Convertino's college soccer team honored by the NJCAA

Holmes Community College men's and women's head soccer coach Matt Convertino got word this week that the team he played on in college had been named to the NJCAA Men's Soccer Hall of Fame.

The 1994 Herkimer County Community College (25-0-0) soccer team from New York won the first-ever NJCAA Division III national championship in a 1-0 win over Nassau County Community College. NJCAA Hall of Fame Head Coach Perry Nizzi was at the helm for the Generals.

Prior to the newly formed two-division NJCAA soccer structure in 1994, Herkimer had yet to appear in a national championship game. After the 1994 team's resounding success, the Herkimer men's soccer program would go on to unprecedented 15 title game appearances in 20 years. The Generals would win 10 national championships in that span include twice winning three consecutive titles in 1994-96 and again from 2011-13.

The 1994 team will always be looked at in Herkimer's history as the team that started their program's championship legacy.

Convertino, a native of Utica, N.Y., was named to the Herkimer County Community College Sports Hall of Fame is 2017, and he traveled there to accept the honor. The 1994 team scored 107 goals and gave up three.

The teams following the championship season set a winning streak record of 97 wins. The men's soccer team at Herkimer has won 10 NJCAA championships.

After attending Herkimer, Convertino went on to the University of Mobile where the Rams won the University of Mobile's first Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Championship and NAIA Southwest Regional Championship. The Rams also made two NAIA National Championship tournament appearances finishing with top-10 national rankings both years.

Convertino is in his 17th season as head coach of the Bulldogs. His teams were MACJC finalists in 2006 and 2012 and were back-to-back North Division champions in 2011 and 2012 and were division runners-up in 2006 and 2010. The 2016 and 2017 women's soccer team won the North Division title and were MACJC/Region XXIII runners-up.

Over the last several seasons Convertino's athletes have been honored with both Athletic and Academic recognition for their achievements. Since 2002, the Holmes soccer program has been awarded 44 MACJC All-State awards, 23 NJCAA Region 23 selections as well as 44 NJCAA Academic All-American and 7 Distinguished Academic All-American Awards.

The NJCAA article can be viewed at http://www.njcaa.org/sports/msoc/2018-19/releases/20180919wwn7co.