Six Returning Veterans to the 2012 Ocean City Nor’easters

OCEAN CITY – 2012 is a new era, but the Nor’easters welcome back some familiar faces.
The Ocean City Nor’easters are welcoming back 5 players as part of rookie Head Coach Tim Oswald’s new look squad. Thanks to the great performances from these players during the 2011 USL PDL season and also taking that form into their college season, Coach Tim decided that they were the kind of players he wanted to work with.
The players that will be returning in a blue and white jersey this summer are goalkeeper John McCarthy, defenders Alex Weidman and Kevin Curran, midfielders Gio Tacconelli and Max Hamilton and winger Glenroy “Junior” Chapman and captain Terry Gibbs. Between these players is a lot of talent and experience at the PDL level with 113 games, 6949 minutes of play and two season MVPs.
The players return after earning great honors in college.
John McCarthy was Atlantic-10 All-Rookie Team selection.
“John returns to OC this summer after another solid season in the A10 between the pipes for LaSalle” Coach Oswald says. “He can and should grow into a leader within the dynamic of this year’s team. He is quick, agile, and fast off his line, but also has excellent distribution abilities.”
Alex Weidman took Monmouth University to the second round of the NCAA Tournament after being named Nor’easters 2011 Defensive MVP.
“Alex is a player that is extremely versatile and capable of playing many roles within our shape” explains Coach Oswald.
Kevin Curran was inspirational leading his Loyola team to the MAAC Semi-Finals as well as being Nor’easters 2010 Defensive MVP.
“Fortunately, I had the chance to coach him (Kevin Curran) at the youth level and am looking forward to working with him again,” Coach Oswald tells us. “He is a true left footed find, but is versatile in what he brings to the table. He can clearly attack out of the back, but can also defend…which isn’t always something that comes natural to players. We expect him to have a quality season as he is one of the most experienced PDL players on the squad.”
Junior Chapman was a Atlantic-10 All-Tournament selection and a Soccer Six Player of the Week with LaSalle University.
Coach Oswald discusses his versatility: “Having him out there with some of the other players will definitely give us an extremely fast lineup with our front four or five if we feature him there or a great back five if we slot him into that role.”
Max Hamilton was dominant at Monmouth, where he was awarded by being named on the NSCAA North Atlantic Region First Team, All-Northeast Conference second team and was named to the NEC All-Tournament Team after helping the Hawks lift the trophy. A defensive minded midfielder is a rare commodity and Coach Oswald thinks he has one in Max.
“Max is a special two way player that can really hold the fort down in the MFD 3rd. He is a ball winner, a vocal leader, and the kind of player’s whose US National team and high end college soccer experience at Monmouth will benefit our younger boys,” Coach Oswald says.
Terry Gibbs returns to the Nor’easters as a senior from Bloomfield College after picking up selected the 2011 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) men’s soccer Player of the Year, as the All-Conference team was released Monday. The 12 CACC head coaches conducted the voting and saw Terry Gibbs as the standout player of the season, this award goes alongside the 2 Conference Player of the Week awards he picked up along the way.
Coach Oswald praised Terry, saying, “He was a huge commodity last summer and we expect an even bigger role for him this year. We think that he can do a great job underneath one of our forwards”.
There is great hope, optimism and expectation on the returning veterans and new players to live up to the Nor’easters way of playing soccer and give the supporters a team to be proud of.
Future player announcements are on the way, visit www.OceanCityFC.com, LIKE us on www.facebook.com/oceancityfc or FOLLOW us on www.twitter.com/oceancityfc for all the latest news.
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