8 Northwestern players sign with Spartanburg Methodist

SC Soccer

Eight sign with Spartanburg Methodist

By Barry Byers The Herald
(Published March 29� 2006)

Dan Kenneally, the men's soccer coach at Spartanburg Methodist College, is probably licking his chops by now.
Tuesday afternoon, eight Northwestern High School seniors signed grants to play for him the next two years, giving Kenneally the nucleus from a team that has ruled the Upper State the past four seasons.

Since the signees reached high school, Northwestern has won three straight Region 3-AAAA championships, was runner-up in the Class AAAA state championship game twice, has been ranked No. 1 in Class AAAA most of that time, including this year, and last season climbed to No. 1 in the nation for several weeks.

The 2003 team was 23-2, the 2004 team 24-4, last year's team 25-2 -- setting the school record for most wins in a season -- and this year's team is off to a 10-1 start.

Now if only they can bring that kind of magic to the Pioneers.

"It started off with me, Ben (Brannan) and (Jimmy) Cannizzaro visiting there,'' said defender Rob Tice, the son of Frank and Cissy Tice. "We told coach Kenneally that we could probably bring more players with us, so when we came back and told them we decided to stick together.

"It's exciting to think that all of us are going to the same college. Coach Kenneally was really excited when we told him about the other players.''

The other eight signees are keeper Taylor Crawford, son of Ken and Lauren Crawford; striker Mitchell Gullick, son of Lois Veronen and Carl Gullick; striker Andrew Lehman, son of William and Joanne Lehman; striker Andrew Phillips, son of James and Sylvia Phillips and D.J. Piers, son of Don and Robyn Piers.

Cannizarro, a striker, is the son of Jim and Diane Cannizarro, and Brannan, a defender, is the son of Gary and Rene Brannan.

"I'm looking forward to going there,'' Crawford said. "I've grown up with these guys and they are my closest friends. I don't know where I'd be without them.''

Spartanburg Methodist is a two-year school with more than 250 athletes competing on 13 teams. The Pioneers compete at the Division 1 level of the National Junior College Athletic Association.

"We'll be playing with one of our guys who graduated last year, Jonathan Caratella,'' Brannan said. "So actually, we'll have nine former Northwestern players on the team next year.

"Most of us have played together since we were 10 and 11 years old. So when we get to college, it's really not going to be that different.''

College soccer is played in the fall. This year's team was 6-6-4. Last year, the Pioneers were 8-10 and each loss was to a team in the top 15 of the country when the game was played.

Barry Byers � 329-4099

bbyers@heraldonline.com

"Most of us have played together since we were 10 and 11 years old. So when we get to college, it's really not going to be that different.''

what they don't realize is how much the game changes at the college level. they will definitely play well together, knowing each other's strengths. however they all have to make that transition from dominating in High School, to the College league.

I'm sure they realize that the game changes substantially. It's funny how little it seems instate schools recruit instate players...and then we have a school recruiting 8 from one school...

Spartanburg Methodist has been recruiting instate talent for the last couple of years from the beach area, mainly Socastee.

Kind of funny. The most extreme points of the state are where they get their core of players.

"Most of us have played together since we were 10 and 11 years old. So when we get to college, it's really not going to be that different.''

Is this what most people want when they go to college? College should be a totally new experience, not an extension of high school.

..how much different from HS can it be when you go to Spartanburg Methodist?

LE,
Can you expand on that thought?

no, ledude, don't do it

LE Dude...I was kind of thinking the same thing. I was kind of surprised when I hear so many great things about NW and then to see that the best that 8 or 9 of their players can get is to go to a JR college to play...just didn't add up. If they are going there for academic reasons and the soccer is just a "side" benefit then that is great. But from purely a soccer perspective I would have expected more.

Why would you say that GVL Dad? Same thing in my book as High Point or Limestone. Yet these guys get a chance to move on to a better school in two years. I would have thought Arroyo would have done this as well.

I believe HighPoint would rape Spartanburg Methodist.

No, I believe you are thinking about Duke lacrosse.

quote:
Originally posted by Nastradamus:
LE,
Can you expand on that thought?

I know you're trying to bait me into some battle of semantics. But the fact is SMC is a 2-year school where 90% of the students transfer to other universities after graduation (straight from SMC site).

I've seen NW this year..and they have talent that can play elsewhere.. I have no feelings good or bad towards SMC. It's probably your alma mater..or you're affiliated in some way.. but a spade is a spade is a spade is a spade..is a spade.

As always.. it's good to see that these kids have decided to further their education..I find no fault in that..no matter where they enroll.

from what i understand, most if not all of these players will be going to smc on academic scholies, getting no soccer money(i may be wrong on this though.) I know that some of the guys were recruited by bigger schools but decided to go to smc to be closer to home, free tuition, and a chance to better their games and possibly go to a d1 school from there. thats just my 2 cents.

