LIU Men's Soccer Selected to Finish Second in 2005 NEC Race

8/16/05. -- Long Island University, defending Northeast Conference champions, have been selected to finish second in the highly contested 2005 men’s soccer race according to a poll of league head coaches released today. LIU, which received two first place votes, will challenge archival Fairleigh Dickinson, the preseason favorite, and St. Francis (PA), who received one vote.

The Blackbirds, tournament runner-up in two of the previous three seasons, broke through last season capturing the NEC title and advancing to the NCAA College Cup for the first time since 1986. LIU registered a league-best eight shutouts a season ago and did not allow more than a single goal in 15 of 20 matches.

Head Coach TJ Kostecky, who has guided the Blackbirds into the NEC Tournament in each of the last four seasons, faces a rebuilding year in which he returns two starters and eight letterwinners in total.

The team’s leading scorer -six goals, including four game-winners -forward Mustapha Ayoub (Toronto, Canada/San Diego Mesa College) returns to the fold. Joining Ayoub is junior Szymon Hryszczyk (Warsaw, Poland/University of Warsaw), a midfielder who found the net twice a year ago.

With plans to start as many as half a dozen freshman, the team’s biggest challenge will be in rebuilding a defense that lost a pair of all-stars in Jonas Stigh and Josh Couvillion and has been the staple of the Blackbirds’ recent success. Look for sophomore Alex Fatovic (Falls Church, VA/George Mason) to take over in goal for three-year starter Ryszard Gorski.

Many of the newcomers will undergo a trial by fire approach, with three of the first four matches of the Blackbirds’ season being played at Duke, Michigan and Michigan State.