Last season, the UAlbany men's soccer team earned its first-ever outright America East regular season title. In 2016, the Great Danes look to go further and win their first America East Tournament title.
The 2015 season saw UAlbany won its final five conference games to surge into first place in the America East and grab the America East regular season title at 5-2, narrowly falling to Binghamton in the league tournament semifinals to finish the season at 10-8-1 overall. The Great Danes earned their first winning season since 2008.
Trevor Gorman, at the helm on the 2015 America East Coaching Staff of the Year, returns three America East All-Conference players, led by 2015 America East Striker of the Year Afonso Pinheiro, and 12 players that made at least eight starts last season.
FORWARDS
The UAlbany front line stays mainly intact from last season, returning four players to lead an offense that averaged 1.37 goals per game.
Pinheiro set a program DI record and led the America East with 11 goals last year, adding four assists for 26 points to lead the league with 1.37 points per game. The junior was recently the first-ever UAlbany soccer player to be placed on the MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List.
In his freshman season last year, Nico Solabarrieta played in 18 games with 11 starts. The sophomore and former Chilean youth national pool pick notched two assists for the Great Danes in 2015.
Going into his senior season, Jonathan Interiano served as a reserve for UAlbany last year, finishing with a goal in 11 games, including one start. He has played 45 games in his collegiate career.
Returning from injury is Ivan Martinez, who will be a redshirt senior next year. He broke into the starting lineup late in the 2014 season and has three goals in his career.
MIDFIELDERS
UAlbany will have a come of new faces in the midfield with the graduation of all-conference player Philip Persson and all-academic member Martin Gorrie.
Carlos Clark earned a place on the 2015 America East All-Rookie Team, playing all 19 games with 15 starts at midfield. He finished the season with two goals and an assist and is a current member of the Puerto Rican Men's National Team.
Leo Melgar was UAlbany's primary scorer off the bench last season, finishing with six goals and an assist in 17 games. The senior midfielder currently ranks tied for seventh in UAlbany Division I history with 11 career goals and tied for 10th with 26 points.
Playing in 15 games with 10 starts to start the year, senior Pedro Espindola tied for the team lead with four assists last season. The corner midfielder has six assists in his UAlbany career after transferring from Franklin Pierce.
Also playing in 15 games with 10 starts, senior Andres Sandoval served as a defensive midfielder, recording an assist in the final regular season victory over Binghamton.
Also back is Reid Conde, a four-time all-league player in high school who redshirted his freshman year in 2015.
The unit adds four new players for the 2016 season. Ryan Langkafel comes to UAlbany on sophomore standing after a year at SUNY Cortland. The former Honorable Mention All-Section I played at Carmel High.
Also from Carmel High, Shane Devine comes north to play for UAlbany. Devine is a former player for six years with Everton FC Westchester in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy.
Local product Owen Fingar will join the Great Danes from Scotia-Glenville High. He earned Section II Player of the Year honors in 2014 and 2015 and was an all-league player all four seasons.
From Cyprus to the USA comes Eric Leontiou. Leontiou has formerly played for the U17 and U19 levels for his native country and has played for Olympiakos Nicosia U21 team.
DEFENDERS
Gorman's back line returns all of his starters plus adds a couple of new players, helping a defense that allowed 0.81 goals per game in America East play.
Two starters got all-conference honors last season; Keith Traut earned America East All-Conference First Team and All-Academic Team in 2015. The redshirt senior has been a starter the last two seasons at outside back.
Bernardo Mattos was selected to the America East All-Conference Second Team as a center back for UAlbany. A three-year starter, Mattos started 15 games last season, finishing with an assist.
Senior Luke Palmateer has been a starter on defense all three seasons as a Great Dane. The Australia native started 17 games in 19 appearances at cornerback last season and picked up an assist during the year.
In his first season playing with the Great Danes after transferring from Stony Brook, Jeff Medina served as a center back for the team. The redshirt junior started 15 games in 16 appearances on defense.
Moosah Khanat played primarily offense last season and will head to defense this season. Playing in 19 games with 13 starts last year, the junior finished with a goal and three assists in 2015.
Also returning from last year is Noah Waxner, a redshirt freshman that did not play in 2015. Waxner was an all-league player at Half Hollow Hills East High in Dix Hills.
