Schroback Puts His Best Foot Forward

Rob Schroback will never forget the first soccer game that he played in college.

With the starting outside back injured, Schroback, a Hasbrouck Heights graduate, was thrown into the first game that he could have played for Long Island University (Brooklyn, NY) as a freshman when they took on Colgate.

"It was the hardest game that I ever played," said Schroback. "The game felt like it was nine hours long. I remember being more tired than in any game that I played. The pace and the speed of the game were so much faster."

Turn the clock ahead two years later and Schroback is looking to be ensconced on defense as an outside back come September.

He thought he could be involved more in the scoring when the regular season starts in September. "After the season the coaches told me that they wanted me to be more involved with the offense and move forward," said Schroback.

To get ready for the new role, he has been working it into his game for a club team, FC Bergen during the summer with other college players and older players, playing on Sunday in the summer throughout New Jersey.

For Schroback he is looking forward to helping get the Blackbirds into the Northeast Conference (NEC) tournament as Long Island fell short last season. The Blackbirds come into the 2011 season with only two seniors graduating from a 7-10-1 team.

Last season was a big year for the Hasbrouck Heights graduate and he knew it.

After playing in 11 games and starting five in his freshman season, the Hasbrouck Heights grad started in every game except the first one against NJIT where he came in as a substitute in the second half. "I knew that I wanted to start in my sophomore year and did not want to wait until my junior and senior seasons," said Schroback who registered an assist in that game, a 4-3 overtime win over NJIT.

While at Heights the Aviators center midfielder was looking at either St. John's, Rutgers-Newark, Rutgers in North Brunswick and Long Island universities for the next stage of his life. In addition, Long Island had the major he wanted in pharmacology.

He said that he went with the quality soccer and a chance to play for a Division 1 NCAA team. "It was just the level of the soccer and the opportunity to play Division 1,” said the Heights graduate who also has been named to the NEC Fall Academic Honor Roll in his first two years at the school.

And he knew that his playing time was not set in stone. "There is nothing definite about who plays, it goes game to game," said Schroback.

In addition he was not expecting to play at center midfield like he did for the Aviators. "I just wanted to play anywhere on the field that they wanted me to play," said Schroback who had not played defense since before high school on a club team.

For Schroback one of the best played games last season was a 1-1 tie with Monmouth, one of the top colleges in the country at that time. "It was a tie, but I think we outplayed them," said the Heights grad.

And Schroback believes with only two seniors graduating from that team, Long Island will be able to perform like they did against Monmouth consistently this season.

For the Heights native and the rest of the Blackbirds the hope for the best season in history of the school starts Sept.2 as Long Island heads to San Diego State.