France. Sweden. Canada. Australia. Trinidad. Cyprus. No you’re not at the Geneva Convention. You’re looking at the 2009 Adelphi Men’s Soccer team.
The international presence on the field has led the Panthers to an 9-2-4 start. Adelphi went undefeated in the month of September, outscoring their opponents by a combined 15-3 margin. Adelphi began the month of October with a resounding 3-1 drubbing of Longwood to avenge a tough loss in last years postseason. The win over Longwood gave Adelphi it’s first win in conference play to move to (1-0-1) in the Atlantic Soccer Conference. Senior Kevin Gluchowski finds the mixture of talent and diversity as a big reason to why Adelphi has been successful this season.
“What's special about this team this year is that we have a core group of returnees from last year plus an extremely large freshman class, so you can see everyone learning from one another. Moving forward we just need to stay the course and focus on one game at a time,” said Gulchowski.
Much of this success can be attributed to the dominance shown early by the French freshman Issa Tall.
Tall has showed the faintest signs of being a freshman as he has started in every game. The midfielder has scored 13 goals in the first 14 Division I collegiate games of his career. Tall also leads the team in points (27) and has notched 3 game winning goals. Despite leading the team in these categories, Tall explains his early successes are a product of a team effort.
“Even as a freshman, I feel well in this team. That's true that I am leading the team with points but I’m not alone on the field. Thanks to my teammates’ for doing well because they give me a certain freedom and a confidence therefore I adapted quickly and scored goals.”
Tall scored both of the goals needed to beat Big East foe Syracuse, 2-1, marking one of the biggest wins in Adelphi University history. Head Coach Carlo Aquista believes Issa’s international experience has made the jump to Division I soccer an easier transition.
“Issa brings a ton of international experience coming from France. He played at a high youth level there. The learning curve in college soccer, he’s picked it up very quickly. His impact has been tremendous, 11 goals in 12 games. His impact has been vital,” says Coach Aquista.
