NEWARK, NJ—Matt Friel is the new assistant men's soccer coach at New Jersey Institute of Technology, head coach Pedro Lopes announced.
Friel, a 2000 graduate of Rutgers, spent four seasons as an assistant coach at Monmouth University from 2004 to 2007, helping to build the Hawks into one of the top Division I programs in the East.
Friel, who played under Coach Robert McCourt on the New Jersey Stallions club team in 2000 and 2001, signed on as an assistant coach at Monmouth when McCourt became head coach there in 2004.
With a national RPI rank of 195 at the start, Monmouth became Northeast Conference regular season champion in the second season under McCourt and Friel. The Hawks added second and third straight regular season NEC crowns in 2006 and 2007 and advanced to the program's first NCAA Division I College Cup berth in 2006 and a first-ever weekly national ranking of 15th in October 2006.
Friel, who continued to play high level competitive soccer after college, went overseas to New Zealand in 2008, playing for Waikato FC that year and then for Auckland City FC in 2008-09.
In addition to his first club experience with the Stallions, Friel has played stateside for the Greenville Lions, Carolina Dynamo, and Brooklyn Italians. The Stallions, Dynamo and Italians all captured league championships with Friel in their respective lineups.
At Rutgers, he appeared in 51 matches (eight starts) in a four-year career that spanned the 1996 to 1999 seasons. He scored twice, including the game-winning tally against Big East foe Pittsburgh in 1997 and the third goal in a 3-3 draw against perennial national power Indiana, also in 1997.
His non-college coaching experience includes work in 2008 in the Waikato, New Zealand area, as well as with youth teams and programs in the United States, with two years in the New Jersey Olympic Development Program. He also does individual training.
“Matt brings an understanding of recruiting in New Jersey and the experience and work ethic from building a successful program at Monmouth,” said Lopes, who is preparing for his seventh as NJIT's head coach. “His coaching combined with his experience as a pro player in New Zealand will give him a keen eye for the intensity of training we need to prepare our guys to be successful.”
The 2009 Highlanders, who will report for preseason training in August, begin play on September 1, when they visit Army for a 7 pm match.
After another road contest at Lafayette on September 4, NJIT makes its 2009 home debut on Sunday, September 6 at 1 pm on Lubetkin Field against Monmouth.
(Photo courtesy Monmouth Athletic Communications)
