Click Here For PDF Release

2019 Northeast Conference Men's Soccer Preseason Coaches Poll            1. Saint Francis U (5)            2. St. Francis Brooklyn (3)            3. Fairleigh Dickinson            4. Bryant            5. LIU (2)            6. Robert Morris            7. Mount St. Mary’s            8. Sacred Heart            9. Central Connecticut            10. Merrimack             First place votes in parentheses

   

Somerset, NJ -- In search of the program’s first-ever Northeast Conference (NEC) men’s soccer title, Saint Francis U appears to have the inside track to hoist the trophy this season according to a vote of the league’s head coaches.
 
The Red Flash were picked first in a close vote, earning five first place votes. SFU finished ahead of runner-up St. Francis Brooklyn, which received three first place tallies.
 
Fairleigh Dickinson was picked third and Bryant was chosen fourth, while defending champion LIU was voted fifth. The Sharks claimed the remaining two first place nods.
 
Robert Morris, Mount St. Mary’s and Sacred Heart were picked sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively. Central Connecticut and first-year NEC member Merrimack rounded out the 10-team field.
 
SFU has qualified for the NEC Tournament in six of the last seven years and reached the final four straight times from 2013-16. Likewise, the Red Flash have finished league play with a winning record in eight of the last nine seasons.
 
In Frank Olszewski’s first year as head coach, SFU finished the 2018 campaign in second place with a 5-1-2 record. Sparked by prodigious scorer Mario Mastrangelo - the NEC Player of the Year - the Red Flash led the conference with 1.71 goals per game, and were even better in league play with 2.0 per outing.
 
Mastrangelo has graduated, but SFU sports a pair of key returnees: All-NEC first team back Kevin Smolyn (Holland, PA/Germantown Academy) and NEC All-Rookie goalkeeper Alex Morgret (Hummelstown, PA/Hershey). Smolyn ranked third on the team with seven points while Morgret boasted a 7-3-3 record and ranked second in the conference with a 1.03 GAA. Junior midfielder/forward Gabriel Castro (Belo Horizonte, Brazil/Lausanne Collegiate School), who scored three goals last season, will add some offensive punch to the Red Flash attack.
 
St. Francis Brooklyn has won four of the last six conference championships under two-time NEC Coach of the Year Tom Giovatto and has set its sights on a return to the postseason after missing the playoffs last year for the first time since 2012. The 13th-year head coach returns two of his top three scorers from last season in senior striker Matteo Caribotti (Massa, Italy/Liceo Scientifico E. Fermi) and senior defender Marco Torriani (Appiano Gentile, Italy/Liceo Scientifico Giuseppe Terrangi). Caribotti led SFBK in both goals (six) and points (13), and ranked fourth in the NEC in goals per game (0.93) and seventh in points per game (0.93). Torriani finished third on the Terriers with three goals and seven points. The Terriers also bring back All-NEC first team defender Julien Remiti (Ajaccio, France/Corte University), who tied for first on the team with three assists. The Terriers have won an NEC-best eight tourney crowns in their storied men’s soccer history.
 
Fairleigh Dickinson and 23rd-year head coach Seth Roland have the luxury of penciling junior goalkeeper Jahmali White (Philadelphia, PA/YSC Academy) into the lineup. The anchor of the NEC’s top-ranked defensive unit a year ago, White was tabbed to the All-NEC first team in 2018 after pacing the conference with a 0.89 GAA and sparking the Knights to a second straight playoff berth. He also ranked second in save percentage (.792). Following an outstanding freshman season, second team All-NEC defender Anthony Herbert (Brooklyn, NY/Progress) will solidify the backline for the Knights. Look for junior striker Diego Arribas (Madrid, Spain/Brains International School) to shoulder even more of the offensive load after finishing with two goals and four assists last season.
 
Bryant yielded just three goals in league play last season, and parlayed its stingy defense into its first NEC Tournament appearance since 2014 and a berth in the conference final. The Bulldogs may have a star in the making in sophomore forward Ben Williams (Unionville, Ontario/Bill Crothers Secondary), who led Bryant with four goals and 10 points en route to NEC All-Rookie honors.
 
LIU lost six All-Conference performers from its 2018 NEC title team and will begin its title defense under new leadership as well. Michael Mordocco, who led the LIU Post program to its fourth straight ECC title and the NCAA DII East Regional final, takes over the reigns for the newly renamed Sharks, who have relocated men’s soccer to their Brookville campus this season.
 
Merrimack opens its first DI season on September 2 at Northeastern. The Warriors, who reached the NE10 title game last fall, will play a full NEC schedule and count in the standings, but are ineligible for the postseason as they complete a four-year reclassification.
 
The 2019 NEC Men’s Soccer Championship will be contested at the home of the highest seed on November 15 & 17 and will air live on NEC Front Row.
  
About The Northeast Conference
Now entering its 39th year, the Northeast Conference is an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic association consisting of 11 institutions of higher learning located throughout seven states. Media coverage of the NEC extends to four of the largest markets in the United States - New York (#1), Boston (#9), Pittsburgh (#24), Baltimore (#26), and Hartford/New Haven (#33).  Founded in 1981 as the basketball-only ECAC Metro Conference, the NEC has grown to sponsor 22 championship sports for men and women and now enjoys automatic access to 15 different NCAA Championships. NEC member institutions include Bryant, Central Connecticut, Fairleigh Dickinson, LIU Brooklyn, Merrimack, Mount St. Mary’s, Robert Morris, Sacred Heart, St. Francis Brooklyn, Saint Francis U and Wagner.For more information on the NEC, visit the league’s official website (www.northeastconference.org) and digital network (www.necfrontrow.com), or follow the league on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat, all @NECsports.