Mid-Season Update

It has been a bit of an up and down season so far.  We are currently 6-6 overall, but are 2-1 in CAC play.

We really tried to test the boys early this year with our non-conference schedule.  We lost games to Johns Hopkins, Carnegie Mellon, Kenyon, Lycoming, and Catholic during the early part of the season.

Kenyon was ranked as high as #2 in the nation, CMU is #17 in the nation, and both Lycoming and Hopkins are regionally ranked in the Mid-Atlantic region.  We were in every game and were even up 2-1 on Kenyon, but couldn't hold on and lost 3-2.

We knew it was going to be a tough schedule, but we needed the competition to prepare for conference play.  So far it has paid off  with a strong 5-0 performance against Wesley and a solid 1-0 victory over St. Mary's, who came into the game 7-1-1 and ranked regionally.

We had a setback on Wednesday night when we dropped a 3-1 decision to Mary Washington.  We actually played pretty well and were fairly even in shots 12-11, but made some costly mistakes that Mary Wash capitalized on each time.  The Eagles are currently 7-2 and also ranked regionally in the South Atlantic.

Things do not get any easier as we prepare for Christopher Newport on Saturday at 7pm.  The Captains come in with a record of 10-2 (3-0 CAC) and ranked #18 in the nation by D3soccer.com.

You can checkout the goals from the season so far on our YouTubepage:  https://www.youtube.com/my_videos?o=U

Frostburg State Announces 2016 Incoming Class

Men’s Soccer Incoming Class

“This class has the potential to be as good as last year’s class in which we usually started six first year players a game. It is one that we have high expectations for due to their quality and experience. We expect an immediate impact from a number of incoming players, and hope that the competition for starting spots in all positions will raise our overall level of play. We are really excited about the positional makeup of this class because it fills some gaps that we think existed in the roster last season. Like last year, many of our incoming players already have a playing history together that we hope translates immediately to greater chemistry.”

The class of 2016 consists of six players out of high school and five transfers.

Name: Josh McRobie
High School: Arundel High School
Club Team: ASA Premier

Position: Forward
Frostburg Staff on McRobie: "Josh is a player that we have been monitoring for a while. He is the complete striker and has all the intangibles that we look for in impact players. It is hard to find a forward as technically and tactically sound in all aspects of forward play as Josh."

Name: Matt Morris
High School: Calverton School
Club Team: Maryland United

Position: Midfield/Forward
Frostburg Staff on Morris: "Matt is one of the most creative and technically gifted players in the state. He can create something out of nothing and is a constant threat to score or assist. It will be exciting to see what he can bring to our offense."

Name: Kyle Wilson
High School: La Plata High School
Club Team: Maryland United

Position: Outside back/Holding Mid/Winger
Frostburg Staff on Wilson: "Kyle is going to bring much needed versatility to our team. He was an All- State forward in high school, but plays midfield and defense for his club team. No matter where Kyle plays, he will bring the grit and determination needed to win."

Name: Ronaldo Sotelo
High School: Montgomery Blair High School
Club Team: Maryland United

Position: Center Mid
Frostburg Staff on Sotelo: "Ronnie possesses a soccer IQ usually not seen in American players. He has tremendous technical ability, spatial awareness, and composure that makes him a very dangerous central midfielder. He thinks a step ahead of most players, and we can’t wait to see what he can do at the college level."

Name: Mitchell Love
High School: Indian Creek High School
Club Team: Pipeline U17s

Position: Midfield
Frostburg Staff on Love: "Mitchell plays for one of the best teams in the nation for his age group. His technical ability and decision making in front of goal make him a constant threat, which is something we lacked last year. He will add a dimension to our attack that we simply did not have before."

Name: Ryan Lanza
High School: North Carroll High School
Club Team: Baltimore Celtic

Position: Left Back
Frostburg Staff on Lanza: "Ryan comes from the prestigious Baltimore Celtic club team, and has the experience and style of play that we look for. We expect his transition to the college game to be easy, and love his ability to keep possession playing out of the back."