Which is a perfectly acceptable..and really a pretty smart thing to do. Sounds good to me.

i do agree with the "new experience". meet new people, and be exposed to different styles of play.

I think they are just sticking with their buddies. Sure, many of them could play d1 or atleast d2. But why not just spend two more years playing "high schoo" soccer. And High point would probably put 4 on SM.

I was not baiting you with sematics. I was asking you to expand on that thought. I have no connection to SMC or NW but you were saying that either SMC's academics or soccer program was like high school. Either way that is a slap in the face at SMC and consequentially 8 high school boys. Not sure where you see semantics or rhetoric here dude.

spartanburg methodist is that supposed to be good?

I must admit I have been following this years group of seniors for .....well.....18 years and I have never heard of any of these guys. I was under the assumption that Vance,Enzo, Kropp , and James Clinton were the studs of that team. However, for any HS team in the state of SC to have ....say 11 or 12 players capable of playing at the next level is quite remarkable.Even though, they are ranked # 1, they still seem to be flying under the radar just a little. It will take a really, really good team to beat these guys in the playoffs this year.

This reminds me of when USC started their program in 1979. They went and recruited the entire National Championship Junior College team from St Louis, and they were very good those first couple of seasons.

These NW kids are very good players and play an entertaining brand of soccer. I've watch them spread the field and run other teams ragged. They will be a good nucleus for SM to build on.

SMC also is signing a good bit of players in the lower state....3 from Fort D and working on 1 from James Island

well good god, did SMC's coach dump all of the players from last season? or did they all graduate?
8 from NW, 3 from FD, and 1 from JI? that's alot of newbies.

SMC will be a good team next year...if I remember correctly a NW player went there last year and maybe a couple of others the year before that.

smc is a TWO year school.....with that in mind you are going to lose around half your players every year...not like a FOUR year school.

"This reminds me of when USC started their program in 1979. They went and recruited the entire National Championship Junior College team from St Louis, and they were very good those first couple of seasons."

That was the NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP Junior College team...These guys were STATE RUNNERS UP in South Carolina a few years back.

I think that the correlation was due to them recruiting most of a team, not the skill level.

SMC also has 5 people from Socastee as well..

ya, SMC had 20 players either graduate or leave for division 1....there is a lot of positions to fill, SMC has also signed North Carolina's top Defender

To me it sounds like SMC is bring on a HUGE freshman class. That is alot of people for such a small school. Then again it is only a 2 year school so i guess they lose people rather quickly.

And who is North Carolina's top defender?

From the Charlotte Observer:

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/14321752.htm

I'd say SMC is getting a pretty good deal here.

Hey, is SMC a two year school?

SMC has had a historically good soccer program. They won the National Junior College Championship in 1993 or 1994 under Pete Peterson. As stated earlier, they reload every year or so since they are a two year school. having said that, the NJCAA is a very strong league as many junior college guys transfer up to D 1 schools.

They certaibly appear to be reloading this year with the 2006 class! Good luck Pioneers....

WA,

Yes it is.

Hey, is SMC a junior college?

Hey, did 8 NW players sign with SMC?

(Just keeping up with the reasking of already asked questions that have been asked. KS, why can't people read the entire thread before they post? They've got to get on your nerves!)

SMC adds another one....

York's Kemp headed to Spartanburg Methodist

By Barry Byers The Herald
(Published April 19� 2006)

York Comprehensive High School's Harper Kemp signed a scholarship agreement to play soccer at Spartanburg Methodist College on Tuesday.
Kemp, the son of Jerry and Cathy Kemp, has played for the Cougars since the seventh grade. He's a midfielder and has scored 11 goals this season.

Spartanburg Methodist coach Dan Kenneally contacted Kemp in January and set up a visit. Kenneally came to see York play a match against Rock Hill, and Kemp scored two goals.

"Coach Kenneally told me after the match that he would bring a scholarship agreement form for me to sign,'' Kemp said. "I feel great to get this opportunity.

"I'll get to further my goal and see how far I can get. I hope to move on to a Division I school and play after my two season at Spartanburg Methodist.''

Kemp became the ninth Herald-area player to sign with the two-year school in Spartanburg. Last month, Kenneally signed eight Northwestern players.

Kemp plans to major in computer science.

Barry Byers � 329-4099

bbyers@heraldonline.com

Congrats Mr. Kemp good luck there man...

Their coach Dan Kenneally, good guy. The best part is he is the girls head soccer coach, the boys head soccer coach, and the head chef.

good job harp!