2005 ECU Men's Soccer Preview
August 17, 2005 | Men's Soccer
GREENVILLE, N.C. -- Coming off a 6-12 season in 2004 where the Pirates finished ninth in the Conference USA standings, the East Carolina men's soccer program is poised to make a run atop the new look conference in 2005. Steering the Pirate ship in '05 will be interim head coach Chad Halverson, who is in his sixth season at ECU. Halverson will look to 14 lettermen, eight of which were starters from a year ago, to help land the Pirates in their first ever C-USA Tournament.
2005 Schedule Overview
Six games against 2004 postseason participants, including three top-25 teams from a year ago highlight the 2005 East Carolina men's soccer schedule.
The Pirates will face four in-state schools on the road when they travel to Gardner-Webb (Sept. 1), Elon (Sept. 7), UNC Wilmington (Sept. 16) and High Point (Sept. 24).
East Carolina will open C-USA play at home against new member South Carolina (Oct. 2), before making their first road trip of the season against UAB (Oct. 7) and nationally-ranked Memphis (Oct. 9). The Pirates will also play host to Marshall (Oct. 14), Kentucky (Oct. 16) and perennial powers SMU (Oct. 28) and Tulsa (Oct. 30) at Bunting Field.
"Our 2005 schedule will be very challenging," said Halverson. "With only one home game in our first seven, the beginning of the season will tell us a lot about how good we can be. We are very excited about the new Conference USA, which is one of the top conferences in the country. With seven new teams, and six from last year's NCAA Tournament, it will be very demanding and competitive."
Forwards
The forward position will be the most interesting position to watch in 2005 as ECU has a nice mix of veterans and newcomers that can lead the Pirate attack. Most notable up front is sophomore J.W. Gallagher, a 2004 C-USA All-Freshman Team selection, who ranked first on the team in assists (5) and second in goals (4) and points (13). The Wilson, N.C. native has already been marked by C-USA foes as he was named to the 2005 C-USA Player-to-Watch list in early August.
Senior Matt Kowaleski (Richmond, Va.) and Calvin Simon (Wilmington, N.C.) have the inside track as the other starters up top for the Pirates. Kowaleski played in all 18 games last year recording three goals and three assists in 10 starts. His aggressive attacking presence along with a keen eye to pass the ball will complement Gallagher nicely on the offensive front.
Senior Sean Harris (Powell, Ohio) and a trio of underclassman in Matt Gipe, David Levine and Reece Thomas will provide Halverson with much needed depth to run his fast paced attacking offense.
Midfield
Leading the Pirates transition in the middle this year will be junior Michael Crowley. The Chadds Ford, Pa. native started 17 of the 18 games last season recording two goals on 11 shots at the center-mid spot.
"Mike is going to be huge for us this year," said Halverson. "We are going to look for him to help us out defensively and also get us moving in our attack. With his athleticism and nose for the ball, he will be pulling the strings on our team and running the show."
Looking to fill the void at the other midfield spots could be junior Adam Combs or one of four freshmen in Levin McNeall, Kevin Thorne and twin brothers Kenny and Tommy Orelaja. Combs started 14 games recording his lone assist against Marquette in a 3-2 win. Halverson will also look for Gallagher and Simon to spend time patrolling the middle helping the transition game.
Backs
The defense will once again be the key to ECU's success as the Pirates return three seniors including co-captains Ryan Bostian and David Rowe. The veteran line-up of Bostian, Rowe, Danny Lundquist, Alex Morrow and Shinn Takagi have played in a combined 59 games with 35 starts helping post two shutouts.
"There will be a lot of pressure put on these guys this season, especially when you talk about playing teams like Tulsa, SMU and Memphis, who were all ranked pretty high in scoring offenses last year," said Halverson. "We expect those guys to make us solid by locking down the back and shutting teams down, especially at home."
With the depth in the backfield, newcomers Jon Ciecko (Wilmington, NC), Zach Matthews (Greensboro, NC), Marshall Quick (Sanford, NC), Patrick Tate (Charlotte, NC) and Elliott Watlington (Winston-Salem, NC) should be able to give ECU enough fresh legs to shut down their opponents.
Goalkeeper
Two-year starter Brian Pope returns to anchor the Pirate defense in goal. Last season the junior keeper saw action in 16 games with four starts posting a 3-9-0 record. As a sophomore, he started all 15 games he played logging 1342 minutes in goal while posting a 3-9-2 record, which included one shut out. Currently he holds the single-season (1.61) goals against average and ranks second in career saves with two.
Contending for playing time in the goal this season will be fellow junior Chris Hicks. In two years of action, Hicks has recorded five starts in seven games, while posting one shutout and a 3-3-0 overall record.
"Both of our keepers have a ton of collegiate game experience," said Halverson. "They come from high-level club experience and we are looking for some great things out of them. Once again we will look to those guys to lock us down in the back and keep us well organized. There is a lot of confidence, expectation and weight riding on their shoulders to help keep the team moving forward in the right direction."
Newcomers
Of the 13 newcomers to the Pirate program, there are two forwards, four midfielders, five defenders and two goalkeepers. Ten of the 13 are from North Carolina and 11 are freshman.
