Eight Boca Players Head to NCAA DIII Tourney
November 7, 2007
Michael Krol chats with Boca U23 Coach Wolf Finger over the summer. Krol will be one of eight Boca players that will represent their schools in the 2007 NCAA Division III Men’s and Women’s Soccer Championships which begin this week and end on November 24 when the men’s and women’s NCAA Division III National Champions are crowned at the Disney Wide World of Sports in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
Eight Boca Players Head to NCAA DIII Tournament
Club standouts also help their schools garner national rankings
TOMS RIVER, NJ (November 5, 2007) – Eight Jersey Shore Boca players will represent their schools in the 2007 NCAA Division III Men’s and Women’s Soccer Championships which begin this week and end on November 24 when the men’s and women’s NCAA Division III National Champions are crowned at the Disney Wide World of Sports in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
The NCAA announced the 2007 men’s and women’s championship fields today from their headquarters in Indianapolis.
Seniors Jason Mancuso (Toms River) of York College of Pennsylvania and Vesh Tivzenda (Atlanta) of Stevens Institute of Technology along with freshman Michael Krol (Howell) of Montclair State University will be part of the men’s championship tournament while seniors Courtney Krol (Howell), Jenn Olszewski (Brick) and Lori Adriance (Hazlet) along with junior Erin Cunliffe (Lakewood) will try to help The College of New Jersey return to the women’s national finals again in 2007.
Mancuso, a former Toms River North standout and transfer from Central Connecticut State University, has started 20 games for the Spartans (19-2-0) this season notching 13 goals and 7 assists which places him second in scoring and has helped lead York to a #9 national ranking by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA).
Mancuso and York will take on Dickinson College (13-2-3) in first round action on Friday.
Tivzenda, who helped Stevens (16-1-2) to a #10 national ranking by the NSCAA, has played in 16 games while starting 5 for the Ducks and has netted one goal this year.
Stevens will host Eastern College (13-5-1) on Friday in Hoboken.
As a freshman, Krol, who starred for Howell HS one year ago, has played in 20 games for the Red Hawks scoring 2 goals and adding 3 assists while helping Montclair State (17-2-1) to a #16 national ranking by the NSCAA and their second consecutive New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Championship.
Montclair will take on the winner of the Penn State Behrend (13-4-3) and Washington and Jefferson College (12-5-3) in second round action.
Mancuso is a long-time Boca veteran who played on several of the Club’s youth teams and Super Y-League teams as well as with Boca’s U23 and men’s programs while Tivzenda and Krol were members of the Boca U23 teams in 2006 and 2007 respectively.
With four members of the Boca U23 women’s program from this past summer on their roster, The College of New Jersey Lady Lions are looking to return to the NCAA DIII National Finals for a second year.
TCNJ has an overall record of 17-0-1 as they begin the 2007 NCAA tournament and is the # 3 women’s team in the nation according to the NSCAA.
Courtney Krol, the older sister of Michael, has started all 18 games for the Lady Lions scoring 3 goals and adding 5 assists while fellow TCNJ teammates Cunliffe has seen action in 13 games and Adriance in 11 games with each tallying one goal apiece.
Olszewski, a former Green Dragon, also has seen action in 12 games for the Lady Lions.
TCNJ will host Farmingdale State (13-7-1) in first round women’s action on Friday.
Krol, Cunliffe, Adriance and Olszewski were all part of the Boca U23 women’s team this past summer that advanced to the Mid-Atlantic Summer Soccer League (MSSL) Championship game during their inaugural season.
While the above seven players do their work on the pitch to help their respective schools advance in this year’s NCAA Tournament, Megan Norcia (Brick), an assistant women’s coach at Richard Stockton College, will help lead her team from the sidelines as the #23 nationally ranked Osprey’s (18-3-2) will host York College of Pennsylvania (13-5-3) this weekend in Pomona.
Norcia was a three-time NJAC All-Conference player at Stockton and voted to the NJAC First Team twice and also earned NSCAA Mid-Atlantic Region Second Team honors in 2003.
The former Brick High School standout is a current member of the undefeated Boca Women’s “Open” team which is currently in first place in the Garden State Soccer League’s top women’s division.
Sixty-seven Jersey Shore Boca standouts who previously played for the Club on either their Men’s, Women’s, Super Y-League, PDL, Club or Youth teams, participated in NCAA intercollegiate soccer this fall representing their respective institutions as players and coaches in some of the top college soccer programs in the nation.
The sixty-seven mark the highest number ever of Jersey Shore Boca players and coaches to participate in NCAA intercollegiate soccer during the same season in the Club’s twenty-nine year history.
Jersey Shore Boca has been a fixture in the soccer community since 1978 and is one of the oldest and most respected soccer clubs on the East Coast.
The Club will be celebrating their 30-year anniversary in 2008.
For more information on the Jersey Shore Boca Soccer Club, log on to the Club’s official web site at www.jerseyshoreboca.com
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