Men's Soccer News

Hawks men’s soccer picks up area’s top recruits
(article courtesy of Maryland Independent)

By Dallas Cogle
Maryland Independent Staff Writer

Friday, Aug. 25, 2006 -It’s rare that a College of Southern Maryland sports team can land The Washington Post All-Met player of the year and All-Southern Maryland Athletic Conference player of the year in the same recruiting class.
But that’s what CSM men’s soccer program did.

Last year’s 16-2-1 campaign — finishing 10th in the country with the Maryland Junior College Conference and Region XX titles while coming a play-in game short of advancing to the national tournament — helped head coach Tony Galeano recruit the two.

Guil Costa, a Lake Braddock graduate from Fairfax, Va., and McDonough product Brandon Gross were the All-Met and All-SMAC players of the year, respectively, from last school year in the high school ranks.

‘‘All I want to do is play soccer — that’s all I know — and go to school, and I’m excited to play,” said Costa, a Brazilian native who does not have his green card yet so he cannot attend a four-year school by law. Drexel, William & Mary and Longwood were all going to offer him full rides, but he can only attend a junior college until receiving the green card that he says should come any day.

‘‘I love [CSM’s] program. We have an awesome coach and an awesome team, so I’m looking forward to a great season. Considering I’m the first one to go to college in my family, whatever school was going to talk to me, I never turn anybody away. I always kept my options open.”

Costa and Galeano met each other at a soccer function during the recruiting season and mutually agreed that the All-Met MVP and CSM would be a good fit.
Gross has been familiar with CSM throughout his high school tenure and considered the program to be his No. 1 option since graduating.

‘‘I wanted to start for CSM; I didn’t want to go to a four-year [college] and get lost,” said Gross, who also earned recruiting interest from a couple of Division III schools in North Carolina. ‘‘Through practice and everything, we’re looking pretty good. We have a lot of new players, but everyone is putting in hard work. Hopefully, it’ll show during the season.

‘‘What [CSM] accomplished last year was a big statement, so I wanted to come out here — knowing they were going to have new players and everything — and show what I can do on the field.”

Costa and Gross will be relied upon more so this year because five expected returners did not come back for CSM due to eligibility and personal reasons.

Gross’ speed makes him an instant scoring threat for CSM, as he was last year, while Costa will be ‘‘running the show as the center midfielder,” according to Galeano.

Jorge Lopez, one of last year’s stars who is returning after an honorable mention all-American season, believes that living in last year is not a healthy recipe for this fall.

‘‘We’re trying to leave that behind, and we’re starting from scratch again and working hard so we can get back to where we got last year — or even better,” Lopez said.  ‘‘There are still a lot of things that we have to do to come close [to doing what we did last year] and achieve our goals.”

CSM comes into the year with a preseason ranking of 12th in the country.

‘‘This is the hardest preseason we’ve ever had,” said Galeano, who has taken his team off the campus to practice on a Bermuda Grass field outside of Waldorf. ‘‘I’ve had to challenge myself to take it to another level. My players are challenging themselves too.”

CSM men’s soccer
Head coach: Tony Galeano (fifth year, Maryland JUCO and Region XX coach of the year)

Last year: 16-2-1, 9-0-1 (Maryland JUCO and Region XX champion, Mid-Atlantic District finalist, season-ending ranking of 10th in country)

Athletes to watch: D Jorge Lopez (So, All-American, All-Region, All-Maryland JUCO), M⁄D Dan Heaney (So., All-Region, St. Mary’s Ryken), D Cullen McKenzie (So., All-Region, All-Maryland JUCO), F Brandon Gross (Fr., McDonough), D David Hupp (So., La Plata), M Guil Costa (Fr.), F Justin Daniels (Fr.), M A.J. Sweeney (Fr., Huntingtown), D Brandon Jamieson (Fr., McDonough)
Key personnel losses: GK Mike Shifflett (All-Region, Lackey), D David Mongey (All-Region), M Ben Waldmann, F Dario Paul (All-Region, All-Maryland JUCO), M Juele Lawrence (All-Region), F Mike Mitchell (All-Region, Northern)

Strengths: What they lost in a lot of would-be quality returners to eligibility and personal issues, the Hawks may have made up for with their recruiting class. Highlighted by All-SMAC player of the year Gross and All-Met player of the year Costa among last year’s high school ranks, the new faces provide the preseason 12th-ranked team in the country with more depth compared to last year’s squad, which spit out one of the best seasons in program history finishing 10th in the country.

This year’s edition of the club is more well rounded and deep in every position with a 24-player roster. Last year at this time, Galeano was still trying to round up bodies to give the team some depth.  While there is flavor from outside Southern Maryland on the club, Galeano had his most successful recruiting season within the area.

Weaknesses: Because of the new names gracing the team’s roster, time will be needed to piece together each player’s skills. Four of those non-returning players were either All-Maryland JUCO and⁄or All-Region XX selections last year. One of the recruits, Jamieson, may not play this year after twisting his knee in practice. Jamieson was having an MRI on the knee Wednesday fearing that his ACL may be torn.

Coach’s comments: ‘‘If we can put it together, we can go extremely far. We are capable of doing better than last year. On paper, we have improved but that doesn’t mean we’re going to win. Sometimes, too many superstars can kill a team. We deserve our preseason ranking of 12th in the country.”

Key games: Sept. 8 vs. Howard; Sept. 14 at Rockville; Sept 19 at Prince George’s; Oct. 1 at Louisburg (N.C.); Oct. 3 vs. Essex; Oct. 9 vs. Catonsville; Oct. 21, 25, 28 at Region XX tournament