Soccer Transfer from St. Johns

[Captain Kangaroo]

Middle Atlantic Conference, huh?

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Kozicki has change of heart, transfers to Akron

By PETE NEVINS

For the Pocono Record

Soccer star Ashley Kozicki is becoming a Zip this fall so he doesn't get zipped in the scoring columns anymore.

After spending his first two collegiate seasons at St. John's, Kozicki is transferring to the University of Akron, nicknamed the Zips, with his prime motivation to score goals again.

As a freshman, the former Pleasant Valley High School All-State player booted in five goals and had four assists for St. John's. This included assists in the Red Storm's NCAA playoff wins over Santa Barbara and Creighton and the team's lone goal in the 2-1 national championship loss to Indiana.

Then last season, Kozicki was moved to defense to help the team after two starting defenders were injured. He started at left back in the team's NCAA playoff victories over Boston University and UCLA and in its 1-0 quarter-final round loss to Maryland.

He finished the season without a single goal and with only two assists and this was the same player who had booted in 58 career goals and had 52 assists during his career at PV.

"I understood last year with the injuries why they needed me on defense, but I got the feeling in talking to the coaches after the season that they were going to leave me there; I wasn't going to play forward anymore," he said.

Kozicki decided during Christmas vacation to transfer and put together a list of schools in which he was interested.

"It was mostly the same schools I was looking at when I graduated from high school, Penn State, Indiana and also Akron," he said.

"I talked to the Akron coach (Ken Lolla) and he was a great guy. I knew some of their players from competing against them in tournaments when I played for FC Delco and for the Pennsylvania State team."

Akron is the defending Middle Atlantic Conference soccer champion and has competed in the NCAA tournament the last four years. Last season, the Zips finished 13-5-3 and lost to Michigan, 2-1, in the first round of the NCAA playoffs.

Lolla told Kozicki he would use him as what is called a withdrawn forward or an attacking midfielder in the team's 4-2-3-1 alignment.

"It's the same formation we used at FC Delco and I'll be playing right behind the striker in the middle of the line of three," he said. "The coach felt that he didn't have any players on his team that fit that position the way he hopes I will. You have to do a lot of creating and you still have the opportunity to score a lot of goals," Kozicki said.

The 21-year-old youngster will enter Akron in May and take summer classes. He will be eligible to compete in the fall.

After dropping out of St. John's, Kozicki spent this semester in New Orleans with his girlfriend, Casey Hirsch, who is a senior psychology major at Loyola University. He is working for a landscaping company, building on his experience working for the Chestnut Hill Nursery in the West End.

"I'm running on my own and I play soccer with a bunch of guys from work, two of them are from South Africa, on Saturdays," he said.

Academically, all of Kozicki's credits from St. John's will transfer to Akron with the exception of two courses; one entitled "Discovering New York," which probably will be of little use at the Ohio school. He is a strong student and made the St. John's and Big East Conference Academic Honor Roll.

"I'm on schedule to graduate on time in May, 2007. I graduated Pleasant Valley in January (2003) and entered college early that spring. I was majoring in Marketing at St. John's, but I plan to switch to English," he said.

He doesn't plan to follow in the footsteps of his father, Bill Kozicki, a long-time English teacher at Pleasant Valley, but instead wants to use the major to study for a job in journalism, perhaps writing for a newspaper.

First, Kozicki's number one career goal is, as it always has been, to play professional soccer.

"I've networked with a lot of players who are competing professionally; actually, three of my teammates at St. John's are playing for the Columbus Crew only two hours from Akron. If I do well at Akron and score goals again, I think my name is out there and I can make it to the pros," he said.

[Kangaroo Craig]

"Middle Atlantic Conference" Just another example of how the MAC gets no respect. What a moron. The guy is a sports writer in Eastern PA and does not know anything about a conference that is one of the few Division 1A football conferences in the nation. With the exception of basketball, St. Johns is a much smaller school than we are.