Press Releases

May 30, 2002
College Names Former Star Player as Men's Soccer Coach

Two-Time Captain Andreas Lindberg Will Skipper Colonials Flagship Program

Contact:
Darren Johnson (PR@southampton.liu.edu)
(631) 287 8313
Fax: (631) 283 4081

Southampton College Athletic Director Mary Topping has announced that former all-star midfielder Andreas Lindberg has been named head coach of the Colonials men's soccer program.

He joins one of the nation's premier Division II teams - a squad that has won two league titles and an NCAA berth in the past three years and has been ranked as high as No. 2 in the nation. Last year, the Colonials lost in the Eastern College Athletic Conference playoffs.

"Andreas is a natural leader and has earned the deep respect of the players," Topping said. "He's just the right person to ensure our continued success in men's soccer."

He replaces Patrick Horne, who left at the end of last season due to increasing responsibilities in his day job as school teacher. Horne went 11-5-2 as the Colonials' head coach. Before that, under longtime head coach Ed Goodhines, the Colonials won the Northeast Regional title in the NCAA Tournament in 1999 and in 2000 took their second-straight New York Collegiate Athletic Conference title.

Lindberg, a native of Malmoe, Sweden, who played under both previous coaches, said that his team would feature the European-style of play that Goodhines fostered. "We will be more tactical and rely on a good defense," Lindberg said. "I hope that we'll also be a close-knit squad, like we were the year we went to the NCAAs.

"I want the players to know that I'm the leader, but I also want them to know that I'm approachable," said Lindberg, who received his degree in Business from Southampton College at Commencement on May 19.

He is no stranger to coaching. Besides being captain the past two years where he was a very vocal leader, he was head coach for under-23 elite squads in Sweden. He has three levels of European coaching certification. "I am a born coach," he said.

Lindberg fulfilled a longtime dream of his this past spring after his soccer eligibility was up. He played lacrosse at Southampton College under respected, 10-year coach Ralph Pepe. "He taught me a lot about relating to players and building team cohesion," Lindberg said. Lindberg has been asked to play on the Swedish national lacrosse team.

The new coach will have to rebuild a team that has lost several key players in the past two years, including three All-Americans: star scorers Johan Kron and Peter Nilsson and goalie Roger Svensson. Plus, at least on the field, the team loses its cornerstone player, Lindberg, who twice was named to the NYCAC all-star team.

Lindberg has been recruiting top European prospects to fill in the holes on offense and defense caused by graduation. "I'm just waiting on their SAT scores to see if they qualify," Lindberg said of the applicants. "If they do, we should have a team that next year will make it back to the ECACs. By my second year, I want to make it to back to the NCAAs."