E-Edition
Sign up for email newsletters
Sign up for email newsletters
E-Edition
TRENDING:
STONE RIDGE, N.Y. — The SUNY Ulster’s men’s soccer program seems to be on the rise as the Senators captured their first Mid-Hudson Conference championship in nine years last season.
Coach Jamal Lis-Simmons, who guided his team to a 9-3 mark last year, thinks his club has the potential to be special again in 2022. The Senators open the season against Tompkins Cortland Community College at 1 p.m. Sunday at Rondout Valley High School in Accord.
Lis-Simmons is well aware of SUNY Ulster’s glorious past under National Junior Collegiate Athletic Association Hall of Fame coach George Vizvary, who led the Senators to two national titles in 1977 and 1978. In fact, Lis-Simmons opened up a team room in the Senate Gym with rows of plaques marking many of the school’s illustrious accomplishments.
While Lis-Simmons knows about SUNY Ulster’s glory years, he’s hoping this year’s squad can make its own mark.
“I was hired in 2016 and the goal was to get this program back to a championship level,” he said. “We took some hits in the first few years, but we’ve been able to make some steps in the right direction every year and that culminated with our (Mid-Hudson Conference) championship last year. We had a great group of guys who worked hard last year and they’re ready to defend their title this year.”
Mid-Hudson Conference Player of the Year Jesus Martinez (Newburgh) returns to lead the Senators. He scored 11 goals and had nine assists a year ago.
“Jesus is a special player,” his coach said of the sophomore midfielder. “He really dominated the conference all of last year. He’s a very versatile player. He orchestrates a lot of what we do. He’s a tough-nosed defensive player. He sets the tone for our possessions and our ability to get forward.”
Modou Badjie (Kingston) and Odirlei Thomaz (Newburgh) are also returning Mid-Hudson Conference first-team all-stars for the Senators.
“Modou (Badjie) is a super explosive talent who plays out on the wing for us,” Lis-Simmons said. “He creates a lot of scoring
opportunities for us.”
Thomaz, a defender, is coming off an injury and probably won’t be available until a week or two into the season, Lis-Simmons said.
“We’re really looking forward to him getting healthy and returning,” the coach said.
The Senators had seven straight shutouts last season, with goalie Justin Dunikowski earning all-conference honors. Following Dunikowski’s graduation, Lis-Simmons said freshman Cody Baker (Kingston) and Eduardo Romero (Liberty) will compete for playing time at the vital position.
Lis-Simmons said other key players on the 2022 squad should be sophomore midfielder Erick Alvarez (Newburgh), freshman defender Randall Ashong (Arlington) and scholastic All-American Javier Rodriguez (Newburgh), a freshman forward. Dantae McDonald of Portmore, Jamaica, a freshman defender, is SUNY Ulster’s first international player recruited by Lis-Simmons.
Newburgh (eight players) and Kingston (seven) are heavily represented on the 23-man roster.
“I’ve grown up in the Hudson Valley my entire life and I’ve always thought there have been talented players in this area,” said Lis-Simmons, who also coached the Kingston Stockade FC soccer team in the summer. “My hat’s off to all of our guys in the previous four or five years who really helped put Ulster back on the map. I think it’s opened the eyes to a lot of local players to know they can stay local and still be part of a legitimate program.”
Lis-Simmons said the team is excited about playing three home games on Rondout Valley’s turf field. Two home games will be played at the campus grass field.
“With the grass field, you’re kind of at the whim of the weather,” he said. “To have a great facility like that (Rondout Valley) with a very clean surface, it’s definitely going to benefit our squad.”
We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. We reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.
Sign up for email newsletters
Copyright © 2022 MediaNews Group