Rutkowski Named Head Coach at Centenary College of Louisiana

Congratulations to Emmett Rutkowski on landing his first Head Coaching job at Centenary College of Louisiana.  Centenary is a Division III program that competes in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference.

The Centenary Department of Athletics and Director of Athletics and Wellness Ronda Seagraves announces the hiring of Emmett Rutkowski as the head men’s soccer coach, effective April 1st.

"I am extremely excited and humbled to be named the next head men’s soccer coach at Centenary College of Louisiana.  I want to thank Mrs. Seagraves for the opportunity to lead the men’s soccer program into a new era,” said Rutkowski. “The program has a rich history of success athletically and academically and I look forward to competing in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference."

Rutkowski joins the Centenary staff after serving as an assistant coach at Mercer University in the Atlantic Sun Conference since July 23, 2013.

"I am extremely pleased that Emmett Rutkowski will be taking over the reins of the men's soccer program. Through the search process he distinguished himself as a 'go getter' with a passion for recruiting, teaching and developing players,” stated Seagraves. “His background and experience are a great fit as Centenary completes the transition to NCAA Division III membership. Having played and coached at the DIII level as well as building a recruiting base at two strong private DI institutions Coach Rutkowski understands the type of student-athletes the Gents recruit. He is a great fit for our institution and the men's soccer program."

While at Mercer, Rutkowski helped lead the Bears to the A Sun semifinals and mentored preseason A Sun goalkeeper and defender of the Year, Greg Ranjitsingh and Ashani Samuels. The Bears also excelled in the classroom as 80 percent of the men’s soccer team received a 3.0 GPA or higher for the 2013 fall semester and the squad earned the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Team Academic Award.

Prior to his stint in Macon, Ga., Rutkowski served as the goalkeeper coach for the Dartmouth Big Green during the 2012 season. In his lone season at Dartmouth, he guided starting goalkeeper Noah Cohen to a 9-7 record, a 1.30 goals against average, two shutouts and a Team MVP honor.

Rutkowski spent two years as an assistant coach at Frostburg State in Maryland. During his time with the Bobcats, the team improved from 4-10-3 in his first season to 11-3-5 in the second year.

Rutkowski played his college soccer at the University of Mary Washington from 2006-2010, where he was a first-team All-Conference and All-Region goalkeeper as a senior. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from UMW in 2010.

After playing semi-professionally in the Premier Developmental League (PDL) with the Fredericksburg Hotspurs, Rutkowski went back to school and earned his Masters of Education from Frostburg State in the spring of 2012. Rutkowski also holds a USSF National "B" Coaching License and an NSCAA Goalkeeping “Level II” diploma

FSU Alumni Reach Semi-Finals of 2014 Red Wolf Tournament

A group of FSU Alumni (and friend) from the late 80's and early 90's got together for the 2014 Red Wolf Indoor Soccer Tournament a few weeks ago and advanced to the semi-finals.

Congratulations to the Boys on a strong performance.

Back Row - Jay Hegeman, Craig Silverglade, Greg Dassele, Mike St. Martin, Brian Wright, Phil Sporer, James Fuss, and Mark Urban
Front Row - Keith Walter, Jim Eppard, Pete Tytus, John Teluk, Brian McMearty, Lance James
Front Center - Derek Woodward

Jones and Torrano Earn All-CAC Honors

The Frostburg State senior duo of Chris Jones and Pablo Torrano were both named to the All-Capital Athletic Conference Men's Soccer First Team.

Jones and Torrano helped propel the Bobcats to a 12-6 overall record and a berth in the CAC Tournament semifinals for the second-consecutive year.

 

Jones, a defender, garnered his second-straight first-team award after finishing third in the league in goals (8) and fifth in points (19). A California, Md. native, Jones was one of three players on the roster to start all 18 games, while helping FSU to a 1.21 goals against average with seven shutouts.

 

Torrano, a forward, finished second on the team with 15 points behind seven goals and one assist. He totaled five game-winning goals, including the winner over Mary Washington in the CAC Tournament opening round.

 

For a complete list of the All-CAC Men's Soccer Teams - click here

Lebanon Valley Defeats Bobcats in ECAC Semi-finals

The season came to an end on Saturday when we lost our semi-final match to Lebanon Valley 4-1.  It's not the way we hoped the season would end and I certainly do not think the score was indicative of the game, but its soccer and that's how it goes sometimes.

Lebanon Valley was a very active team and did a good job of moving off the ball and pressuring our defense.  We never quite found any attacking flow and did not connect passes like we did on Wednesday night.

They scored two goals off of set pieces in the first half.  The first was a long throw-in that we did not clear and the loose ball was played to a Lebanon Valley player and he beat goal keeper Drew Hock for the lead.  The second was a free kick that the GK came out for and miss-timed and again the ball fell to a Lebanon Valley player who shot it into an open net.  We ended the half with a 6-5 lead in shots, but found ourselves down 2-0.

