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EWING – Today, women sports, especially women’s soccer, has been growing in popularity thanks to the rise of the United States national team during the 2015 Women’s World Cup in Canada this past summer.
As soccer has gained the public eye once again in the States, and while the eyes are only now just focusing back in, talent was prevalent around our country before the U.S. women won the Cup earlier this year.
Someone who has seen this talent since the late 1980’s is Joe Russo, who is entering his 26th year of heading the varsity women’s soccer team at The College of New Jersey.
A native of the Trenton area and graduate of Ewing High School in 1976, Russo first served as TCNJ’s assistant coach for men’s soccer before becoming the women’s head coach in its inaugural year, 1989.
Since then, Russo has molded and witnessed multiple successful teams over his tenure – winning 15 New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Titles, appearing over 20 times in the NCAA tournament and winning three Division III National Championships.
Most of his players agree that Russo has been vital in their careers here at the college and beyond. In a recent article for both CONJsports.com and The Signal, current senior midfielder Taylor Lusardi said that she is grateful to him for everything he has done.
“(He) has provided me with four years of soccer knowledge and experience that you can’t get anywhere else,” she said. “He knows the game so well, and he knows how to develop championship teams. I can’t thank him enough for all the dedication and support he has provided for the girls and me.”
While earning titles and bringing up and training new talent throughout the years, Russo has come to realize that in the NJAC, any team can make a huge difference in any particular year, including the Lions.
“I think (the talent) has been pretty consistent (in the NJAC),” Russo said. “Our conference is very good, one of the most competitive in the division, so no team ever sticks out. Any team can come out and beat each other at any point.”
Of the three NCAA titles the team has won, two of them were back-to-back in 1993 and 1994. Those teams stands out to Russo, both in talent and bond with one another, over some of the others.
“Early on, in the 1993 team, they won back to back championships which is unheard of nowadays,” Russo explained. “They had a fabric amongst themselves, both in how they played and how they handled themselves. They really did it.”
Those teams team included players like Kimberly “Kim” Faust Petke ‘97, who was voted an All American in both 1993 (as a second team) and in 1994 (as a first team) and whose record of 21 assists is 7th most in school history.
The 1993 team also holds a spot in The College of New Jersey’s Athletic Hall of Fame for all their accomplishments.
Russo also helped lead the team to a record season seven years later when the 2000 Lions broke the college’s records for most wins in a season (23) and most goals in a season (89), on their way to the team’s 3rd National title.
While coaching at the college, some things never change for Russo, who still believes in the same practices and training as he did back in 1989.
After any game, he will tell you “we need to work on finishing” no matter what the score. The reason for this is, according to him, is simple.
“No matter who you are, scoring goals is hard,” Russo explained, talking about the challenging teams they play every season. “We spend a lot of time on finishing, but our mindset is to always get better in any way we can overall.”
Last year, the Lions came up short against Montclair State University in the NJAC tournament final after a two overtimes led into penalty kicks, and were eliminated by Williams College after a close 1-0 game in the quarter finals (fourth round) of the NCAA tournament.
Looking forward, Russo continues to coach the players the same way he always has, hoping to achieve the ultimate result; a win in the next game. To him, it’s a season filled with small steps to an ultimately larger goal.
“Ultimately, the main goal of every season is to win the National Championship, every team knows that,” said Russo. “But during the season, we take small steps to improve every day for the next game.”
The team is in the lead of the NJAC at the time of this writing, five points ahead of second place Montclair State, heading into the curtain call of the season with two of the last three games being against NJAC teams.
While the players may start to think about the playoffs coming up in a few weeks, Russo will only be thinking about the next game, and what they need to do to win it.