Name: Mukor Harris
High School: Northwest High School
Former College: Marshall University/ Cal State- San Bernardino

Position: Forward/Outside Mid/Back
Frostburg Staff on Harris: "Mukor will bring a level of experience and athleticism capable of immediately impacting our team. He has played a number of positions during his time in Division I and II, and it will be exciting to see where he best fits into our system."

Name: Ernest Williams III
High School: Sherwood High School
Former College: Bucknell University/ MCC-Rockville

Position: Midfield
Frostburg Staff on Williams: "Ernie is a player that we are very high on. His work rate, athleticism, and technical ability has the potential to fit perfectly with how we want to play. His background as a Baltimore Bays academy player means he knows what it takes to compete at this level."

Name: George Afakpe
High School: Lagooze High School, Nigeria
Former College: Prince George’s CC

Position: Midfield
Frostburg Staff on Afakpe: "George is another player that we are excited to see where he will fit into our system. He is a very experienced and mature player that has the composure to unlock defenses."

Name: Christian Nlend
High School: Northwest High School
Former College: Shepherd University

Position: Back
Frostburg Staff on Nlend: "Christian comes to us after a successful season at the Division II level in which he started every game for Shepherd. He is a versatile, tough, and athletic defender that will fit our system perfectly."

Name: Eli Kouemi
High School: Watkins Mill High School
Former College: Lycoming College

Position: Midfield
Frostburg Staff on Kouemi: "Eli is a player that we recruited last year and are very familiar with. He is an extremely dynamic and versatile midfielder that can help us out in a few different positions. Eli comes to us after a highly successful season at Lycoming in which they reached the NCAA third round and lost to eventual champion Amherst.”

Men's Soccer End of Season Awards

from L to R: Casterline, Jarmon, Nabo, Muise

The Men's Soccer Team would like to announce the following award recipients for the 2015 season.

Team MVP - Freshman, Hunter Jarmon: Hunter was an integral part of this years team making an immediate impact with his leadership and play on the field.  As our primary holding midfielder he was our field general and did an excellent job of organizing the team and motivating them throughout the season.

Offensive MVP - Freshman, Guy Nabo: Guy burst onto the scene as a massive presence up top. Leading the team in goals and points with 12 and 27 respectively.  His intimidating size was matched only by his great footwork and composure in front of the goal.

Defensive MVP - Senior, Mitchell Muise:  Mitchell had his best season in his final year.  The leader of the back-line and backbone of the team, Mitchell was a force in the air and persistently broke up the opponents best scoring opportunities.

Gilbert Gray Award - Junior, Erik Casterline: Erik became a great leader in just his first semester on the team and was the ideal teammate throughout the season.  He always leads by example both on and off the field and has set the tone for the dedication and commitment expected from our boys going forward if we are going to make the move to being a nationally recognized team.

Muise Garners More Post-Season Honors

Frostburg State senior defender Mitchell Muise was named to the 2015 National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Division III Men's All-South Atlantic Region and to the 2015 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Men's Soccer Division III South All-Star Second Team.

Muise earned a spot on the All-South Atlantic Region Second Team after his impressive defensive efforts this season. The defender started all 19 games for the Bobcats and helped to place the FSU defense near the top of the Capital Athletic Conference. He helped lead Frostburg to a 0.75 goals-against-average, placed the Bobcats second in the CAC in goals against (12), and third in shutouts (9).

On the offensive end, he was third on the roster in in goals scored this season (3) and ended with a .833 shots-on- goal percentage. Muise was also selected as a First Team All-CAC pick for the 2015 season.

Frostburg State finished the season 11-6-2, 5-3-2 and made an appearance in the first round of the ECAC Tournament.

Four Named All-CAC, Three Garner First Team Honors

Muise, Mostafa, and Nabo

The Frostburg State men's soccer team collected four All-Capital Athletic Conference awards Wednesday, including first-team honors for senior Mitchell Muise, junior Hassan Mostafa and freshman Guy Nabo. Freshman Hunter Jarmon was placed on the All-CAC Second Team.

The foursome led the Bobcats to an 11-5-2 overall record and the second seed in the 2015 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) South Championship.

Muise and Mostafa grabbed first-team honors after helping place the Bobcat defense near the top of the CAC. The duo helped Frostburg lead the league in goals allowed (10), finish second in goals against average (0.57) and third in shutouts (9).

