Montgomery County Community College

After completing a mandatory season of provisional play last fall, Montgomery County Community College Mustangs Men’s and Women’s Soccer teams are prepared to take to field for the first time since 1989 in intercollegiate play.

Competing in the Eastern Pennsylvania Collegiate Conference (EPCC), the men’s team starts its season on Sept. 9 at 4 p.m. with a home game against Bucks County Community College. Competing in Region 19 of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), the women’s soccer team has its first game on Sept. 15 at 3:30 p.m. at home against Bergen Community College.

All home games are free of charge and are open to the public. Games are played on the College’s athletics fields, located behind the Physical Education Center at the Central Campus, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell, with ample free parking available in the lot off of Cathcart Road. For more information, visit the Athletics webpage.

Mustangs Men’s Soccer

Men’s Head Coach Andy Kelly has an optimistic outlook for the season, due in large part to a strong freshmen class coupled with several returning starters and sophomores who participated in club play last fall. Returning starters Bryan Hare, Joe Civarelli, Eric Frakenfield, and Mena Aqualiby give the Mustangs an experienced nucleus, while sophomores Tom Dempsey, Brandon Essig, Jerry Francois, Mickel Mikhai and Remon Samy add depth.

Freshmen Dave Griffith, Christian Pastor and Mike Wambold combine to provide the team with a potentially dangerous collection of forwards. Nick Cappa anchors the midfield along with Ahmed Faik and James Kane, and anchoring the defense with Civarelli and Dempsey are newcomers Patrick Rust and Ryan Nelson. Hare and transfer Nick Hulayew will battle for the goalkeeping spot.

Coach Kelly, who is assisted by coaches Matt Giordano and Don Curran, believes that the strength of the freshmen class is attributed to the number of key players who have experience playing club and high school soccer.

"These players seem to be more skillful and make better decisions with the ball due to their experience," said Kelly. "If the players learn to play together quickly, the Mustangs will be in for an exciting and winning season. It is the team goal to make the playoffs, and we will see what happens from there."

Mustangs Women’s Soccer  

Women’s Head Coach Tim McNally is optimistic about the team’s prospects for the first year of competition. Region 19 has been one of the strongest in the NJCAA at Division III for the past three seasons, producing the last three National runners up. Looking to be competitive within the division and region, a major season challenge for the team is completing a schedule of 17 games in 34 days.

Returning players from last year’s club team Stephanie Doran and Erica Smolcynski provide strong leadership on and off the field. Doran is coming off a season where she scored 26 points in 11 games, while Smolcynski joined the team mid-season to solidify the goalkeeping position.

Building on its success of playing "attacking soccer" last season when the team averaged 3.5 goals per game, Coach McNally expects the Mustangs to improve defensively. Assisted by coach Lauren Bohling, McNally expects to implement a system of core values that will establish a strong foundation for the season and will build success for the future.

Mustang Men’s Home Game Schedule

Mustang Women's Home Game Schedule