Nor'easters College Report: National champs, All-Americans, Sportscenter top plays, more

We take a look at all of our Ocean City Nor'easter alums and how they performed at their respective colleges this past season

The 2015 college soccer season has come to a close and several Ocean City Nor’easters alumni had very productive campaigns. Some players won national championships, others were named All-Americans and we even had one of them make ESPN’s Sportscenter.

Here is a summary of all of our alums and how they did this season while away at college (Listed in alphabetical order by school):

Michael Hartmann – Caldwell College

Michael Hartmann (Medford, NJ) finished his senior year at Caldwell College by starting all 18 games for the Cougars. One of his two shutouts came in a scoreless draw with Ocean City teammates Angelo Dambalas and Seiji Rose with Philadelphia University. Unfortunately, Caldwell finished with a 5-12-1 record but Hartmann’s talent didn’t go unnoticed by the 13 coaches in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) as he was voted to the All-Conference First Team for the second straight year. Hartmann finished second in the conference in saves (96), ninth in save percentage (.711) and second in minutes played (1,649). The Medford, NJ native started all four years at Caldwell and finished with a 29-34-1 career record.

John Manga & Ben Keane – University of Cincinnati

John Manga Ocean City Noreasters Reading United PDL Soccer New Jersey
John Manga (2015)

It was a year of what might have been for John Manga (Lexington, KY) in his senior season at Cincinnati. Manga entered the 2015 campaign as the American Athletic Conference Preseason Offensive Player of the Year but a series of injuries limited him to just 12 games. Manga finished with two goals and two assists and despite not playing a full season and was named to the all-conference second team.

(MORE: Watch a video feature on John Manga from the University of Cincinnati)

Ben Keane (Mount Laurel, NJ) finished up his senior year as one of the team’s most reliable defenders. Keane bounced back from an injury-plagued 2014 season by starting all 19 of the Bearcats games this year.

Ovan Oakley - Concordia College

Concordia-New York had a winning season in 2015 with an 8-7-1 record but Ovan Oakley (Kingston, Jamaica) was only able to contribute to one of those games as the Jamaican was injured.

Now back to full health, Oakley has been playing for the Lansdowne Bhoys, an amateur club in New York City. The club has reached the final round of qualifying for the 2016 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup and recently knocked off fellow New York powerhouse Pancyprian Freedoms to advance in the US Amateur Cup.

Mike Paye – Creighton University

Mike Paye Ocean City Noreasters PDL Soccer New York Greek American Atlas New Jersey Lamar Hunt US Open Cup
Mike Paye (2014)

It was an incredible season for Creighton University, which is largely recognized as the best program in the country that has not won a national championship. Only three teams (Virginia, Indiana, UCLA) have more NCAA tournament appearances since 1991 than the Bluejays (23) and only Virginia and Indiana have reached the Quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament more than Creighton’s 11. The 2015 season appeared to be their best chance to win that elusive national title.

The Bluejays started the season with an 18-game unbeaten streak until they fell to Xavier on a late goal by Matt Vasquenza on Oct. 28. After losing a double overtime match at Georgetown in the regular season finale, the Hoyas beat them again in double overtime in the Big East title game, before Creighton fell to national power Akron, also in double overtime, in the NCAA Quarterfinals.

Mike Paye (Monrovia, Liberia) was a junior college All-American before joining Creighton and played every game for the Bluejays last year. This year, he continued to be a big part of the team as he played in 21 games (starting 11) in his final college season.

Dakota Peterson – Drexel University

It was a difficult season for Drexel University this year as they finished with a 3-15-1 record. One of those wins was against Soccer Six rival Penn, but it was a debut season for Dakota Peterson (Denver, CO). After not playing during his freshman campaign, Peterson made big strides as the midfielder was one of three players on the team to start all 19 games. He assisted on two goals this year, one against Elon (Sept. 18) and the other against James Madison (Sept. 26).