The second half we made a few adjustments and pressed hard to get back in the game.  We created some good opportunities, but failed to get that goal that would spur on our comeback.  With everyone pushing forward Leb Valley would score their third goal with about eight minutes left when after a counter attack we were exposed in the back and they were able to beat goal keeper Hassan Mostafa with a lofted shot.  Jared Fohs would answer back for us just 14 seconds later to make it 3-1, but Leb Valley would get their fourth with two minutes remaining off a deflected shot that caught the keeper going the wrong way.  We ended the half with 9-3 advantage in shots, but again gave up two goals and struggled to find the back of the net.

I thought we fought hard and played to the end, but just didn't make enough good things happen  while Lebanon Valley did a good job of capitalizing on their limited opportunities.  The seniors certainly left it all on the field and could walk-off knowing they put forth an honest effort.  That makes three years in a row that we have advanced to the CAC semi-finals and the ECAC Tournament.  Hopefully next year we can make a run that will get us to the CAC finals and a possible bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Two Second Half Goals put Bobcats in the ECAC Semi-finals

Seniors - Michael Norman and Kunle Akeifeleye

On a very cold night in early November the boys kept their home unbeaten streak alive.  Two second half goals from Michael Norman and Kunle Akinfeleye helped us advance to the semi-finals of the ECAC Tournament with a 2-1 win over Washington and Jefferson.

I thought we played one of our better games of the year as far as moving the ball around and trying to find some combination play.  We pressed them from the beginning and tried to create  turnovers that would lead to counter-attacking opportunities.  The turnovers led to some good possession for us, but we struggled to convert the final pass to create the easy scoring opportunity.  At the end of the half W&J held a slight 6-5 lead in shots.

The second half we kept up the pressure and countered much more efficiently creating more scoring opportunities and would out-shoot the President's 12-2 in the second half.  Michael Norman got us on the board 10 minutes in when he knocked home a corner kick from Alex Brainard. 

http://youtu.be/4h_7O7nvSA4 - Norman goal 

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The lead was short lived as W&J would equalize just minutes later when we failed to clear a ball in the box and it would lead to a tap in from about six yards out.  Kunle Akinfeleye would net the game winner jut six minutes later when he followed up his own shot after a great feed from Chris Herbert.

http://youtu.be/z-YIP49wPqE - Kunle goal

The win puts us in the semi-finals where we will face Lebanon Valley College at 4pm on Saturday at Swarthmore College.  The winners of the semi-final games will be meet at 3pm on Sunday at Swarthmore for the ECAC South Region Championship.

Frostburg State has been selected for the ECAC Championships and has been awarded the #2 seed.  Swarthmore College has been awarded the #1 seed and will host the four team final four on the weekend if they advance from the first round.

We will host Washington and Jefferson College on Wednesday night at 7pm.  We have already played W&J this year at home and escaped with a narrow 3-2 victory after scoring the winning goal in the closing seconds.

Here is the rest of the bracket:

First Round – Wednesday, Nov. 13

East Region 
Penn State Abington (10-4-3) at Swarthmore (9-5-4), 7:00 PM
Muhlenberg (9-7-1) at Marywood (13-3-2), 5:00 PM

West Region
Washington & Jefferson (10-6-3) at Frostburg State (12-6-0), 7:00 PM
Lebanon Valley (10-7-3) at Juniata (13-6-2), 2:00 PM

Semifinals – Saturday, Nov. 16th at Highest Remaining Seed

 At the conclusion of the quarterfinals teams will be reseeded based on the below overall regional seeds. The highest remaining seed will play the lowest remaining seed.

1. Swarthmore College	5. Lebanon Valley College
2. Frostburg State University	6. Juniata College
3. Marywood University	7. Muhlenberg College
4. Penn State Abington	8. Washing & Jefferson College

Championship – Sunday, November 17th at Highest Remaining Seed
Two Semifinal Winners, TBD

FSU Eliminated from CAC Playoffs

The title run for 13 seniors ended on Wednesday as were defeated by Salisbury 1-0.  This makes the third straight year we advanced to the CAC semi-finals, but have been unable to get to the championship game.

Overall I thought we gave a strong effort.  Salisbury is a good team and was probably the better team on the day, but we played well enough to keep ourselves in the game and had a few opportunities to get on the board.

It was a typical FSU - Salisbury match with a lot of physical play.  Both teams got their share of hits in including five yellow cards and a red card as time expired.  Salisbury was very dangerous on the counter, but our backline held strong and was able to keep the Sea Gulls out of the goal for most of the game. 

With under 10 minutes to play Salisbury was awarded a free kick near the top corner of the box.  As the ball was served everyone attacked the ball and unfortunately the ball got flicked and found its way to an open Salisbury player at the corner of the six yard box.  The Salisbury player shot it back across the goal out of the reach of keeper Hassan Mostafa.

It's tough to see the season come to a close for the seniors.  You always wish you could give them one more game or get them a little further than they got the year before, but unfortunately this will make the third straight elimination in the semi-final round. We have put in for the ECAC Championships so hopefully we'll get the chance to play a few more games and give the senior class a chance to close their season out with a win.

ECAC bids will come out Monday afternoon after the NCAA selections.