July 18, 2009

Dear Alums & Friends of URI Soccer,

Hope you are all enjoying the summer months. We’ve been having some beautiful weather in Rhode Island as of late and look forward to more down the road. Campus has been bustling with activity including the annual South County Balloon Festival this weekend. We have our overnight camp coming up July 26-29 and then pre-season will be here before we know it. Where did the summer go?

It has been a busy July for me with our very successful day camp, the 4th of July holiday followed by a week at Notre Dame Soccer working their camp. Over this time we also had some great news as my Assistant Rob Czlonka and his wife Lisa welcomed their first child Gabriel (8 lbs., 8 oz, 21 inches) into the Rhody family. It was very exciting news and mom, dad and Gabe are doing well abet getting a little less sleep these days…for mom & dad that is!

Have had some great alumni news over the past couple of weeks, the latest being that former Ram Geoff Cameron (Attleboro, MA) was named as a starter as a central defender in the MLS All-Star Game on July 29 versus English Premier League club Everton. Geoff is having another great year for the Houston Dynamo after finishing 3rd in the voting for Rookie of the year in 2008. We have also heard from Mike Hoffer ‘61 who was pleased about the news of Andy Williams wife Marcia finding a bone marrow donor. Mike and his wife have been passionately involved in raising money for cancer through their marathon training.

On the playing side Peter Dos Santos ’94 wrote to tell us his over 30 men’s team qualified again National Final Four for the second consecutive year. Steve Demoura ‘01 is also on the team (just turned 30 this year) and they are off to Sanford, Florida in late July where they will play a team from North Texas in the opening round. Prior to heading to FL they had to beat some good teams including one from NY, which had former MLS players Richie Williams (DC United) and Mark Semoli (MetroStars) on it.

Present URI player Michael Tanke ’11 (Niles, MI) is also chasing his own national championship as he is off to Lancaster, MA to vie for the coveted McGuire Cup (U19 Championships) at the USYSA Tournament of Champions. His Indy Burn Eagles won their first Midwest Regional Soccer Championship beginning July 21st after being a bridesmaid several times over the past few years. We are certainly going to get up to watch him play and you can see Michael in action at http://championships.usyouthsoccer.org/regionII/. Michael hopes to add to the list of former Youth National Champions who play for the Rams as rising sophomore Reece Markman (Dallas, TX) won a U17 and U18 title with his Andromeda SC and incoming freshmen Matt Ribbens (Tinley Park, IL) and Robby Gargaro (Naperville, IL) also raised their own cups with their Chicago Magic U16 squad.

Finally, a reminder that the 2009 URI Men’s Soccer Golf Outing is just around the corner on Monday August 10th at Fenner Hill Golf Club in Hope Valley, RI. The cost is $125 per player with opportunities to sponsor a hole/tee ($100), a foursome ($500) or as a corporate sponsor ($500). Registration for the beat ball foursome includes 18 holes, cart, post round meal and golf favors. There will be a raffle and silent auction for an autographed Geoff Cameron Houston Dynamo jersey among other prizes. For more information or to sign-up as an individual or register a group contact Assistant Coach Mitch Stone at (401) 874-2560 or at stone@mail.uri.edu.

ALL THE BEST & GO RAMS!
Coach O'C