2004 CUNYAC Men's Soccer Championship Preview

City College Looks To Defend CUNYAC Men's Soccer Championship

Bronx, NY - City College will be taking aim at their second consecutive CUNYAC title and will return a pair of First Team All CUNY performers in speedster forward Douey Wright and midfielder Juan Gomez.  Hunter, who made a great run to reach the championship game last season will return an All-Star in defender David Lovercheck.   2003 CUNY Rookie of the year Hugh Chin will return for Medgar Evers and is expected to anchor the midfield.  John Jay’s Slawomir Balon, a midfielder, finished last season in the top ten of the CUNYAC in scoring average, goals scored, and assists.  Staten Island, the defending regular-season champions, will also be a major challenger and will be the host site for the 2004 championship on Saturday, October 30.

Baruch Bearcats

Brooklyn Bridges
The Brooklyn College squad will look to improve over their 2003 performance in which they fell to top seed CSI in the CUNYAC Playoffs 2-1.  The team returns 9 players from last year's group including CUNYAC 2^nd team all-star Joseph Awadjie.  Awadjie led the team in points with 12, racking up 5 goals and 2 assists on the season.  Sophomore Michael Giordano will return as the team's top goalkeeper after an impressive rookie year.  Fellow sophomore Garfield Thomas showed a lot of promise in the midfield a year ago and will be looked upon as one of the team's leaders in 2004.  Junior midfielder Freddy Mezzich often shows flashes of brilliance, scoring 2 goals and dishing out an assist in 2003.  Upperclassman Jean Perou, Corey Williams and Shivraj Bhushan will add experience and toughness to the squad.  Transfer forward Nathan Davis should add a spark to the offense playing the centerfield.  Denis Kushnirenko, a freshman from Fort Hamilton, should add some offense as well playing the right wing.

CCNY Beavers
Osborne Carter continues at the helm of the CCNY Men’s Soccer Program.  Each season, teams take the field in September with one goal in mind, to win the CUNYAC Championship and move on to the NCAA Tournament.  The Beavers reached that goal in 2003 by achieving the CUNAYC Championship title. The 2004 edition of the Beavers returns with ample experience on both sides of the ball and are aiming for a repeat.  The 2004 squad loses 8 players capable of taking starting roles but bring on several new faces.  Newcomers include; freshmen defenders Roger Gonzalez and Jeffrey Uribe, sophomore midfielder Chris Butnaru, and freshman forward Shawn Millwood.  Key returning players include junior co-captain Juan Gomez and senior co-captain Douey Wright, both First Team all CUNYAC selections during the 2003 season.  Neil Salin, goalkeeper, and defender Kevin Beteta are amongst the returning experienced players.

City Tech Yellow Jackets
Under the direction of new head coach Rodger Ramallo-Fernandez, the New York City College of Technology’a men’s soccer squad is looking to get past the first round of the CUNYAC Tournament for the second time in three seasons. Last season, also under a first year coach, the Yellow Jackets finished 3-7-2 overall and 3-4-1 in CUNYAC, which slotted them seventh in the quarterfinals. The team put up a good fight in that one, falling to eventual champion CCNY, 2-1. But this year’s team has some interesting challenges for Ramallo-Fernandez. “There’s definitely soccer talent on this team,” he said, referring to his eight returning players. The key for us is to learn how to play together in game situations. There’s an interesting mix of veterans with experience, new freshman and newcomers who have never played in this type of structured setting. So it’s going to be an on-going process.” Although City Tech’s two 2003 all-stars, Noel Escoto and Marlon Reid are not coming back, seven upperclassmen are, including: seniors Raphael Lynch (Brooklyn, NY), Mario Minto (Queens, NY) and Jean Yves Morand (Brooklyn, NY), juniors Maxo Maitre (Queens, NY), Milton Guzman (New York, NY) and Wayne Ferguson (Jamaica, West Indies) and sophomores Ricardo Johnson (Queens, NY) and Oluseyi Akinsanya (Bronx, NY). Look to freshmen Sheriff Anifowoshe (Brooklyn, NY) from Prospect Heights HS and Doron Kennedy from St. Martin to make immediate impacts.  

