Mark Semioli (born March 20, 1968 in Brooklyn, New York) 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 ...

defender who played six seasons in

Major Soccer League Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

, four in

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 ...

and three in USISL. He won the

1994 U.S. Open Cup The 1994 U.S. Open Cup was the 81st edition of the soccer tournament to crown the national champion of the United States. This was the last tournament before the reintroduction of professional teams with A-League teams taking part in 1995 and MLS t ...

with the San Francisco Greek-Americans.

College

Semioli attended

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

, playing on the men’s soccer team from 1986 to 1989. He was a 1987 Third Team All American.

Professional

In 1989, Semioli played as an amateur with the professional San Francisco Bay Blackhawks of the Western Soccer League during the collegiate off season. Following the completion of his collegiate eligibility in the fall of 1989, Semioli signed a professional contract with the Blackhawks. In 1990, the WSL merged with the American Soccer League to form the

(APSL). The Blackhawks won the 1991 APSL championship. Despite its success, the team lost money and in 1993 moved to the lower division USISL. Semioli moved to the

Palo Alto Firebirds Palo may refer to: Places * Palo, Argentina, a village in Argentina * Palo, Estonia, village in Meremäe Parish, Võru County, Estonia * Palo, Huesca, municipality in the province of Huesca, Spain * Palo, Iowa, United States, a town located wi ...

of USISL that year. The Firebirds were sold and moved to San Jose, California, becoming the Silicon Valley Firebirds for the 1994 USISL season. Semioli was the team captain and a first team All Star. He also spent part of the season with the San Francisco Greek-Americans, winning the

U.S. Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in men's Soccer in the United States, soccer in the United States of America. It is the oldest ongoing nati ...

with them. In 1995, Semioli left the Firebirds and moved to the Monterey Bay Jaguars. In addition to playing for the Jaguars, Semioli also coached the Jaguars for part of the season. He was the USISL Western Division Defender of the Year as the Jaguars went won the Western Division Conference. In February 1996, the Los Angeles Galaxy picked Semioli in the fifth round (44th overall) in the Inaugural MLS Draft. He played twenty-eight games that season, then began the 1997 season in Los Angeles before being traded to the MetroStars on June 17, 1997 in exchange for a second round pick in the

1998 MLS Supplemental Draft The 1998 Major League Soccer Supplemental Draft was held on February 1, 1998, at the Airport Hilton in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Format Major League Soccer held a professional player combine in Fort Lauderdale the last week of January 1998. On Sat ...

. The Galaxy made this move to make room to sign Paul Caligiuri. Semioli remained with the MetroStars until November 17, 2001, when the team waived him. He subsequently retired from playing professionally. Semioli continues to play, and coach, in the Cosmopolitan Soccer League with the New York Athletic Club.March 16, 2006 CSL Preview
Since his retirement, Semioli has been working as a middle school World Cultures/Religions and History teacher for 6th and 7th graders at Kent Place School in New Jersey and for high school students in Scarsdale, NY. He is the department chair of history in Kent Place School. He is also one of the lead teachers for the social committee at Kent Place.He was inducted into the Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

in the Soccer Category with the Class of 2017.

References

External links

Stanford soccer media guide

MetroStars profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Semioli, Mark 1968 births Living people American Professional Soccer League players American soccer coaches American soccer players LA Galaxy players Major League Soccer players New York Red Bulls players California Jaguars players Palo Alto Firebirds players San Francisco Bay Blackhawks players San Francisco Greek-American A.C. players Silicon Valley Firebirds players Stanford Cardinal men's soccer players USISL coaches USISL players Western Soccer Alliance players Association football defenders