A season of plusses for Hounds soccer and a bright future!

    It was a season of plusses for the Assumption College men’s soccer program in 2009 and third-year coach Jeremy Bonomo, the Northeast-10 Conference co-Coach-of-the-Year.  Bonomo, who has won several championships as a player and coach at the collegiate level has positioned the Greyhounds to be among the elite of the region.
    The team has now made the Northeast-10 Conference playoffs an annual event, earning a berth for the second straight year and fifth overall. The next goal, a Northeast-10 Conference championship and an N.C.A.A. regional berth!
    “We’re please with the overall result of the season,”  said Bonomo.  “And, now we need to take the next step.” 
    “We’ve made huge strides in playing the type of defense needed to compete in playoff soccer.  And, we have demonstrated that we can play with everyone in our conference.”  The team owns impressive wins over nationally recognized programs over the last three seasons . . . Southern New Hampshire in 2007, Le Moyne in 2008, and this past season, Southern Connecticut.
     The Greyhounds defeated conference finalist Southern Connecticut in a double-overtime thriller.  They also registered wins over Merrimack and Saint Anselm among the postseason qualifyers and played a double-overtime scoreless tie with Bentley.  The other three playoff teams prevailed with late goals in one-goal thrillers.
    Senior defender AUSTIN PRETE (Glastonbury, CT/Glastonbury) and junior forward STEVE BLAISDELL (Peabody, MA/Bishop Fenwick) were named to the Northeast-10 Conference all-stars as selected by the league’s head coaches.
    Prete earned first-team honors, while Blaisdell was named to the second team.  Freshman midfielder TOM CARROLL (Belford, NJ/Middletown North) and freshman forward DOMINIC MONDI (Peabody, MA/Peabody) were both named to the all-rookie team.
    “We are very proud of the individual accomplishment of our players this season,” continued Bonomo.  “Austin (Prete) was a major factor in leading our defense, while Steve (Blaisdell), Tom (Carroll) and Dominic (Mondi) are the cornerstone to what we hope will be dominant offense.”
    “And, most of all, we won several games this season in overtime (4-0-2) or late, which demonstrates the type of physical condition we established and the attitude and character we have developed as a team.”
    The Greyhounds finished the season at 9-6-3 and 6-5-2 in conference regular-season play earning the No. 6 seed in the postseason playoffs.  They played a defensive masterpiece against Franklin Pierce University in the quarterfinal round---a scoreless double-overtime tie.  And, while the Ravens moved on in the playoffs as the result of penalty kicks, the Greyhounds have become the team most talked about among conference fans.
    Prete anchored a defense that allowed just 17 goals all season in front of junior standout goalkeeper BRANDAN SULLIVAN (Halesite, NY/Saint Dominic).  The team allowed just 86 shots on its goalkeeper and allowed just two goals to be scored by conference rivals at the Multi-Sport Stadium.  The team also earned nine shutouts---first in the conference---this season.
     Blaisdell, the Greyhounds leading scorer, finished with 10 goals, three assists for 23 points (fourth in the conference) connecting on 20.8 percent of his team-leading 48 shots (fourth in the conference) on goal.  He also scored three goals on three penalty-kick opportunities.  He was the conference Freshman-of-the-Year in 2007 and now has 25 goals, 12 assists (62 points) in his career.
     Mondi was the Greyhounds second-leading scorer with 7-0--14 points (seventh in goals in the conference), while Carroll ended with 3-3--9 points.  The pair combined for six game-winning goals,  Mondi among the conference leaders with four.  Mondi led the team with a 22.6 shot percentage.
    “Our program is a total-team effort,” continued Bonomo.  “Every guy contributes and that’s the cornerstone to our success.  The question is no longer, why choose Assumption. . . it's what wouldn't you?"
    With all but three letterwinners returning in 2010, the future is very bright for the program!  The Greyhounds have graduated only three starters since 2007.
    “Winning is contagious,” finished Bonomo.