Transferring to UAlbany this season is New York-native Kaz Boschen from the University of Delaware. In two years with the Blue Hens, he played in 21 games with six starts, helping Delaware to an NCAA Tournament berth in 2013.
From Reykjavik comes Brynjar Steinþórsson, the first-ever player from Iceland under Coach Gorman. He has played for the Fjölnir and ÍF Grótta teams, leading the former to a U19 championship in his native country.
GOALKEEPERS
UAlbany split between two goalkeepers last season, with each returning in 2016. Redshirt sophomore Danny Vitiello started 10 games last season, saving 78.7% of shots on goal, second in the America East in that category, and having a 1.25 goals allowed average.
Starting in the cage for nine games in 2016 was redshirt junior Eric Orologio. He led the America East with a 0.85 goals allowed average, saving 72.7% of shots on goal.
Joining the Great Danes this year as a junior is Lucas Vallilo. The Brazil native spent the last two years at Park University in Missouri; he won nine games with a 0.75 goals allow average and a 78.6% save percentage as a sophomore starter.
Zack Decker becomes a Great Dane after a high school career at Red Hook High. The four-year starter took the Raiders to the Mid-Hudson Athletic League final in 2015.
COACHING STAFF
Gorman enters his sixth season as the head coach of the Great Danes. He brings two new assistants this season: Kevin May comes to UAlbany after four years as an assistant coach at Georgia Gwinett College and Chris Custer joins the Great Danes after spending the last three years at St. Lawrence University as the goalkeeper coach.
SCHEDULE
The Great Danes will compete in 18 games in the regular season, including six teams that competed in the 2015 NCAA Tournament. UAlbany will play nine home games at Tom & Mary Casey Stadium, including hosting 2015 College Cup participant Syracuse. The slate includes three Power Five programs, three reigning conference champions and a seven-game America East schedule.
The year will begin with a couple of road exhibitions as the squad travels west to play Buffalo on Sunday, August 14th at 3 p.m. and Colgate on Saturday, August 20th.
UAlbany opens the 2016 season with a pair of games on campus under the lights, beginning with the home opener on Friday, August 26th at 7 p.m. against Marist. Then on Tuesday, August 30th, the team hosts Lafayette at 7 p.m.
The Great Danes will go wheels up to Chicago for a pair of games the next weekend, starting with a contest at DePaul on Friday, September 2nd at 5 p.m. and following with a 4 p.m. matchup at Loyola Chicago on Sunday, September 4th.
The next three contests will take UAlbany through New England, beginning with a mid-afternoon matchup with UMass on Tuesday, September 13th at 4 p.m. Next up is a road game at Rhode Island on Saturday, September 17th at 7 p.m. The road swing finishes with a battle against ACC opponent and 2015 NCAA Tournament participant Boston College on Tuesday, September 20th at 3:30 p.m.
Before the start of conference play, UAlbany hosts reigning Northeast Conference champion LIU Brooklyn on Sunday, September 25th at 4 p.m.
UAlbany kicks off America East play on Saturday, October 1st at 7 p.m. with a road affair at Hartford.
On Tuesday, October 4th, UAlbany hosts Syracuse, which plays in its first College Cup in 2015, at 7 p.m. at Casey Stadium.
The Great Danes return to league play for the next four games, including three home contests. UAlbany takes on the reigning America East Tournament champion Vermont on Friday, October 7th at 7 p.m. at home. After a road game against New Hampshire on Wednesday, October 12th at 7 p.m., UAlbany plays a pair of Saturday home games at 7 p.m., taking on UMBC on October 15th and rival Stony Brook on October 22nd.
UAlbany takes a one-game break from league play and heads to Pennsylvania to play the 2015 Sun Belt champion Hartwick at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, October 25th at 7 p.m.
Two more league games will conclude the regular season, starting with a road contest against UMass Lowell on Saturday, October 29th at 7 p.m. Then on Wednesday, November 2nd, UAlbany battles against SUNY rival Binghamton at 7 p.m. at home.
The 2016 America East Tournament will include the six teams with the best conference records with the top two earning a bye into the semifinals. All games are hosted by the higher seed in the game. The quarterfinals will be on Saturday, November 5th with the semifinals being on Wednesday, November 9th. The 2016 America East title game will be on Saturday, November 12th.