Tyler Hilliard – Duke University

Just like Tony Asante, Tyler Hilliard (Atlanta, GA) graduated from Syracuse University and transferred to play one more year of college soccer elsewhere. Hilliard ended up at Duke University where the Blue Devils added another winning season to their rich history. Duke ended up with a 10-7-2 record and ended the regular season on a five-game winning streak but their streak, and season, would end in the opening round of the ACC tournament. Hilliard, a defender, started 18 of Duke’s 19 games this year and added a couple of goals (one of them a game-winner) and an assist in his collegiate finale. 

Andre Morrison, Jhamie Hyde & Javoni Simms – University of Hartford

Andre Morrison Ocean City Noreasters PDL Soccer New Jersey
Andre Morrison (2015)

It was a tough year for the Hartford Hawks in 2015, but three Ocean City alums from Jamaica managed to have solid individual seasons.

Javoni Simms (Kingston, Jamaica) closed out his senior season at Hartford as an all-conference first team selection for an impressive fourth year in a row. With 13 points (6 goals, 1 assist), Simms led the Hawks in scoring for the third time in his career, finishing eighth in the conference in that category. He finishes his college career with 26 goals, 5 assists and 58 points.

Defenders Jhamie Hyde (Portmore, Jamaica) and Andre Morrison (Clarendon, Jamaica) were mainstays in the Hawks backline this season. Hyde started all 17 games and led the team in minutes played with 1,643. He also scored his lone goal of the season, the second of his career, against Central Connecticut State on Sept. 23.

Morrison started 16 of the team’s 17 games and scored a pair of goals from his defensive position. One goal came against UMBC (Oct. 3) and another in a 2-2 draw against Syracuse on Oct. 20.

Colin Webb, Ben Maurey & Bill McConnell – Indiana University

The Indiana Hoosiers are widely known as one of the elite programs in college soccer and they kept up that standard with a 13-5-3 record and another NCAA tournament appearance. Three Ocean City alums were a big part of this year’s Hoosier team.

Leading the way was goalkeeper Colin Webb (San Diego, CA) who played every minute in between the sticks for Indiana. He led the Big Ten Conference in goals against average (0.72) and tied for the conference lead in shutouts (10). The junior netminder also picked up another clean sheet in the Big Ten tournament (vs. Wisconsin in Quarterfinals) and the NCAA tournament (vs. UConn in Round 2). On top of his performance on the field, he was also an Academic All-Big Ten honoree. 

Billy McConnell (Richboro, PA) was a big part of the defensive back line in front of Webb as he started all 21 games for Indiana this year. He also contributed to the offense, scoring a goal, along with four assists.

Ben Maurey (Downington, PA) was a graduate transfer to Bloomington after spending four years at Brown University. The senior only scored one goal in his first and only season with the Hoosiers, but he made it a big one. He scored the game-winning goal in a 1-0 win over UConn in the NCAA tournament. 

Tim Dobrowolski & Eric Schoendorf – Loyola University Chicago
 

Tim Dobrowolski Ocean City Noreasters PDL Soccer New Jersey
Tim Dobrowolski (2015)

The senior duo of Tim Dobrowolski (Rockford, IL) and Eric Schoendorf (Delafield, WI) were the foundation of a Loyola defense that broke several records this year and nearly put the Ramblers into the NCAA tournament.

With Schoendorf anchoring the backline, only one goalkeeper in the nation had a better goals against average (0.40) than Dobrowolski. The Ramblers defense had a team record 686-minute shutout streak and allowed a conference-low eight goals in 19 matches. With 11 shutouts, Dobrowolski finished as Loyola’s all-time leader in that category en route to being named the Missouri Valley Conference’s (MVC) Goalkeeper of the Year and earning a second-straight First Team all-conference selection.  

Schoendorf made history himself as he became the first player in history to be named the MVC Player of the Year as well as the Defensive Player of the Year. The Ramblers finished with a 10-4-5 record, but their late-season hot streak came to an end with a narrow loss in the conference semifinals.


