George Kiefer, the current men's soccer coach, is bringing in the No. 13 recruiting class in the nation for the Wolfpack." />
Travis Pendergrass
George Kiefer, the current men's soccer coach, is bringing in the No. 13 recruiting class in the nation for the Wolfpack.
After a rocky 2016 campaign that ended in a 5-12 record, the NC State men’s soccer team has revamped on multiple levels, bringing in new head coach George Kiefer from the University of South Florida and bolstering its roster with the No. 13 recruiting class in the nation, headlined by a junior college All-American.
Shortly after being named the new Wolfpack head coach in November 2016, Kiefer began building his coaching staff, introducing Jeff Negalha as associate head coach and Kyle Nicholls as assistant coach in December. The three coaches have worked extensively in a short amount of time, and have achieved a top recruiting class ranking as a result.
“I’m not big on recruiting class rankings, but I do find it impressive that our staff was able to put together such a strong class despite a late start to the process,” Kiefer told NC State Athletics. “I really feel like the coaches on my staff — Jeff Negalha and Kyle Nicholls — are getting after it by putting in long hours and spending a lot of nights at hotels, but the hard work appears to be paying off.”
Negalha and Nicholls have enjoyed tremendous success both in their previous coaching tenures and as recruiters.
Negalha served as the top assistant coach at UNC-Chapel Hill for nine years, reaching the College Cup Final Four in 2008, 2009 and 2010 and winning the 2011 National Championship. Negalha was named the 2011 National Assistant Coach of the Year. A prolific recruiter, Negalha helped develop the No. 1 overall recruiting class in 2011 and had eight consecutive top-11 recruiting classes at Carolina.
Nicholls, a 2012 USF graduate under Kiefer, helped guide Tyler Junior College to the 2014 National Championship title. Another excellent recruiter, Nicholls helped land transfer All-American Christoph Schneuwly from Tyler Junior College.
Christoph Schneuwly, a junior transfer and native of Schmitten, Switzerland, was named to the 2016 NJCAA Division I All-American team as a defender. During the 2016 season at Tyler Junior College, Schneuwly helped the Apache compile a perfect 24-0-0 record en route to capturing the National Championship. As the core member of the defense, Schneuwly and the Apache conceded a mere nine goals the entire season.
“Christoph is not only the Scholar Athlete of the Year, but also a First Team All-American,” Kiefer told NC State Athletics. “He has been immersed in an environment that teaches young men to be successful both on the field and in the classroom. I like to surround myself with people that have an understanding of what it takes to win matches, and Christoph understands that.”
Joining Schneuwly as new members to the Wolfpack in 2017 are freshmen Mac Gourlay, David Loera, Jose Morales Jr., David Norris and Emanuel Perez.
Three of the incoming freshmen hail from the state of North Carolina: Gourlay from Asheville, Morales from Sanford and Perez from Garner. All currently play together on the U17/U18 Capital Area Railhawks Academy team.
Both Loera and Norris are Florida natives, with Loera from Orlando and Norris from Winter Park. The two are currently teammates on the U17/18 Orlando City Soccer Club Development Academy team.
Development academy programs such as the Capital Area Railhawks and Orlando City Soccer Club pride themselves in training young soccer players to reach the collegiate, and eventually, the professional soccer level. The Railhawks Academy feeds into the newly branded North Carolina FC, which is seeking a MLS bid, while the Orlando City Soccer Club feeds into the Orlando City SC MLS team.
The fact that the five incoming Wolfpack freshmen are currently playing as teammates is huge for Kiefer and his staff because it means that he won’t have to worry as much about building and developing the connections and team atmosphere that are vital to any top-tier soccer program.
“Every player that has committed to us has a clear understanding of the work it will take to start winning trophies,” Kiefer told NC State Athletics. “It takes a real competitor to want to join NC State and start getting after it with us. It’s easy to pick a program that has a lot of recent trophies, but it’s guys that want the grind that we are looking for, guys that want to put NC State back on the college soccer map.”
While it certainly won’t be instantaneous, the NC State men’s soccer team and its new staff should be lauded for quickly taking significant steps on the road to rebuilding the once-storied Wolfpack program.