New Jersey City University Athletics

KANSAS CITY, KS…New Jersey City University’s men’s soccer head coach CRISTIAN da SILVA’s jump from high school to the college coaching rankings proved fruitful this season. After guiding the Gothic Knights to their all-around greatest season in the 49-year history of the program, da Silva has been selected as the 2007 NCAA Division III Metro Region Coach of the Year, in voting by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.

 

In his first season as a collegiate head coach after a six-year run at St. Joseph’s Regional High School (Montvale, NJ), da Silva becomes the first coach in NJCU history to be named Region Coach of the Year. The former professional player for the MetroStars of Major League Soccer and First-Team All-America pick at Southern Connecticut State University, where he helped the Owls win two Division II national championships, was previously named New Jersey Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in November.

 

Hired in May 2007 after a national search, da Silva took the reigns of the nationally renowned program with little time to prepare for the upcoming season and even less time to recruit. All da Silva did in his first season as a collegiate head coach was add a remarkable amount of stability following a coaching transition, and guided the Knights to heights they had never before reached.

 

In the 2007 NCAA Division III final post-season poll, the Gothic Knights were ranked No. 12 in the nation. NJCU finished with a single-season record 18 victories (18-5-1), and earned the highest two regular season rankings ever—eighth in the October 23 NSCAA poll and seventh in the October 30 rankings. Prior to the 2007 season, the highest ever NSCAA ranking for the Knights was 11^th.

 

NJCU won its first-ever outright regular season NJAC title, finishing with a 7-1-1 mark, en route to the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament—another first.

 

NJCU was the No. 1 ranked team in all three NCAA Division III Metro Region rankings and also first in the NSCAA Metro poll—the first time the Knights had achieved either of these feats.

 

For the second time in three years, NJCU qualified for the NCAA Division III Tournament as an at-large Pool C selection, and again advanced to the Sweet 16, by virtue of a 2-0 win over Castleton State College (VT), the champions of the North Atlantic Conference (NAC), and Hamilton College (NY), Liberty League titleists, 4-1, in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, before losing to Montclair State University in overtime in the third round, 3-2. NJCU finished the year with a 3-3 record against nationally ranked opponents.

 

Among the most prolific offensive teams in the nation in 2007, NJCU scored 81 goals in 24 games, the third time in school history the Knights have scored at least 80 times in one year. Players who accounted for 67 of those 81 goals return for the 2008 campaign.