Tag: college men

Jordan Mann, a member of SMU’s 2005 NCAA Men’s College Cup team, died unexpectedly May 26 at his home in Prairie Village, Kan. Mann, who had graduated from SMU a week earlier with a degree in finance, died of apparent natural causes according to the Prairie Village Police Department, pending an autopsy. Mann starred at Shawnee Mission East High School and for the Kansas City Legends and played at Furman for two seasons before before transferring to SMU in 2005. Mann played for the Mustangs 18 games in 2005 and 16 in 2006.

Notre Dame’s Joseph Lapira, Soccer America’s College Player of the Year and the Hermann Trophy winner in 2006, debuted for Ireland’s national team in a 1-1 tie with Ecuador on Wednesday night at Giants Stadium. Lapira, who hails from Lake Charles, La,, and qualified to represent Ireland through his mother, Kate , became the first amateur player to play for Ireland in 43 years. Lapira replaced Sunderland’s Daryl Murphy four minutes from the end of the game, the first of two on Ireland’s U.S. tour.

As expected, Munga Eketebi was hired as Florida International’s new men’s head coach. Eketebi, who becomes the fourth head coach in the 35-year history of the program, replaces Karl Kremser under whom he worked as an assistant for almost two decades. Eketebi took a short hiatus from FIU in 1996 when he served a one-year stint as the men’s head coach at Nova Southeastern, leading the NAIA Knights to an undefeated regular-season record in the Sun Conference.

Amherst named Duke men’s assistant Justin Serpone as its new men’s head coach, replacing co-coaches Peter Gooding, who is retiring, and his son, Milton, who was recently named the men’s coach at MIT. Prior to Duke, Serpone, a product of Division III Drew University, served as the assistant men’s coach at Northwestern from 2003 to 2006 and at Lafayette from 2001 to 2003.

Hartwick will join the Mid-American Conference as an affiliate member in men’s soccer only, beginning with the 2007 season. The MAC needed to add another team to keep its automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Men’s Tournament. The NCAA mandates that at least six members of the league must sponsor the sport to receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. IPFW, which was an affiliate member of the MAC in 2005 and 2006, left after the 2006 season as all of its athletics programs joined the Summit League (former Mid-Continent).

The NCAA placed the West Virginia men’s soccer program on two-year probation and issued a public reprimand to the school for major rules violations by former men’s coach Mike Seabolt. In a lengthy report, the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions outlined violations committed by Seabolt.

One of the biggest rivalries Indiana, the seven-time men’s national champion, has developed is its spring season clash against Mexico. For the third straight spring, the Hoosiers host a Mexican national youth team in a friendly. This year’s friendly against the Tri U-20s takes place Sunday at Armstrong Stadium.