Not far removed from a fine NCAA Division I soccer career himself, former Saint Peter’s goalkeeper Hernando Santamaria joined the NJIT coaching staff in the Spring of 2013 and will work with the Highlander goalkeepers.
A 2009 graduate of Saint Peter’s University in Jersey City, NJ, Santamaria played on two teams that reached the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference finals and he went to the NCAA Division I College Cup Tournament with the Peacocks in 2007, his junior year. As a senior, he notched four shutouts, including clean sheets against Rutgers, Drexel, Hartford, and the program he joins as a coach, NJIT. He also blanked the Highlanders in 2006.
Santamaria began coaching while still in college, joining the staff of the Albertson Soccer Club, one of the nation’s top club organizations, in 2005. At Albertson, which is based on Long Island in Great Neck, NY, he has been a staff coach and head goalkeeping coach for the Top 20-ranked program.
Once he completed his college playing career, he moved quickly into the college coaching ranks at NCAA Division II Mercy College in Westchester County, NY. At Mercy, he was reunited with Chris Smith, the head coach who recruited him to Saint Peter’s and now the head coach at Mercy. Coincidentally, Smith and NJIT chief Didier Orellana were teammates on the 1995 NCAA Division II National Champions at Southern Connecticut State University.
Santamaria, who joined Mercy in 2010 as an assistant coach, was promoted to associate coach of the Mavericks prior to the 2012 season. His influence was felt almost immediately when he went to Mercy, as the 2010 team, the first he coached, allowed 24 goals in 17 games, down from 42 goals in 15 games the year before he arrived. In 2012, Mercy was ranked in the Division II Regional poll each week and got as high as #24 in the national poll before being eliminated in the conference playoffs by LIU Post, ranked #1 in the nation at the time.
