Mens Soccer Recruting Class has a more Local feel

A year after the Stags signed 4 New Zealand born recruits the class of 2014 has more local players. With 4 out of 5 of the incoming freshmen around the Tri-State area it looks like Coach Rees is trying to get more of a local flare. Here is a breakdown of the class.

Anthony Arena- (D, Seaford NY, St Anthony's)
He's a defender who has also been known to score. He ranked 25th in the New York area in points with 8 all with 4 goals. His team the St. Anthony's Friars looks like a power house in the league. The same school as Joe Michaelson (men's tennis team) and Larry Cornelia (men's baseball) was 30-3 overall and had 6 players ranked in the top 25.

Wow the defenders on this team are very young. Erik Ilisije is probably the most experienced defender on the team but combined with the now sophmore Kiwis, Johnny Raj and Adam Cowen, the defense looks very young and talented. Now I think the big area that we need to improve on is offense because it looks like our defense it set for the next couple of years.

Patrick Bellero- (MF, Melville NY, Half Hollow Hills)
A mid-fielder who scored 10 goals in a season. He took the corner kicks for his team which finished 18-11 overall.

I don't think he will be taking the corner kicks for the Stags but I do like the fact that he is a scorer. We are losing a pretty consistent player in Christian Uy who was one of the best passers the school has seen. With 3 midfielders in this class hopefully one of them can step up and be that presence.

Matthew Danaher- (MF, Trumbull CT, St. Joseph)

He has his own highlight reel. He made the first team all-FCIAC the only one on his team to do so.

Wow this guy looks like the real deal. In his various highlight packages he is clearly able to blast past offender and is great at getting the ball to mid field. He can use his quickness and strength which is a deadly package. I think he might be the strongest in the class.


Matteo Marzoli- (MF, Westport CT, Staples)

He was a part of the youngest team in Staples history and they were almost undefeated.
This kid seems to have a very strong leg. Various reports say that he has scored on free kicks from around 50 yards! He was also the player that the team looked to to set up the offense and was great at clearing the ball.



Jon Clements- (Boreham Woods, England)


This player seems to have alot of intangibles. His old coach used words such as "ambassador" and remarked that he also "played a massive in our promotion"


How about this. For Woods he scored over 80 goals in just 2 seasons! WOW!