The model is simple: Shut down the other team and score timely goals. However, for the Northeastern men’s soccer team that plan is much easier said than done. Despite losing crucial components from their three-year run as the America East’s “team-to-beat,” the Huskies will enter their first year in the Colonial Athletic Association with a top-notch defensive unit headlined by senior goalkeeper Sergio Saccoccio. But one needn’t look any further than last year’s squad to see the flaws in this plan.
The 2004 Huskies finished with a miserable 3-10-4 record despite a solid 1.27 goals against average. The team’s only problem was their lack of scoring. In 17 games last year, NU was shutout a whopping 10 times while scoring just nine goals the entire season. Being shut out more times than putting the ball in the net isn’t going to win many games. But at the moment the men face a slightly more daunting task than trying to find a way to score goals; they need a coach.
With summer practices set to start Aug. 14, the Huskies have yet to sign a successor to Ed Matz.
While under the tutelage of Matz the past eight years the men’s program saw a marked improvement from the past and appeared in the America East championship game three straight times — 2001-03 — and took home the hardware in ’03. The Huskies also advanced to the second round in the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history.
Matz, the director of soccer here on Huntington, has also coached the women’s soccer team since 1999 and will focus solely on those duties for the 2005 campaign.
“With Title IX limitations and constraints it made more sense for me to take over the women’s program,” said Matz.
Brendan Donahue, an assistant under Matz for three years and a key part of the revamping of the men’s program, was announced as his successor in November. However, according to athletic director Dave O’Brien, Donahue decided not to take the helm due to personal reasons.
“[Donahue] served as the interim coach for us,” said O’Brien. “I thought he would be a candidate but he decided to withdraw.”
That leaves a team that not only had a very difficult time scoring goals in 2004, but is heading into a much more competitive conference — the CAA is currently the No. 4 ranked conference in men’s soccer — without a leader at an extremely crucial moment in the programs history.
“[Hiring a new head coach] is a process,” Matz said. “It takes time … I have 2-3 coaches in mind that have expressed interest, and if we get any one of them a lot of people will be excited.”
The Athletic Department is the same as any other department at Northeastern and the process of even drafting a job description and submitting it to Human Resources can be a slow and tedious task.
According to Matz the goal is to name a head coach by Aug. 1. As to when they will begin to interview potential coaches, O’Brien hopes “to be sitting down and chatting with [candidates] within a week.”
Whomever decides to lead the Huskies won’t be able to do much tinkering with the roster. So here’s the News’ breakdown of the team:
Offense
Not to sound redundant, but this is the major concern heading into the ’05 slate. The only major loss at striker is Michael Cipriano, who scored 40 points during his time at NU. The Huskies will return last year’s co-captain and leading scorer Tom Heimreid, who, despite starting 16 games last year, was hobbled by injuries for the majority of the season. Fellow senior Jeff Gannon brings 34 games worth of experience back to the field.
Transfer senior Daryl Brack and sophomore Greg Kilkenny, both natives of Ireland, will have a year of experience under their belts and should be well adjusted to playing Division I soccer in the United States. Kilkenny could pair with senior Jay Betley at forward in place of Cipriano.
Defense
The core of the defense will remain intact, despite losing sweeper Jay Hansen and three-year captain Joe Parrish to graduation. Without a coach its hard to say who will replace Hansen at sweeper, but junior fullback Matt Handy started 17 games for the Huskies in his first two seasons and could be a possibility there.
According to Matz, “Padraig Tangney will help alleviate the loss of Parrish.” However Parrish’s leadership, on and off the field, will be greatly missed.
Serdar Altinbas, from Istanbul, Turkey, displays great touch with the ball and saw action in 13 games in ’04, starting 11, and a healthy Dave Downing will be an added bonus. Brian Koslosky is a junior and projects as an outside fullback, depending on what the new coach decides.
Goalkeeper
Now entering his fourth year as the team’s starting goalie, Sergio Saccoccio has become one of the all-time greats to play soccer at NU. Through his first two seasons Saccoccio compiled a record of 22-15-4, and almost single-handedly won the 2003 America East championship for the Huskies. Allowing no goals and just one penalty kick past him during the No. 5 ranked Huskies improbable run to the ’03 final, Saccoccio reached a new level and continued to be a brick wall for opposing players last year — his .777 save percentage and 23 goals against were both career highs despite a deceiving record of 3-10-4. Entering the year Saccoccio’s 5,652 minutes played rank second all-time and his 242 career saves are third.
“This team still has probably the best goalie in New England,” Matz said. “The fact that [Saccoccio] is in net gives you a chance to win.”
The Huskies will again have an above-average defense, but if they cannot score more goals, they will find consistent success hard to come by. Seeing as this year’s team is returning virtually all of its offense from last season, the only direction they can go is up, regardless of the tough new schedule. Look for the team to surprise a lot of Colonial schools and make a run for the playoffs, and if they do make the CAA tourney, watch out. With Saccoccio in net, a title run is never out of the question.
