# 2016 Northeast Conference men's soccer season

The 2016 Northeast Conference men's soccer season was the 36th season of men's varsity soccer in the conference.
The LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds are the defending regular season and tournament champions.
St. Francis Brooklyn won the Regular season Championship by going 6-0-1 in conference play and won the Tournament championship by defeating Sacred Heart and Saint Francis (PA). St. Francis Brooklyn will play against Dartmouth in the NCAA tournament.

## Changes from 2015

* None

## Teams

| Team | Location | Stadium | Capacity | Head coach | Seasons at school | Record at school |
| Bryant Bulldogs | Smithfield, Rhode Island | Bulldog Stadium | 5,500 | Seamus Purcell | 20 | 129–174–32 |
| Central Connecticut Blue Devils | New Britain, Connecticut | CCSU Soccer Field | 550 | Shaun Green | 31 | 267–250–58 |
| Fairleigh Dickinson Knights | Florham Park, New Jersey | FDU Stadium | 500 | Seth Roland | 18 | 183–130–43 |
| LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds | Brooklyn, New York | LIU Field | 400 | TJ Kostecky | 17 | 110–158–39 |
| Robert Morris Colonials | Moon Township, Pennsylvania | North Athletic Complex | 800 | Bill Denniston | 20 | 138–197–42 |
| Sacred Heart Pioneers | Fairfield, Connecticut | Campus Field | 3,334 | Joe Barroso | 11 | 75–100–20 |
| St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers | Brooklyn, New York | Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 5 | 300 | Tom Giovatto | 9 | 80—59—26 |
| Saint Francis Red Flash | Loretto, Pennsylvania | DeGol Field | 500 | Paulo Neto | 1 | 11—5—4 |
Notes:
* All records, appearances, titles, etc. are from time with current school only.
* Year at school includes 2016 season.
* Overall and NEC records are from time at current school and are before the beginning of the season.

## Preseason
### Rankings

| | NEC Coaches Poll |
| 1. | LIU Brooklyn (6) |
| 2. | Saint Francis PA (2) |
| 3. | St. Francis Brooklyn |
| 4. | Central Connecticut |
| 5. | Bryant |
| | Robert Morris |
| 7. | Fairleigh Dickinson |
| 8. | Sacred Heart |
 first place votes

## Regular season
### Player of the week

Throughout the regular season, the Northeast Conference offices named a player of the week and a freshman of the week each Monday.
| Week (Date) | Player of the week | Freshman of the week |
| 1 (Aug. 29, 2016) | Djiby Sarr, SFBK | Giuseppe Barone, LIU |
| 2 (Sept. 5, 2016) | Marcus Rojas, SFU | Sebastian Ferreira, FDU |
| 3 (Sept. 12, 2016) | Nicco Mastrangelo, SFU | Marius Koss, LIU |
| 4 (Sept. 19, 2016) | Simen Hestnes, LIU | Faouzi Taieb, SFBK |
| 5 (Sept. 26, 2016) | Yussuf Olajide, SFBK | Robert Strain, SHU |
| 6 (Oct. 3, 2016) | Romario Guscott, LIU | Giuseppe Barone, LIU |
| 7 (Oct. 10, 2016) | Dominick Falanga, SFBK | Oliver Larente, BU |
| 8 (Oct. 17, 2016) | Salvatore Barone, SFBK | David Bokumabi, FDU |
| 9 (Oct. 24, 2016) | Naeem Charles, LIU | Giuseppe Barone, LIU Oliver Larente, BU |
| 10 (Oct. 31, 2016) | Rasmus Hansen, LIU Francis de Vries, SFU | Hadynho Sarr, SHU |
| 11 (Nov. 7, 2016) | Shaquille Saunchez, SHU | Robert Strain, SHU |

### Rankings
#### NSCAA national

Legend :
* Increase in ranking
* Decrease in ranking
* Not ranked previous week
* Bryant
* Central Connecticut
* Fairleigh Dickinson
* LIU Brooklyn
* Robert Morris
* Sacred Heart
* St. Francis Brooklyn
* Saint Francis (PA)

#### NSCAA northeast region

| | Wk 1 | Wk 2 | Wk 3 | Wk 4 | Wk 5 | Wk 6 | Wk 7 | Wk 8 | Wk 9 | Wk 10 | Wk 11 | Wk 12 |
| Bryant | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Central Connecticut | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Fairleigh Dickinson | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| LIU Brooklyn | 7 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 8 |
| Robert Morris | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Sacred Heart | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| St. Francis Brooklyn | 8 | | | | 10 | | 9 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Saint Francis (PA) | | | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 |

