Coach Louis Bennett of the Marquette men’s soccer team has announced the arrival of seven new recruits to join the Golden Eagles next season. Bennett has recruited players from Illinois, Wisconsin, Virginia and Ohio to create a solid foundation for the squad as the team looks to make it back into the Big East Tournament and beyond.
“They are probably the best all-around class we have ever had,” Bennett said. “The complete guy: smart enough to come to Marquette, dedicated enough to balance his time and has some tools. Everyone has been a captain of their own team.”
Bryan Ciesiulka of Naperville, Ill. and Charlie Lyon of St. Charles, Ill. both played for the powerful Chicago Fire Academy club team. Ciesiulka was selected as a NSCAA/adidas All-American and was named Illinois Player of the Year as a senior at Neuqua Valley High School. Lyon could be a strong replacement between the posts in place of outbound goalkeeper Matt Pyzdrowski. Assistant coach and goalkeeper coach Stan Anderson believes the 6-foot-2 Lyon is an immediate candidate for the position.
“(Lyon) is going to come in and immediately compete with the other goalkeepers,” Bennett said. “We didn’t want a huge drop off … so its going to be difficult for (Lyon) at first, but I’m not going to say never.
“(Ciesiulka) is a guy that is unbelievably smart, good on the ball, really tight and quick. Every time I have seen him play he has been effective.”
The third player from Illinois is Eric Pothast from Lake Zurich High School. At 6-foot-3, he should be a dominating force in the midfield position.
“For Pothast, he is very smart, very tough. He played with (current players) Matt Leonard and Anthony Selvaggi and always played a year up,” Bennett said.
Local recruit Charlie Hoover played for Milwaukee powerhouse Bavarian Soccer Club, where he led the team in assists. Hoover was also a two-year captain for his high school, leading the Whitefish Bay Blue Dukes to the North Shore Conference Championship as a senior.
John Mau will help bolster an already stingy defense that gave up only 1.39 goals per game last season. Mau earned all-conference recognition his junior and senior years as well as all-area and all-state honors his senior season playing for Kettle Moraine High School in Delafield, Wis.
Dennis Holowaty from Strongsville, Ohio helped lead the St. Ignatius Wildcats to the 2008 Ohio State Division I Championship and during his time as captain, the Wildcats were ranked No. 1 in the nation for seven consecutive weeks in 2009.
Midfielder Paul Dillon from Chesapeake, Vir. helped led the Virginia Rush club team to a US Developmental League State Cup Championship and could also find himself in the starting lineup right away.