), doesn't know what to expect out of a young squad that returns sophomore defender Noel Escoto (Queens, NY) and forward Richard Franco (Mount Vernon, NY), both all-stars from last season.

"It's going to be a learning experience for myself and the players this season,” said Haynes. "I'm not quite sure what we have at this point, but hope to get a competitive squad out there by the middle of the season. I do expect two new players in Barrington Henry and Junior Sullivan to play key roles on the team.”

The College of Staten Island (7-8-2, 5-3) also finished with a winning CUNY record last season, and will welcome new head coach Mark D'Orazio, a former assistant under Carlo Tramontozzi (who will serve as an assistant coach), who guided the Dolphins to their last CUNYAC title in 1998.

"We have a good number of returning players,” said D'Orazio. "We'll be strong in the center of the field and we will try to fill in the gaps. The guys are excited for the upcoming season.”

All three of the Dolphins forwards are returning, including junior all-star forward Marwan Amer (New York, NY), who led the team with 6 goals last season. Senior strikers Chris Abbas (Brooklyn, NY) and sophomore Peter Strachnyi (New York, NY)should also provide some scoring punch up front. In the midfield, sophomore Salvatore Tornabene (Staten Island, NY) and junior Asmir Dzemovski (Staten Island, NY) are back, but the CSI's strength is in the backfield, where Argentinan sophomore Sergio Nusfaumer will protect Valon Osmani (Staten Island, NY) in goal.

Like CSI, Hunter College (6-11, 4-4) is also searching for the team's first CUNYAC championship in the new millennium after winning three in the 1990's. The Hawks under first-year coach Ivan Matteoni made strides at the end of the 2002 season by winning five of their last seven contests.

"I think we can carry over the momentum from last year,” said Matteoni, a former four-time CUNY all-star at Hunter. "We have many freshmen coming in. This new group includes some exciting, enthusiastic and positive players.

Some of the new excitement is centered around freshman GK Richard Mesquita (Bellrose, NY), who will take time away from senior Daniel Djura (Ridgewood, NY) between the posts and frosh David Lovercheck (Palo Alto, CA). Key returnees for the Hawks are forwards Takuma Sugata (Sendai, Japan) and Tomasz Maziarz (Ridgewood, NY) and three-time all-star Baffour Acheampong (Kumasi, Ghana) in defense.

More recently, York College (6-6-1, 4-4) was on top of the league with Tournament titles in 2000 and 2001, but the Cardinals are still trying to rebuild around the experienced holdovers. They include junior midfielder Cheik Kieta (Bamako, Mali), a two-time all-star who is regarded as one of the most creative players in CUNYAC and senior forward Marc Meo, who sat out last season after recovering from injuries sustained in a serious accident shortly after the 2001 CUNYAC championship game. "I am excited to see Marc return to the team,” said third-year head coach Linval Cunningham. "His leadership and experience is vital to our young team.”

Slotting seventh last year was Baruch College (3-10, 2-6). Fourth-year head coach Victor Francis will rely on sophomore Bogdan Radu (Long Island City, NY) and Youssef Azzam (Morocco), a talented freshman, to score, while seniors Dima Kamenshchik

(Brooklyn, NY) and Evis Damianos (Nicosia, Cyprus) will lead the team in the midfield. Also look for freshmen Thomas Murdoch (Queens, NY) on defense and Ying Kin Wai (Flushing, NY) to play in net for the Bearcats, while experienced junior Douglas Hernandez (Bronx, NY) will lead the effort in the back.

Brooklyn College (4-8-1, 2-6) head coach Antonio Superbia, now in his third season, is hoping to get BC to the soccer elite similarly to when he played at the school a decade earlier. The Bridges will be without the CUNYAC Rookie of the Year, Ademilola Ogunmopkun, who did not return to the Flatbush campus. Midfield will be strong with juniors Joseph Awadjie (Brooklyn, NY), who tallied five goals last year and Billy Coulanges (Brooklyn, NY) who came by way of Liberia and Haiti respectively.

"I hope we can qualify for the CUNY Playoffs this year and finish above the .500 mark,” said Superbia. "Those are our team goals this season.”

With a new coach in place and two first-team all-stars coming back, John Jay College (6-15, 1-7) hopes to get out of the cellar this season. John Ramirez, a former assistant soccer coach at LIU and Molloy College, will get his first head coaching assignment after twenty five years as an assistant at the collegiate and club level. Jason Bowrey (Dix Hills, NY), CUNYAC's second leading scorer with 14 goals and Greg Valverde (Bronx, NY) are back. Two talented freshmen are GK Joe Wzorek (Bayonne, NJ) and John Torres (Brooklyn, NY).