Eric Klenofsky, Derek Luke, Spencer Moeller & David Acuna Camacho – Monmouth University

David Acuna Camacho Ocean City Noreasters PDL Soccer New Jersey
David Acuna Camacho (2014)

Four former Ocean City players played a role in a very special season for Monmouth University this year. They entered the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) championship game with the nation’s longest unbeaten streak at 17 games but ultimately fell in the title game to Rider University which cost them a spot in the NCAA tournament. They finished the season with a 13-4-4 record, but were disappointed to not receive an at-large bid to the big dance. 

Goalkeeper Eric Klenofsky (Lincoln Park, NJ) played every minute in goal for the Hawks for the second straight year and after leading the nation in goals against average two years in a row, what would he do for an encore? He posted a 1.00 GAA (4th in MAAC) with seven shutouts (tied for first in the MAAC) and was named the MAAC Goalkeeper of the Year. He also led the conference in saves (80) and by adding 13 wins to his resume, Klenofsky now ranks second in MAAC history with 31 career victories.

David Acuna Camacho helped make Klenofsky’s job a little easier as the Heredia, Costa Rica native converted to center back (from central midfield) for his senior year and was named the MAAC Defensive Player of the Year. When he wasn’t shutting down opposing offenses, he was creating offense for the Hawks as he was a major contributor on set pieces as he scored three goals and had six assists.

Speaking of assists, Derek Luke (Bridgewater, NJ) was one of four players to start every game for the Hawks this year and he led the squad in assists with seven. His seven assists ranked fourth in the conference in that category

Spencer Moeller (Bradenton, FL) played in just five games this year for the Hawks, but picked up one assist in limited action.

Matt Hendrickson – Montclair State University

Matt Hendrickson (Sewell, NJ) had an incredible freshman year at Montclair State University. In his first season at the college level, Hendrickson was the second-best goalscorer on the team with 11 tallies in 22 games (16 starts), including three game-winners. His 11 goals ranked seventh in the conference. The Red Hawks finished with a 19-3-1 record and lost a tight game in the NCAA tournament to defending national champion Tufts University. Hendrickson scored a goal and dished out an assist in the 3-2 loss.

Kevin Correa – University of Nebraska-Omaha

Kevin Correa (Flushing, NY) brought a strong resume to the University of Nebraska-Omaha when he transferred from the University of New Mexico. He was on the Hermann Trophy Watch List in 2014, but was limited in 2015 with just 11 games played. Correa scored two goals his final college season. 

Rickardo Oldham – NJIT

Rickardo Oldham (Kingston, Jamaica) finished up his college career at NJIT where the Highlanders finished with a 5-10-4 overall record. Oldham was third on the team in scoring with seven points (two goals, three assists) and tied for the team lead in shots. The highlight of the season was Oldham assisting on the opening goal in the team’s 3-2 win over St. Francis Brooklyn, who was ranked No. 21 at the time. Oldham transferred to NJIT from Northern Oklahoma College and spent time with Jamaica’s Under-23 national team.

Ryan Myers - Niagara University

It was a really difficult season to say the least for the Niagara University Purple Eagles as the team managed just one win (1-16-3) in 2015. Ryan Myers (Wallingford, PA) transferred to Niagara after graduating from the University of Pittsburgh where he reunited with head coach Eric Barnes, the man that originally recruited him to the Steel City. Myers is pursuing his MBA in Finance and played in 17 games for the Purple Eagles this year. He dished out a pair of assists, one against NJIT (Sept. 11) and the other in a 1-1 draw against his old team, Pittsburgh (Oct. 6)

Ryan Peterson – North Carolina State

Playing in the ultra-competitive Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), NC State finished with a respectable 8-6-3 record.  Ryan Peterson (Mount Olive, NJ), a sophomore forward, played in all 17 games for the Wolfpack, scoring two goals and dishing out one assist.

