Adelphi University Men’s Soccer 2015 NCAA Championship Tournament First Round vs. Wilmington (Del.) Thursday, November 12, 2015 Brookville, N.Y. (LIU Post) Adelphi in the NCAA’s Federico De Oliveira, Caelan Hueber, and 2015 Adelphi University The Panthers return to the NCAA Division Alejandro Penzini all earned First Team Men’s Soccer II Tournament for the first time since 1975, honors while Toni Soler placed on the Sec- Quick Facts the year before the program became Divi- ond Team and Emily Thomsen on the Third sion I. In now the third year of returning to Team. Adelphi University Location: Garden City, N.Y. Division II, the Panthers make earn their Founded: 1896 first berth behind a 13-4-3 overall record as Head Coach Carlo Acquista Enrollment: 7,610 well as advancing to the NE-10 Champion- Carlo Acquista is in his ninth season with President: Dr. Christine M. Riordan ship Final. the Panthers, putting forth an overall record Athletic Director: Danny McCabe Conference: Northeast-10 of 87-64-15 towards 93 overall career victo- Home Field: Motamed Field Under the leadership of Mel Less, the ries. This is the first season Acquista has led Affiliation:NCAA Division II Brown and Gold finished in third place in the Brown and Gold to the NCAA Tourna- Nickname: Panthers the NCAAs throughout a three year span of ment. School Colors: Brown and Gold Athletic Dept. Phone: (516) 877-4240 1973-75, sandwiched by a National Champi- onship in 1974. 2014 was Acquista and the Panthers’ second Men’s Soccer Staff Information season at the NCAA Division II level, Head Coach: Carlo Acquista Adelphi got a first taste of the NCAA Tour- and its fortunes were eerily similar to the Record at School: 87-64-15 (Nine Seasons) Career Record: 93-122-25 (11 Seasons) nament in 1972, falling to Oneonta State previous year. After posting an 11-5-1 (9-4 Men’s Soccer Phone: (516) 877-4234 6-0 in the first round. The following year, a Assistant Coaches: Matthew Uy, Jordan Russilillo, 12-1-1 record helped earn a berth into the Adelphi Men’s Soccer Domenico Parrelli, James Diana, Gianluca Masucci field. From there, the Panthers three straight and Luis Ramos before dropping a 1-0 decision to UM-Saint NCAA Tournament Athletic Media Relations Louis. The Brown and Gold were able to Game-by-Game History Assoc. AD/Media Relations: Adam Siepiola grab third place behind 1-0 victory against Office Phone:(516) 877-4293 UMBC. Div. II NCAA Tournament History Email: [email protected] Overall Tournament Record: 11-3 Sports Information Director: Pat McWalters Office Phone:(516) 877-4236 An eight-game winning streak to end the Year Opponent Result Score Email: [email protected] 1974 season carried Adelphi to the National 1972 Oneonta State L 6-0 Graduate Assistant: Victoria Chiesa Championship with a 3-2 win against Seattle 1973 Kings Point W 4-0 Office Phone:(516) 877-3774 Email: [email protected] Pacific. The tournament started out with a 1973 Binghamton W 3-0 Office Fax:(516) 877-4237 3-0 victory against Babson before defeat- 1973 Springfield W 1-0 Website: www.AUPANTHERS.com ing Springfield 1-0 and Fed. City 3-0. The 1973 UM-Saint Louis L 1-0 Mailing Address: 1 South Ave. champions finished the year 16-1-1. 1973 UMBC# W 1-0 Garden City, N.Y. 11530 1974 Babson W 3-0 Men’s Soccer Contact: Pat McWalters 1974 Springfield W 1-0 The Panthers once again returned to the 1974 Fed. City W 3-0 Men’s Soccer History Tournament in 1975, claiming third place 1974 Seattle Pacific* W 3-2 First Year as a Varsity Sport: 1954 with a 3-1 record Championships. Upend- Division I: 1976-2012 1975 Bentley W 2-0 Division II: 2013-Present ing Bentley 2-0 and Le Moyne 6-0, Seattle 1975 Le Moyne W 6-0 All-Time Varsity Record/Years: 514-414-87/61 Pacific got revenge from the year before 1975 Seattle Pacific L 2-3 All-Time NE-10 Record/Years: 27-10-2/3 with a 3-2 victory in the semifinals. Adelphi 1975 Wisconsin Green Bay# W 9-1 NCAA Tournament Appearances/Last: 14/2006 then defeated Wisconsin-Green Bay 9-1 to NCAA Championship: 1974 (Division II) earn Third Place. #NCAA Third Place Game *NCAA Championship 2015 Team Information Overall Record: 13-4-3 Recent Accolades NE-10 Regular Season Record: 9-2-2 James Thristino led six Northeast-10 All- Postseason: NE-10 Championship Final Starters Returning/Lost: 5/6 Conference selections for the Panthers by being named the NE-10 Rookie of the Year. Thristino also landed himself on the All- Rookie Squad. NE-10) regular-season record, the Panthers defeated Le Moyne in the conference quarterfinal, as they did in 2013. Acquista and his men would again suffer defeat in the semifinal, this time to Southern Con- necticut State. Senior Diego Zuniga earned Daktronics/Division II Conference Commissioners Association Men’s Soccer All-America Honorable Mention honors in addition to being named NSCAA/Con- tinental Tire NCAA Division II All-East Region Second Team with sophomore Caelan Hueber and ECAC All-Star Second Team with fellow classman Jordan Hibbert. 