By Edgar Rivas, Jr.—
The final whistle blows. The soccer season is officially over.
We look back at the Men’s and Women’s soccer teams and their respective seasons.
Patrick Snyder became the 13th coach in the 54-year history of the program. The former Felician College and Mercer Community College man led the Gothic Knights to what was a surprising season, given the results from the previous seasons. The Gothic Knights won nearly twice (11 wins this season) as many games as they did last season (6 wins in 2011). The 2012 season ended with an 11-10-1 with a berth to the ECAC Metro Tournament.
“Being in your first year you want to try to change the culture. Everything had to change and that’s what we tried to do.” said Snyder. “We brought in a new staff, tried to change just about everything with the program. It seemed to have a good effect on the team.”
They defeated Brooklyn College in penalty kicks 4-3, advancing to the semifinals. However, the same magic wasn’t captured as Richard Stockton College eliminated the Gothic Knights 5-1, ending their season.
Two of their players said good-bye to the team as they head for graduation. MF Eduardo Tejada, 23, Criminal Justice, from North Arlington excelled this year, scoring 33 PTS, netting 11 G, and dishing out 11 AST. MF/FW Nana Kofi Kusi, 25, Mathematics, from Newark contributed to the team, scoring 14 PTS, netting 6 G, and dishing out 2 AST.
Raphael Araujo, 20, Accounting, from North Plainfield was their scoring machine. He scored 14 G in 10 appearances.
“[Tejada and Kofi Kusi] did a great job being leaders [for the team],” said Snyder.
When Snyder took over the helm, he brought in a couple transfers who helped contribute this season-DF/MF Mohammed Conteh, 22, Major TBD (Minor: Fitness, Exercise, and Sports), from Trenton and GK Sheldon Parkinson, 22, Business Management (Minor: Sports Management), from New Rochelle, NY. Conteh appeared in all of the 22 games the Gothic Knights played in. As for Parkinson, he allowed 2.34 G/Gm and went 5-5-1 as he shared duties with fellow GK Kevin Fuentes, 19, Biology, from West New York, who allowed 2.57 G/Gm and went 5-4-0.
This season showed promise for the Gothic Knights, who clearly made a right turn from last season.
“Getting the opportunity to coach at NJCU and in the NJAC has been a dream of mine and it was a lot of fun,” said Snyder.
As for Robert Bielan, Jr.’s women’s team, it was a tough season. They went 6-11-2, their first losing season since 2008 (9-10-0).
After having a stellar season in 2011 (14-8-0), 2012 was a season of rebuilding. But that didn’t stop Bielan from expecting a competitive season.
“We’ve brought in new coaches and players this season,” he said. “Even though it was a rebuilding, I expected a lot and for us to be competitive.”
Promise for this season was shown when the Gothic Knights tied 2-2 with the 22nd ranked team in the country, SUNY Cortland. But the injury bug hit the roster hard.
“We tied with a team that was supposed to walk away with beating us,” said Bielan.
Despite the rough season, some players stood out. MF Brianna Taylor, 22, Mathematics and Secondary Education, from Linden co-led the team along with MF Kaitlyn Lima, 18, Education (Minor: Health Sciences), from Kearny in scoring with 21 PTS. Taylor also led the team with 9 G and just played in her final season with the team.
“She is such a huge loss to our program,” said Bielan. “Fortunately, she still has a semester of college left. So academically, we still have her at the university which is a great thing because she is a great representative of a student-athlete, which is something [the university] tries to promote.”
GK Brittany Hoffman, 19, Fire Science, from McMurray, PA kept the Gothic Knights in games throughout the season, allowing an average of 2.59 G/Gm.
“She was an amazing force [this season]. She deserves a lot more recognition in our conference,” said Bielan.
Bielan still has high hopes for the 2013 season. “We plan on being back in the NJAC playoffs next year, going to ECAC and winning it.”