Marc Greenblatt, Khesanio Hall, Ackim Mpofu & Harry Swartz – Northeastern University

Khesanio Hall Ocean City Noreasters PDL Soccer New Jersey
Khesanio Hall (2015)

Four players from Northeastern University spent the summer of 2015 in Ocean City playing for the Nor’easters. Marc Greenblatt (Wincester, MA), Khesanio Hall (Santa Cruz, Jamaica), Ackim Mpofu (Bulawayo, Zimbabwe) and Harry Swartz (Needham, MA) brought their game back to New England and were among the leading scorers for the Huskies. Hall was the team’s second leading scorer with 11 points (three goals, five assists), while Mpofu was fourth with four points (one goal, two assists) and Swartz finished with a goal and an assist. Northeastern finished with a 3-12-2 record, but the biggest accomplishment of the year was that the men’s soccer program led the conference with a 100 percent Graduation Success Rate.

Angelo Dambalas & Seiji Rose – Philadelphia University

Angelo Dambalas (Marlton, NJ) ended his Philadelphia University career on a positive note as he was awarded a number of individual awards. Dambalas was a 2015 Division II Conference Commissioners Association (CCA) East Region Second Team selection and earned his second straight All-Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference first-team selection. He played center back for the Rams and led the team with a career-high seven goals (15 points). His defensive skills helped the Rams lead the conference in goals allowed (17) and goals against average (0.87). The Rams finished the 2015 campaign with an 8-5-5 record.

Seiji Rose also had a productive season with the Rams as the redshirt sophomore from Toulouse, France led the team with seven assists. Rose also was second on the team in shots (39) while starting 15 of the 16 games he played in.

Tony Asante – Post University

Tony Asante Ocean City Noreasters Philadelphia Union PDL Soccer Lamar Hunt US Open Cup New Jersey
Tony Asante (2013)

Despite plenty of wins and the school’s second straight Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) title, it was a disappointing finish to the 2015 season for Post University. The Eagles finished with a 13-6-1 record, the third-most wins since moving to the NCAA Division II level. Unfortunately, that resume was not enough to get into the NCAA tournament.

A big part of the Eagles’ success this year was graduate transfer Tony Asante (Bronx, NY) who transferred to Post University after graduating from Syracuse, where he missed his senior year due to injury. Asante was an All-Region and First Team All-Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) selection. He led the team with 14 goals (three game-winners) in 19 games. His 14 goals ranked fourth in the CACC.

Kryzystof Nalborski – Radford University

Radford University enjoyed one of the best seasons in program history this year, finishing with a 14-3-2 record and earning their first-ever at-large bid into the NCAA tournament. The 14 wins was one shy of a program record and Kryzystof Nalborski (Leszno, Poland) was a part of the historic campaign. Nalborski started 11 of the 16 matches he appeared in and scored a goal (a game-winner against Gardner-Webb) and had a pair of assists in his second year with the Highlanders.

Ryan Bailey – University of Rhode Island

The Rhode Island Rams fell just one game short of capping off a winning 2015 campaign with a trip to the NCAA tournament, but a 1-0 loss to Fordham in the Atlantic-10 title game ended their season. After transferring from Brookdale Community College where he was an All-American as a freshman, Ryan Bailey (Freehold, NJ) was a big part of the Rams’ 10-8-2 record. Bailey scored four goals and had two assists in 18 games. Three of those four goals were game-winning tallies, which was the highest total on the team in 2015.

Jeff Tanski & Anthony Colofranson – Richard Stockton University

Richard Stockton University had an eight-game unbeaten streak heading into the final game of the regular season, but the Ospreys’ season was quickly over after back-to-back losses to Rutgers-Camden (the second loss was in the NJAC tournament opener) and a loss in the ECAC tournament to Manhattanville College. Richard Stockton finished with a 14-6-1 record.

Ocean City alum Anthony Colofranson (Woodbury Heights, NJ) was by far the star of the season for the Ospreys offense as he finished as the team’s leading scorer with 15 goals and 7 assists (37 points) in 19 starts. Of those 15 goals, six of them were game-winners. His 37 points was good for second in the conference as he added to his impressive resume at Richard Stockton where he was the NJAC Rookie of the Year his freshman year, and was second-team all-conference last year. Now, he needs to put the ball into the back of the net 10 times next year to break the school record for career goals. 

