Seniors Make Last Stand At Bunting Field
October 28, 2005 | Men's Soccer
Oct. 28, 2005
There's not a glitzy Saturday morning soccer preview show on ESPN. There are not fans crowding into soccer stadiums at midnight before the season kicks off just to get their first look at the Pirate soccer team as they go through warm-ups and scoring drills. That type of fanfare is not what attracted the five-man class of 2005 to East Carolina. They came to get an education and play the game they love.
This Sunday, Oct. 30 marks senior day for the ECU's Men's soccer team. Fans will say goodbye to five seniors, Ryan Bostian, Sean Harris, David Rowe, Shinn Takagi and Matt Kowaleski, who ranks in the top-five in career goals per game and has the fifth-best single-season points per game average in school history. The players, who came to ECU as boys, will leave as men as they are ending their competition on the field as they embark into the choppy waters of the real world.
While they will leave school behind, they will carry the lessons they learned by being part of a Division I team with them. To play sports in college meant a chance to compete against the best and meet new friends. The players stepped up working hard on the field and in their studies. Over the past four years each of the graduating seniors has been named to the ECU Director of Athletics Honor Roll.
"A student-athlete has to be a very dedicated person not only to their sport but their academics as well," said Rowe. "You have to be a hard working, determined person that is dedicated to what you are doing."
Rowe, an industrial distribution and logistics major, took a determined attitude to campus. He has been named to the ECU Director of Athletics Honor Roll four times. He brings a defensive intensity to the field of play. He learned to be tough on the field by playing soccer against his older brother and his buddies. The bigger boys knocked him around which gave him a competitive edge over others his age. His hard work helped him stand out amongst his teammates at Centerville High School in Ohio.
"Playing with him (brother) and his buddies and growing up watching him play has really pushed me to the level where I am today," Rowe added.
Shawn Harris, who red shirted his freshman season, leaves after five years a different person than who he was when he arrived. He said ECU was a great experience that gave him a chance to grow as a person. In his time here he learned how to be responsible for himself and others.
"Coming in as a freshmen I didn't focus too hard on school or soccer but as the years pass, you become a leader whether you are put in a leadership role or not," said Harris. "You grow up and have to lead everyone, you've got to lead the younger players and get them up to the same speed that you are at right now."
Senior Ryan Bostian spent his formative years all over the world including stops in Singapore, France, Japan, and Switzerland. Being overseas made recruiting a bit different for Bostian. Instead of coaches coming to games in order to evaluate him as a player, Bostian's father sent out tapes of the defender to coaches all across the country. The staff at East Carolina saw something in the tapes they liked and offered him a scholarship.
"The five years I gave here have been the best years of my life," said Bostian. "Time has flown by so fast. It seems like yesterday I was coming out of high school, moving in to the dorms and getting ready for the first preseason."
Bostian says he plans to pursue graduate school when he finishes his degree in management information systems. His experiences as a student-athlete at ECU will serve him well in the future. He credits the collegiate experience with teaching him discipline and the value of hard work.
Even though the 2005 senior class has endured three coaches over the past five years, they have taken a little bit from each coach and each other to become the leaders of this years squad. As they move on, it will be time for others to step up and take their place as leaders.