Hunter Hawks
Following a struggle-filled regular season, Hunter (5-11-3, 3-3-2) enjoyed a surprising postseason run that culminated with a runner-up finish in last fall's CUNYAC Tournament. Only seven players return from that senior-laden squad, however, as graduations leave third-year head coach Ivan Matteoni counting on a youth movement to take this fall's Hawks to the next level. Hunter's only returning All-Star, sophomore captain David Lovercheck, will again lead a stiff defense that keyed last year's playoff turnaround. He will be joined by sophomore goalkeeper Ricardo Mesquita, who made a league-best 123 saves last season despite sharing the position all year. Forward Vojdan Rosoklija (team-high six goals) will spark the offense while junior defender Julio Rabi (Globe Tech) and freshman forward Chinoy Edwards (Brooklyn, NY / Erasmus Hall) lead a group of a dozen newcomers.

John Jay Bloodhounds
The John Jay College men’s soccer team is off to a successful start with a win over Centenary College in the season opener. Last year the team finished with a record of 4-4 in the CUNYAC and 5-10-1 overall. Returning this season are key players Slawomir Balon, John Torres, and Vinny Muckalli. Balon, a sophomore from Brooklyn, NY, finished last year’s season in the top ten of the CUNYAC in scoring average, goals scored, and assists. Balon, who was named a 2003 CUNYAC Second Team All-Star, will also serve as the team captain. John Torres, a junior from Brooklyn, NY, is a seasoned player and scored the game winning goal in the season opener. Vinny Muckalli, a sophomore from Korca, Albania, is a top midfielder and is expected to be a big contributor. Rounding out the team is a set of impressive newcomers. They include Ellery Mendez, Oswald Brown, and Jonathan Cedeno. Mendez, a sophomore from Pereira, Colombia, began the season by assisting on the game winning goal in the season opener. Brown, a sophomore from South Jamaica, NY, is a tremendous all-around player. He is a graduate of Newtown High School. Cedeno, a freshman from Guayaquil, Ecuador, has great technical skills and excellent ball-handling skills. Cedeno is a graduate of Long Island City High School. 

Medgar Evers Cougars
Medgar Evers will be looking to improve on last year’s record of  3-2-3 in CUNY and overall the Cougars were 7-7-4. The Cougars will have a few players returning from the 2003 squad including Clint McGregor, Maurice Pinnock, Emeka Onwuzo, and the CUNY rookie of the year Hugh Chin. Expectations are not as high as last year’s team, but the Cougars are expected to be very competitive.  With a team of young veterans previously mentioned and the newcomers, Coach Harmon believes that his team needs to gel and then they will then become a very tough opponent.  With any young team there will be mistakes, Coach Harmon just hopes his veterans can guide his team through the rough times until they come together and strive for the CUNY championship.    

Staten Island Dolphins
There is plenty of optimism with regards to the College of Staten Island this fall, as first year head coach Vito Veneruso will attempt to lead the Dolphins to a CUNY Championship. The Dolphins fell just two games shy of a CUNY title last year, as they were eliminated by Hunter College in the semifinals by a score of 2-1. The Dolphins enter the 2004 campaign, however, with seven returning players from last season’s CUNY regular season champion squad, and they add twelve new faces as well. One of the standout names returning to the team this season is third year Goalie Valon Osmani. Osmani played a vital role in leading the Dolphins a 13-3-2 record and the #1 Seed in the CUNY Conference, as he tied a conference record, recording nine shutouts last season, and allowing just 14 goals while saving 123 shots that he faced. Osmani was the backbone of the Dolphins last year and is the key to the Dolphins’ success in 2004.   Also returning to the Dolphins are defenders Francesco Oddo, Sergio Nusfaumer, and Kharsen Morant.  Rookie head coach Vito Veneruso would like to bring the Dolphins to a CUNY title, but with the teams in the CUNY Conference improving, Veneruso knows it will be a difficult task. "We want to win the CUNY tournament," said Veneruso. "But it’s going to be tough. Hunter is our big rival, but CCNY also has a good team. They didn't lose any players from last year."         

York Cardinals
Coach Linval Cunningham, now in his fourth year with the Cardinals, is accustomed to winning.  After finishing sixth overall in the conference last season, Cunningham will be seeking to jump up the standings with some assistance from returning sophomore Lenroy Brown (Jamaica) and CUNYAC Second Team All-Star Ryan Reid (Jamaica, WI).  “I think that we will be very competitive this year,” Cunningham says.  “My team is young and full of determination.”