For the third year in a row, Jeff Tanski (Sicklerville, NJ) was a mainstay on the Ospreys’ backline. He started all 20 games he played in this year, in addition to scoring two goals and adding one assist.

Sonimi Halliday – Rider University

Sonimi Halliday (Sicklerville, NJ) and his fellow seniors at Rider University have helped the Broncs program complete a recent turnaround and made some history along the way. This year Rider finished with a 14-6-1 record, and despite an 0-2 start to the conference season, they rallied to win the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) championship. By winning the conference title, they earned their first trip to the NCAA tournament since 1998. Unfortunately, the draw was not kind to them as they had to face defending national champion Virginia, and lost 2-0 in the opening round.

Halliday started all 21 games for the Broncs this year and finished with All-Region and All-Conference honors as a defender. He also got forward and scored three goals (two of them game-winners). Halliday’s performance at Rider has not gone unnoticed. Recently, he was invited for a tryout with Major League Soccer’s New York Red Bulls as his pro prospects looking promising.

Pau Delgado Rodriguez & Jorge Guinovart – University of Rio Grande

Jorge Guinovart Pau Delgado Rodriguez Ocean City Noreasters Rio Grande PDL Soccer New Jersey
University of Rio Grande, 2015 NAIA National Champions

The two Barcelona, Spain natives played major roles in helping Rio Grande University (Ohio) win the 2015 NAIA National Championship this season. The Red Storm cruised through the regular season with only one loss and after winning the conference title, they advanced to the national title game where Jeremy de Hoog scored on a free kick in overtime to beat MidAmerican Nazarene (Kan.) 1-0. It was Rio Grande’s second national championship as a program and their first since 2003.

Jorge Guinovart, who was voted the MVP of the Ocean City Nor’easters last season, was named to the NAIA All-Tournament team and scored four goals and dished out five assists in 22 matches (17 starts).

Pau Delgado Rodriguez scored six goals and had five assists and played in every one of the team’s 24 games in 2015, while starting 21 of them.

On top of their performances on the field, both players were also named NAIA Scholar-Athletes.

Mitchell Lurie, Mitchell Taintor & JP Correa – Rutgers University

Mitchel Lurie Ocean City Noreasters PDL Soccer New Jersey
Mitchell Lurie (2014-15)

Rutgers University have wasted no time in establishing themselves in their new conference in the Big Ten as the Scarlet Knights had one of the best seasons in more than 14 years. The Knights finished 12-7-2, the most wins for the program since 2001 and they were in range of a Big Ten title heading into the final game of the regular season.

A big part of the team’s success came from a trio of Ocean City alums.

Mitchell Lurie (Alpharetta, GA), a co-captain for the Knights, was a Second Team NSCAA All-Region and Second Team All-Big Ten selection as a redshirt senior. He led the team in assists and helped the Knights pitch eight clean sheets, the most by an RU team since 1998.

Mitchell Taintor (Storrs, CT) wrapped up his senior season by scoring five goals and was second on the team with five assists. Taintor was a Second Team NSCAA All-Region and a Second Team All-Big Ten selection.

JP Correa (Montville, NJ), a redshirt senior, was fourth on the team with 13 points with four goals and five assists. Three of the four goals were game-winners, giving him seven for his career.

Andrew Garcia & Nick Hanuscin – Saint Francis University

Andrew Garcia (Sicklerville, NJ) spent his senior year at St. Francis playing the majority of the games for the Red Flash. In 14 games (13 starts), Garcia posted a 1.05 goals against average. St. Francis finished one game short of making the NCAA tournament as they fell to LIU Brooklyn in the Northeast Conference championship game in a penalty kick shootout.

Nick Hanuscin (Cinnaminson, NJ) had a solid junior season, appearing in 16 of the team’s 20 games (3 starts) on the backline. Hanuscin picked up his first career point this year as he assisted on a late equalizer against Hartford on Sept. 27. Hartford would eventually win the game with a golden goal in the 110th minute.