The first-team selection is the first all-conference honor for Muise after his standout four-year career with the Bobcats. He started all 17 games and finished with three goals on the offensive end.

Mostafa was named to the All-CAC First Team for the second-consecutive year and has emerged as one of the country's top goalkeepers. He is currently 15^th nationally in save percentage (0.878) and 35^th in Division III in goals against average (0.670). He finished with five shutouts and allowed just 10 goals in over 1,300 minutes in net.

As a team, Frostburg is fifth in the country in save percentage (0.899), 18^th in team goals against average (0.57) and 35^th in shutout percentage (0.53).

Nabo and Hunter garner All-CAC honors following impressive freshman campaigns.

Jarmon

Nabo finished second in the CAC in both points (25) and goals (11) and was the league's highest scoring freshman. Nabo also tied for second in the CAC with three game-winning goals. Nabo appeared in 8-of-9 conference games and totaled five goals and one assists against the league schools.

Jarmon was named to the All-CAC Second Team after starting 17-of-19 games and finished with seven points behind two goals and three assists. Against CAC competition, Jarmon started all nine games, scored one goal and handed out two assists.

Nabo and Jarmon helped the Bobcat front line to 39 goals, good for second in the CAC and 75th in the country in scoring offense.

Frostburg Falls in ECAC Tournament

Wednesday night we dropped a close 2-1 decision to Alvernia College.  The loss ends our season with an 11-5-2 record and a little bit of disappointment on our minds.

After not having a game for the last two weeks we were hoping that being awarded the #2 seed in the ECAC Tournament would give us a boost heading into Wednesday nights opening round match.  I do think we were a little flat as far as emotion goes, but we played well enough and did a good job of controlling the ball.

Our possession game was good, but we failed to find that final pass that would get us into scoring positions.  Alvernia did a good job of keeping their defensive shape and constantly had numbers behind the ball. They countered well and were dangerous when we gave the ball away.

Neither team did a whole lot offensively.  We led in shots 9-7 and shots on goal 5-4, but neither team consistently put the keeper under pressure.

After a low shot slipped by our keeper in the first half for the 0-1 deficit I still thought we were playing well enough to come back and get the equalizer.  The goal never came and after pushing numbers forward late in the second half Alvernia got in behind again on a counter attack and scored what would be the game winning goal.

Guy Nabo scored his 11th of the season with one minute remaining, but it was too little too late and the season would end with a 2-1 loss at home.

Nabo Goal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adpISMx8jAo

Frostburg Thumps Southern Virginia in Season Finale

In the last regular season game of the season the boy's put their disappointment behind them and finished off Southern Virginia with an emphatic 8-0 win.

We got on the board early and often with four goals in the first 13 minutes.  Last year's result was a 1-0 win against Southern Virginia so we were not sure how the game was going to play out.

Kelvin Tata got things started with a nice diving header in the eighth minute of play.

Tata Goal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QcrZ94mxLg

Carvell Akuffo had a tap in three minutes later when Tata slid the ball across the box.  Carvell has a had a very solid freshman campaign and despite not having the stats he has been a big contributor to the offense this year.

Akuffo Goal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdtVegzSz-s

Senior Mitchell Muise scored on a penalty kick in his last home game shortly after Akuffo's goal and Guy Nabo scored his 10th and 11th of the season four minutes apart.

Nabo Goals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjoxk5mfjRc
                     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yM_u-xSOu9Y

Hunter Jarmon ended the first half scoring with a penalty kick for the 6-0 halftime lead.

Erik Casterline

In the second half Erik Casterline and Rodrigo Valenzulea finished off the game with a penalty kick each of their own.  Freshmen Carlos Caro and Austin Gray combined for the shutout and collected one save a piece.

Unfortunately the results that we needed to get into the playoffs did not go our way so we were eliminated from the CAC playoffs as a result of the three forfeited games.  I can't say enough about how the guys have handled themselves and their emotions over the last week.  They are committed to ending the season on a high note and are looking forward to the ECAC Tournament and competing for our first ECAC Championship since 1992.

We finish the season with an 11-4-2 record and 5-2-2 in CAC play.  Our overall record remains the same as far as NCAA and ECAC selections are concerned.