Aug. 29, 2008

Garden City, N.Y. - The Adelphi University men's soccer team open up their season this weekend in Durham, New Hampshire as part of the UNH Nike Fall Classic. The Panthers face host New Hampshire on August 29 at 4:30 pm and then close out the event against Maine at 12:30 pm on August 31.

The Panthers are entering the second season under the direction of Carlo Acquista. Acquista took the reins just days before the start of preseason in 2007 and has now had a year in Garden City under his belt and ample time to get to know his personnel.

"In general I feel more settled in a sense of preparation," Acquista said." I have a more thorough understanding of the school, players, the environment and the coaching staff is very confident heading into the 2008 season."

After earning a bid to the NCAA Division I tournament in 2006, the Panthers stumbled early in 2007. However, Adelphi came together late in the season, posting a record of 4-3-1 in their last eight games and the team comes into the 2008 season with a sense of momentum.

"I feel we are going to do a lot of positive things this year," Acquista stated. "We will set our goals and work extremely hard to meet them with the players that we have here."

However, Acquista is not counting on just momentum to return Adelphi to the top of the region and the Atlantic Soccer Conference (ASC). He has brought 15 new faces on board, adding depth, experience and talent to an already strong roster.

"Recruiting was more or less upgrading positions of need from the backline moving forward," Acquista explained. "We are very excited about the new faces we have coming in and about the players we have returning. Every player on the team understands their role and it will make it that much easier to succeed this fall."

The Panthers return four key players from a year ago in senior forward Patrick Figueiredo, senior defender Mark Hoffman, junior midfielder Val Charalambous and sophomore forward John Koutsounadis. Figueiredo was the ASC Player of the Year in 2007, while Koutsounadis captured Rookie of the Year honors and Hoffman was a first-team all-conference selection.

"Our goal is always to win every game that we play, but you have to start with small goals," Acquista said. "We want to win our first two tournaments, concede fewer goals then last year, score more goals, go undefeated on our home field and win the ASC title. Then there are the personal goals that we will try and help each player achieve."

Just a year removed from an ASC regular season and tournament title the Panthers are expecting a quick turnaround and Acquista thinks that the improvement starts in the back. In 2007, Adelphi got contributions from both Vincent Treglia and Shane Flanagan, but are looking to sophomore transfer from the University of Maryland, Thorne Holder to sure up the goal line.

"We are extremely excited to have a goalkeeper with international and Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) experience," Acquista stated. "Thorne will bring immediate stability and creditability to his back line and we are expecting him to help push this program to the next level."

Joining Thorne in the net will be Treglia, who saw action in 13 games, posting a record of 4-5-1 in 2007. Senior Matt Metzger and freshmen Kyle Blackmer are also in the mix on the back line.

The Panthers continue the youth movement on defense, bringing in three new faces who should see significant time along with returnees Hoffman and junior Ryan Vulin. "Junior Kevin Gluchowski and freshmen Mauricio Mora and Dan Larenius will fight for a starting spot right away and we are expecting immediate contributions to come from that group," Acquista said. "Hoffman will add experience and leadership as a captain and Vulin's versatility is a plus."

Senior Mark Hoffman will anchor the back for Adelphi.

Sophomore Kris Nosworthy will add even more depth to a seemingly bottomless defense corps and can also move up and play in the midfield. Senior newcomer Kristian Cassimire will also compete for playing time on the defensive side of the ball.

The midfield will be a nice mix of fresh talent and returning experience, according to Acquista. "We bring back a solid core of three in Charalambous, Stephen Fregosi and Kemalie Preston," Acquista commented. "We add the likes of Alexander Kouznetsov, Chris Clarke, Brendan Cullen, Robeson Hilton and David Lee, making us remarkably strong in the middle of the field."

Charalambous, Fregosi and Preston appeared in a combined 46 games, scoring three goals and adding four assists. "We are expecting big things from the returnees due to the experience and knowledge they gained in 2007," Acquista said. "That coupled with the speed and strength of the rookies will allow us to play tacticly through the middle of the field.

Upfront Adelphi is paced by Figueiredo, who led the team in goals last season, scoring an astounding 13 of the Panthers 22 tallies. He will be paired with Koutsounadis, who netted two goals and picked up two assists in his freshman campaign. "Patrick is lethal anytime he touches the ball and John was a key contributor for in 2007," Acquista said. "Having a player like John up front gave Patrick some room to work last year, which benefited us down the stretch."

The addition of Jon dos Reis, Hilton and Clarke should further open things up at the point of the Panther attack. "The athleticism, speed and technique that Jon, Robeson and Chris bring to the field will be an instant help to us in many ways," Acquista stated.

The Panthers will open the season in Durham, New Hampshire in the University of New Hampshire Fall Classic. Adelphi will kick-off the tournament and the 2008 season against the host Wildcats on August 29 and follow up with an August 31 meeting against Maine.

Val Charalambous is a key for the Panthers in the middle of the field.

Adelphi will participate in their second tournament of the season when they travel to Baltimore, Maryland to play the University of Maryland - Baltimore County and the United States Naval Academy on September 5 and 7 in the Adidas Kick-Off Classic.

"We have put together a regionally and nationally competitive schedule this season," Acquista explained. "We wanted to make it competitive for our players, which will help prepare us to get through a tough conference schedule and hopefully into the conference title game."

The Panthers begin Atlantic Soccer Conference (ASC) play on October 18 when they host NJIT and close out the regular season on November 8 at home against ASC opponent Howard. As in year's past Adelphi will continue to play local rivals Manhattan (September 30), Princeton (October 8) and Columbia (October 14), along with nationally prominent opponents Syracuse (October 21) and Georgetown (October 29).

"There are some great traditional, local rivalries on our schedule this year and we are also trying to build new ones," Acquista commented. "Adding local teams such as Sacred Heart and St. Peter's is a huge positive to Adelphi and will keep our history rich program moving in a the right direction."

September 12 is the day that men's soccer has been working toward for the better part of year. The Panthers will host last year's seventh ranked team in the North Atlantic region Sacred Heart at 8:00 pm in the team's home opener on that day. Adelphi will follow that up two days later with a home game against the Pac-10's Oregon State on their brand new field.

"It will be a great feeling on September 12th opening the new stadium with the program's first ever night game," Acquista said. "The players will be excited for the game, the stadium, being on campus after a year away, they won't need any extra motivation. Also Sacred Heart is a tough team, well coached, well organized, this will be a fun game for us. Oregon State plays in one of the toughest conferences in the country and this game will be a great test for us."

A new field, new lights, new stadium, new season, many things are moving in a positive direction for the Panthers who are hoping that 2008 bring one other new - the start of a new era.