Emmanuel Temeh & Eric Jordan – St. Joseph’s University

It was a difficult season for the St. Joseph’s University Hawks, finishing with a 4-12-2 record. One of the bright spots was senior forward Emmanuel Temeh (Trenton, NJ), who led the team in scoring with five goals and two assists in 18 matches. He scored the game-winning goal in two of the team’s four wins.

Eric Jordan (Washington Township, NJ) started all 18 of the Hawks’ games this year, finishing second on the team in minutes played (1,541). Jordan also picked up a goal and a game-winning assist (vs. UMass) in his junior season at St. Joe’s.

Brendan Hines-Ike & Brandon Kolczynski – University of South Florida

Defender Brendan Hines-Ike (Denver, CO) started all 20 games for the South Florida Bulls this year and was named to the American Athletic Conference (AAC) First Team. He also scored a pair of goals. His performance got the attention of a number of pro scouts as he was invited to the Major League Soccer player combine, but he turned down the invite and signed a four-year contract with Orebro of the Swedish First Division. 

Defender Brandon Kolczynski (Farmingdale, NJ) transferred to South Florida after playing the last two years at the University of Pittsburgh, but saw limited playing time in 2015.

Dominic Samuel – Southern New Hampshire University

Southern New Hampshire looked like they were poised to win their second national title in three years, but for the second year in a row, they were eliminated in the NCAA tournament in a penalty kick shootout. The Penmen finished with an impressive 19-1-1 record.

Dominic Samuel (Toronto, Ontario) started all 21 games for the team in his senior year, scoring three goals. 

Tom Carwile – Trinity University (TX)

Tom Carwile (Tulsa, OK) had a fantastic season for Trinity University as he was a major part of the Tigers team that finished the 2015 campaign with a  22-3-0 record and reached the NCAA Division III Quarterfinals before falling to eventual national champion Amherst College, 1-0 in double overtime. Carwile, a defender, was named a NSCAA First-Team All-American (he was a Second-Team All-American last year) and he was named the SCAC Defensive Player of the Year as he helped the Tigers earn 18 clean sheets. He also tied for the team lead with nine goals, (seven of them were game-winners) and dished out an assist to finish with 19 points.

Alex Ridsdale & Matt Vasquenza – Xavier University

Alex Ridsdale Ocean City Noreasters Baltimore Bohemians PDL Soccer New Jersey
Alex Ridsdale (2015)

Xavier University players and coaches were disappointed when their name wasn’t called during the NCAA tournament draw. The Musketeers finished with a 12-6-1 record and pulled off some tremendous wins and all of them coming on the road. They shutout Wisconsin in Madison 2-0, and then traveled across town to beat rival Cincinnati, 2-1, and followed that up with a drive up to South Bend and knocked off Notre Dame who was ranked No. 2 in the country. It was their biggest win in program history, until a little over a month later when they handed Creighton, the No. 1 team in the country, their first loss of the season in Omaha.

Matt Vasquenza (East Hampton, CT) scored the game-winner with 1:13 left in that upset over Creighton. It was one of his five goals on the season, which ranked the sophomore second on the team in that category. Vasquenza also assisted on the game-winning goal at Wisconsin.

Alex Ridsdale (Nelson, New Zealand) capped off his college career by leading the senior class to the most wins in program history over the last four years (51). Ridsdale started 13 of his 19 games and led Xavier in goals with seven. His biggest goal was a bicycle kick he scored against IPFW on Sept. 22 that was featured on numerous national highlight shows, like ESPN’s Sportscenter and Fox Sports 1 (WATCH THE VIDEO)

 
Got what it takes? Nor'easters announce tryout date
Pro coaches, Philadelphia Union coach will be on hand at Rutgers University-Camden on Jan. 2
 
The Ocean City Nor'easters will host tryouts for the upcoming 2016 season with the goal of discovering talent to join the club for its 20th campaign.

If you or someone you know is interested in trying out or has any questions, please contact out office at (609) 432-8371, email tryout@oceancityfc.com or visit www.oceancityfc.com/tryout

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