Joe Koziol (born March 26, 1967) is a retired American

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who played professionally in the

American Professional Soccer League The American Professional Soccer League (APSL) was a professional men's soccer league with teams from the United States and later Canada. It was formed in 1990 by the merger of the third American Soccer League with the Western Soccer League. It ...

, Major Indoor Soccer League and the National Professional Soccer League. He also won three indoor

USISL United Soccer League (USL), formerly known as United Soccer Leagues, is a soccer league in the United States and Canada. It organizes several men's and women's leagues, both professional and amateur. Men's leagues currently organized are the ...

titles with the Baltimore Bays.

Youth

Koziol, younger brother of Stan Koziol, was born in Passaic, but grew up in

Clifton, New Jersey Clifton is a city in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Criss-crossed by several major highways, the city is a regional commercial hub for North Jersey and is a bedroom suburb of New York City in the New York Metropolitan Area. As ...

. Growing up, he played for several local youth clubs including Polish Youth Club, Wayne Sports Friends and Thistle S.C. He graduated from Clifton

High School A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

in Clifton. Koziol attended

Loyola University Maryland Loyola University Maryland is a private Jesuit university in Baltimore, Maryland. Established as Loyola College in Maryland by John Early and eight other members of the Society of Jesus in 1852, it is the ninth-oldest Jesuit college in the ...

, playing on the men’s soccer team from 1985 to 1988. He was a 1988 Third Team All American. Eggplant

Professional

In 1989, Koziol turned professional with the Boston Bolts of the American Soccer League. He joined the team at mid-season, continued to live in Baltimore, but commuted to Boston for games and practices. The Bolts went to the league championship where they fell to the Fort Lauderdale Strikers. In 1990, Koziol continued to play outdoor soccer with the Bolts, now playing in the

. In 1989, the Cleveland Crunch selected Koziol in the first round of the Major Indoor Soccer League Draft. On September 19, 1989, Koziol signed with the Crunch where he played two winter indoor seasons. In 1991, the Crunch released Koziol. On August 20, 1991, the Baltimore Blast signed Koziol as a free agent. When both the MISL and the Blast ceased operations in 1992, Koziol moved to the

Baltimore Spirit The Baltimore Blast is an American professional indoor soccer team based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The team is a part of the Major Arena Soccer League. The team has won 10 championships since it was founded in 1980. Beginning with ...

of the National Professional Soccer League, signing with the team in August 1992. In 1993, Koziol refused to join the Spirit in the fall of 1993 and instead signed with the Baltimore Bays for the 1993–94 USISL indoor season. The Bays finished third in the playoffs which ended on February 27, 1994. Koziol then joined the Spirit as the team prepared for the NPSL playoffs. Once the NPSL playoffs were over, Koziol rejoined the Bays as they prepared for the 1994 USISL outdoor season. However, he left the team at mid-season to join the Washington Warthogs of the

Continental Indoor Soccer League The Continental Indoor Soccer League (CISL) was a professional indoor soccer league that played from 1993 to 1997. History In the summer of 1989 Dr Jerry Buss, the owner of the Los Angeles Lakers and California Sports, told his executive Vice Pre ...

. This set a pattern for the next three years. Koziol would play for the Bays during the USISL indoor season during the winter, then begin the USISL outdoor season with the Bays in the spring. In August, he would leave the Bays and join the Warthogs for the CISL season. From 1994 to 1996, Koziol played 65 games, scoring 33 goals for the Warthogs. The Warthogs folded in 1997 and the Bays folded in 1998. Koziol retired at the end of the 1997–98 USISL I-League season. May 2012, Koziol was inducted into the Maryland Soccer Hall of Fame.

External links

MISL: Joe Koziol

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Koziol, Joe Living people 1967 births American soccer players American Soccer League (1988–89) players American Professional Soccer League players Baltimore Bays (1993–1998) players Baltimore Blast (1980–1992) players Baltimore Spirit players Continental Indoor Soccer League players Cleveland Crunch (original MISL) players Loyola Greyhounds men's soccer players Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players National Professional Soccer League (1984–2001) players Soccer players from New Jersey USISL players USL Second Division players Washington Warthogs players Association football midfielders Association football forwards