Men's Soccer | May 18, 2015

JERSEY CITY, N.J. (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | New Jersey City University men's soccer junior co-captain Tyler Krychkowski (North Arlington, NJ/North Arlington) has been honored as the 2014-15 winner of the Robert L. McNulty Memorial Soccer Award.
 
Krychkowski received the award at NJCU's annual athletics awards banquet which was reintroduced to the community this spring.
 
Krychkowski joins his older brother Tom Krychkowski, who won the award in 2011, as the only family to have siblings each claim the leadership accolade since it was first introduced in 1996.

Video of Presentation
 
Additionally, the Krychkowski brothers join men's soccer greats Edison and Jonathan Bilbao, who each captured the Thomas M. Gerrity Scholar-Athlete of the Year award multiple times during a three-year stretch from 2006-09 as the only siblings in NJCU athletics history to each be bestowed the same major end of the year award.
 
Tyler Krychkowski has played every position for NJCU on the field. Following in the footsteps of his brother and coming to the University in 2012 after a highly-successful high school career in which he was the 2011-12 'Observer' newspaper Male Athlete of the Year for all sports and the 2011 Meadowlands Division Player of the Year, he graduated as his school's all-time leading goal producer in soccer and a 1,000-point scorer in basketball.
 
A defender his rookie season, he moved back to his natural midfield and forward position as a sophomore. But in Fall 2014, when NJCU found itself without a returning or recruited goalkeeper in early August, Krychkowski, who had never played the position in his life at any level, stepped up and within weeks had been trained to become a starting goalkeeper at the collegiate level. The results were immediate and staggering.
 
In the first week he ever played the position in his life, he led NJCU to a pair of ties, allowing only a penalty kick goal. On September 1 he was named the first New Jersey Athletic Conference and Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III Metro Defensive Player of the Week of the 2014 season and was honored as the Disney Soccer/NSCAA Division III National Player of the Week. He was also prominently featured on NCAA.com.
 
Two weeks later, Krychkowski was featured in the September 15 issue of Sports Illustrated, becoming the 12th Gothic Knight athlete to appear in the magazine since 2000 and the 10th to be published in the magazine's 'Faces in the Crowd' section.
 

NJCU opened the season by playing in an NCAA-record five consecutive overtime games in front of its new keeper. NJCU also set single-season school records for most overtime games (7) and most 0-0 draws (3), as Krychkowski and his defensive unit kept the Gothic Knights in games despite struggling offensively all year. Overall, NJCU played four tie games with nine other contests decided by just one goal and four others by just two tallies. The club only lost three times by three and only one time allowed more than three goals in any game (4-1).
 
Krychkowski, a 5-foot-11, 155-pounder who plans to major in Business Management, played in every second of every game for NJCU in 2014. He pitched three shutouts and while facing 361 shots in 1896 minutes, led the NJAC with 131 saves while allowing just 36 goals with a 1.71 goals against average.
 
Nationally, he ranked 13th in Division III in total saves, 45th in saves per game and 134th in save percentage.
 
Krychkowski, who will move back to an offensive role on the team, said of receiving the award: "my reaction to winning the award was definitely a surprise. I didn't expect to be honored like this and it really means a lot to me and my family to win an award that my brother also won. Our field is named after Coach McNulty and I know how prestigious of an honor this is. I am thankful to the NJCU athletic department for this selection and I'm looking forward to a great senior year in the Fall."
 
Third-year head coach Patrick Snyder said: "I could not be more proud of Tyler and the sacrifice he made in his personal game for the team this season. If there's anyone the McNulty Award was designed for, it was Tyler Krychkowski. He's a leader on the field for us and he deserves every accolade coming his way. He also had a 3.0 GPA in the fall and is having an even better semester academically this spring and I think he has become a great example of an overall student-athlete."
 
"I also think this speaks volumes about Maureen Krychkowski and their late father Stephen," Snyder added, referring to Tyler and Tom's mother. "You don't have two members of a family win the same award in college athletics without some credit going to their family and how they were raised."
 
Outside of men's soccer, Tyler Krychkowski is a two-year representative on the NJCU Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC). is a three-year student assistant in the NJCU athletic communications/sports information office. During basketball season, he has served as the primary spotter for all home statistics. He also works for the office during baseball, softball and men's volleyball events, also following in his brother's footsteps. After working for NJCU sports information director Ira Thor for five years at NJCU, Tom Krychkowski is now the full-time assistant sports information director at the College of Staten Island.
 
Maureen Krychkowski said: "I am blessed to have two wonderful yet different men as winners of this award. Tom and Tyler never cease to amaze me with their hardwork and dedication. I know they will continue to be the very best they can be. I am so proud  of what they have accomplished."

The Robert L. McNulty Memorial Soccer Memorial Soccer Award is named for former Jersey City State College men's soccer Hall-of-Fame coach, Robert L. McNulty, for whom the NJCU soccer field is named. McNulty was head coach of the Gothics from 1966-1977, and tallied 68 victories over the course of his career. Furthermore, he is considered a building block of American soccer for his work developing the sport on the national level.
 
The award is the top all-around honor given to a Gothic Knight soccer player and presented annually to the player, male or female, who best exemplifies the attributes for which McNulty was known: dedication to the sport of soccer, competitive spirit on the playing field, knowledge of the fundamentals of soccer and demonstration of leadership in the advancement and expansion of soccer.