### Results

Legend :
* Win
* Lose
* Tie
| | Opponent | Opponent | Opponent | Opponent | Opponent | Opponent | Opponent | Opponent |
| Team | BRY | CCSU | FDU | LIU | RMU | SHU | SFBK | SFU |
| Bryant Bulldogs | | 3–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–3 | 1–1 | 1–1 |
| Central Connecticut Blue Devils | 1–3 | | 1–1 | 2–7 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 3–0 |
| Fairleigh Dickinson Knights | 2–0 | 1–1 | | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 0–3 | 1–1 |
| LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds | 1–1 | 7–2 | 2–0 | | 3–1 | 5–0 | 0–1 | 0–3 |
| Robert Morris Colonials | 0–3 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–3 | | 0–3 | 0–2 | 0–1 |
| Sacred Heart Pioneers | 3–2 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 0–5 | 3–0 | | 0–2 | 0–1 |
| St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers | 1–1 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | | 2–0 |
| Saint Francis Red Flash | 1–1 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–2 | |

### All-NEC awards and teams

2016 NEC Men's Soccer Individual Awards :
| Award | Recipient(s) |
| Player of the Year | Simen Hestnes, LIU |
| Coach of the Year | Tom Giovatto, SFBK |
| Defensive Player of the Year | Collyns Laokandi, SFBK |
| Rookie of the Year | Faouzi Taieb, SFBK |
2016 NEC Men's Soccer All-Conference Teams :
| First Team | Second Team | Rookie Team |
| Rasmus Hansen, So., FW, LIU Shaquille Saunchez, Sr., FW, SHU Naeem Charles, R-Jr., MD, LIU Simen Hestnes, So., MD, LIU Salvatore Barone, Sr., MD, SFBK Dominick Falanga, Jr., MD, SFBK Pedro Neto, Jr., MD, SFU Collyns Laokandi, Jr., DF, SFBK Francis de Vries, Sr., DF, SFU Jack Webber, Gr., DF, SFU Robert Bazzichetto, Jr., GK, SFBK | Romario Guscott, So., FW, LIU Yussuf Olajide, Sr., FW, SFBK Andres Muriel Albino, Fr., MD, CCSU Giuseppe Barone, Fr., MD, LIU Keane McIvor, Jr., MD, RMU Fabian Suele, Sr., MD, SFBK Troye Kiernan, Jr., MD, SFU Charlie Booth, So., DF, BRY Julian Linke, Sr., DF, SHU Eric Wahlin, So., DF, LIU Nick Velleca, Sr., GK, CCSU | Andres Muriel Albino, Fr., MD, CCSU David Bokumabi, Fr., MD, FDU Daniel Lasarte, R-Fr., MD, FDU Giuseppe Barone, Fr., MD, LIU Marius Koss, Fr., DF, LIU Oscar Curras, Fr., DF, SHU Robert Strain, Fr., GK, SHU Djiby Sarr, Fr., MD, SFBK Faouzi Taieb, Fr., DF, SFBK Tulio Canineu, So., MD, SFU |

## Postseason
### NEC tournament

The 2016 Northeast Conference men's soccer tournament was held at Pier 5 in Brooklyn Bridge Park in Brooklyn, NY, the home of St. Francis Brooklyn. The semifinals took place on November 11 and the championship on November 13.
| Semifinals November 11, 2016 | Semifinals November 11, 2016 | Semifinals November 11, 2016 | Final November 13, 2016 1:00pm EST | Final November 13, 2016 1:00pm EST | Final November 13, 2016 1:00pm EST |
| 1 | St. Francis Brooklyn | 1 | | | |
| 4 | Sacred Heart | 0 | | | |
| 4 | Sacred Heart | 0 | 1 | St. Francis Brooklyn | 1$^{2OT}$ |
| | | | 2 | Saint Francis (PA) | 0 |
| 2 | Saint Francis (PA) | 1 | 2 | Saint Francis (PA) | 0 |
| 3 | LIU Brooklyn | 0 | | | |

### NCAA tournament

| Seed | Region | School | 1st round | 2nd round | 3rd round | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Championship |
| | 1 | St. Francis Brooklyn | L, 0–1 vs. Dartmouth | | | | |