City Islanders Roster

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Shippensburg University men's soccer alum Geoff Bloes '08 has officially signed with the Harrisburg City Islanders of the United Soccer League, according to team general manager Mike Henning. He is expected to be in uniform for tomorrow night's home game against Real Maryland.

According to Henning, Bloes has been training with the team on a daily basis since early April and made enough of an impression for coach Bill Becher to bring him aboard last week.

"Geoff is a very versatile player that we feel will be a good addition to our roster," Becher said. "He has steadily improved, and we feel we can use him both in the back and up front. He has a great attitude, and showed a strong desire to play at the next level."

After 77 career games, Bloes finished his tenure at Shippensburg having set new school records for career goals (51) and career points (130). He also finished second in school history behind Jake Deininger '04 with 28 career assists and totaled 10 game-winning goals.

In his final season, Bloes finished with 13 goals and nine assists for a total of 35 points, tying his career-high for points in a season that he set as a junior. The mark is one short of the school record for points in a season, set by Jared Smith in 1996.

Bloes is also the first player in 21 seasons and just the second player in school history to be named an NCAA Division II Men's Soccer All-American, as Tor Hotham received All American First Team honors in 1985 and 1986. In addition to that honor, Bloes is a two-time PSAC Men's Soccer Player of the Year as well as a Daktronics Division II Men's Soccer Northeast Region Player of the Year.

"Geoff is the best and most complete player I have ever coached," said former Red Raider head coach Guy Furfaro, who coached Bloes in his tenure at Shippensburg. "I'm confident he can play at that level and succeed. I think once he gets to practice with the team everyday they will see how good he really is. I'm looking forward to watching him play this summer as a professional player, because he was a lot of fun to watch the last four years and even more fun to be around as a person."

With the City Islanders, Bloes will be re-united with high-school teammate Jason Pelletier. The duo contributed to the Class AAA State Championship at Middletown High School in 2001.

Bloes is one of three players who were standouts in the Pennsylvania State Athleic Conference, along with Dustin Bixler (Lock Haven) and Adam Clay (Bloomsburg). Bloes' assistant coach at Harrisburg is Steve Widdowson, the current head coach at Millersville University and reigning PSAC Coach of the Year.

After four seasons wearing No. 2 with the Red Raiders, Bloes will wear No. 4 with the City Islanders.

The City Islanders are the defending champions of the United Soccer League and have played to ties in five of their six games this season. Tomorrow night's home game is the first of nine remaining on the schedule from the Skyline Sports Complex on City Island.