JERSEY CITY, NJ…ROBERT BIELAN, a former three-year men’s soccer player at
New Jersey City University from 1992-1994, has returned to his alma mater as an assistant coach for the women’s soccer team, NJCU head coach
Kristin Spohn has announced.
Bielan, a 1997 graduate of the University with a B.A. in Special Education and minor in Psychology/Counseling, most recently has served as the head coach of the junior varsity team at Holy Family Academy, and as assistant coach of the varsity program. There, he was a basic to advanced soccer skills trainer, and an individual skills troubleshooter.
Since 2004, he has also served as coach and manager of the Bayonne Blazers Football Club, a women’s indoor soccer team. From 1993-95, he was an undergraduate assistant of the then-Jersey City State College women’s team during the first three years of the program’s existence, working for head coach Mike Lyons.
Other coaching experience includes the Eagles Indoor Soccer League from 1991-93, and with the Toms River Youth Soccer Association from 1988-91.
After transferring to NJCU from Ocean County College, where he played for Lyons, Bielan made an immediate impact on the 1992 program as a sophomore, finishing with six goals and one assist for 13 points, while playing 14 of 16 games for the Gothic Knights as a defender. He finished second on the team in goals and points per game (0.93) and listed third in total points. He tallied 24 shots during the season for Coach Chris Kennedy.
His best game came on October 7, 1992, when he scored two goals and assisted on the game winner for five points, as JCSC blanked Rutgers University-Newark, 3-0. He added single goals against New York Tech, William Paterson College (now WPU), SUNY-Old Westbury, and Trenton State College (now The College of New Jersey).
He saw action in only seven games in 1993 for Kennedy, while battling an ankle injury and was limited to two games in 1994 for Carlos Curling. He stopped playing collegiately in 1994 to help Lyons train the women and complete his education.
He has continued to play since college, most recently for the New York Fire Department Indoor Soccer Team since 2004 and the RexPlex Indoor Soccer league from 2000-04. He also played in the semi-pro Garden State South league from 1996-99. He was a member of the Garden State North club from 1993-94, and the Eagles Indoor Soccer League (1989-97).
A 1987 graduate of Bayonne High School, Bielan was a four-year varsity letterwinner for Bees’ coach Connie Gallagher. He was selected All-Hudson County in 1986.
Bielan has been employed as a professional firefighter in Bayonne since 1995. He also serves as a home instruction teacher for the Bayonne Board of Education. He has been a volunteer for the New Jersey Special Olympics since 1994.
Born November 10, 1969, Bielan resides in Bayonne with his wife Filomena and infant daughter, Taylor Rose, born in October 2004.
—www.njcugothicknights.com—