2013 was new for Acquista and the Panthers, as it was the first year in Division II and the Northeast-10 Conference. The squad finished with an 11-7 record and 9-4 conference mark to earn the fourth seed in the conference championship. The Brown and Gold defeated Le Moyne 3-0 in the opening round before falling to eventual national champion Southern New Hampshire 1-0 in the semifinals. Acquista’s group also had a Adelphi Among the Northeast-10 Ranks successful year in the classroom with the honor of earning a NSCAA Team Academic Award as well as a NE-10 Team Academic Excellence Award. Goals Furthermore, Jordan Hibbert (’15) was named one of 16 finalists for the 2014 Caelan Heuber – 10 – 4th Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar Award. James Thristino – 8 – T8th Assists 2012 marked the men’s soccer team’s final season at the Division I ranks. Caelan Heuber – 5 – 9th Acquista and the Panthers had wins over UMass, Princeton and NJIT while Federico De Oliveira– 3 – 24th facing quality programs like Boston University, Bucknell, Penn State and Points North Carolina State. Caelan Heuber – 25 – T4th James Thristino – 18 – 12th Acquista comes to Adelphi from St. Francis College (NY), where he held the Goals Against position of head coach for the past five seasons. During that time,Acquista Sergio Reyes – 15 – 2nd had his strongest season in 2004, guiding the Terriers to an 8-9-1 record and Save Percentage a fifth place finish in the Northeast Conference, including wins overVermont, Sergio Reyes – .722 – 9th Stony Brook and Monmouth. TEAM Goals – 37 – 3rd Acquista’s coaching experience includes stints as an assistant coach at Hofstra Assists – 23 – 7th University and as a volunteer assistant at St. John’s in addition to a posting Goals per-game – 1.9 – T3rd as an assistant coach for the Brooklyn Knights of the Premier Development Goals Against Avg. – .81 – 2nd League. Acquista also held coaching positions with the Storm Soccer Academy and as the director of coaching for the Brooklyn Knights. Adelphi / Wilmington History This will be the first meeting between the two teams. Season Recap The Panthers started the year with a 2-2 draw against then ranked No. 11 LIU Post before splitting the next four games. The team then won six in a row prior to the Northeast-10 Championship Final loss to Southern New Hampshire. During that six-game stretch, the Panthers scored 13 goals that included a 2-0 win against Le Moyne in the quarterfinals and a 2-1 victory at Merrimack in the semifinals. With a 13-4-3 overall record, Adelphi earned the third seed in the East Region of the NCAA Tournament. This is the first NCAA berth for the Panthers in Division II since 1975. From 1976-2012, the Panthers played as a Division I program. Prior to the end of the season, six members of the program were named NE-10 All-Conference selections, led by Rookie of the Year James Thristino. df sdf sdf asdf asdf asdf Wilmingtondsaf Wildcats 14-5 Member of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Wilmington posted a 14-5 overall record and a 10-2 mark in CACC action. The squad earned the #1 seed in their conference tournament and made it to the semifinals by defeating Goldey-Beacom 4-0. At the semifinal game, they fell to #4 seeded Chesnut Hill who fell to Bloomfield in the conference finals. Neither team made the NCAA tournament. The Wildcats are lead by Clifford Nwechefom, a midfielder, who is tops on the team with 17 goals and four assists for 38 points. He is followed by Lance Berry, who also had 38 points on 13 goals and 12 assists; Josh Fawssett with 16 pts (6g, 4a), Jamie Burridge with 11 points (3g, 5a) and Steven O’Connor (5g, 1a) with 11 points. Wilmington has relied on Frank Hall between the posts all season long. The (class) keeper started in 17 games and has logged nearly 1420 minutes in net, allowing just 10 goals for a .64 goals against average to go along withhis 53 saves. There were a total of six All-Conference awards given to Wilmington players. Clifford Nwechefom, Juan Bernal, Lance Barry and Adrian Tash were named to the All-CACC First-Team while Joe Woodley and Frank Hall were named to the Second-Team.