Matthew W. Kmosko (born January 8, 1972 in

Ship Bottom, New Jersey Ship Bottom is a borough in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 1,156,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 three and a half seasons in

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

. He also earned three

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

with the U.S. national team in 1992. In January 2023, he was criminally convicted of aggravated menacing in the Athens County Municipal Court for threatening a special needs student-worker at Hocking College in

Nelsonville, Ohio Nelsonville is a city in northwest York Township in Athens County, Ohio. It is 60 miles southeast of Columbus. The population was 4,612 at the 2020 census originally, but an official citywide recount found the population to be 5,373, thus main ...

High school and college

Kmosko attended

Southern Regional High School Southern Regional High School is a regional comprehensive public high school located in the Manahawkin section of Stafford Township in Ocean County, New Jersey, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades and operating as part of the S ...

Ocean County, New Jersey Ocean County is a county located along the Jersey Shore in the south-central portion of the U.S. state of New Jersey. It borders the Atlantic Ocean on the east. Its county seat is Toms River.Hartwick College Hartwick College is a private liberal arts college in Oneonta, New York. The institution's origin is rooted in the founding of Hartwick Seminary in 1797 through the will of John Christopher Hartwick. In 1927, the Seminary moved to expand into a ...

. Kmosko played on the Hartwick soccer team from 1990 to 1994. He was a team captain his senior year and finished his four-year career with a 41-27-8 record. He was inducted into the Hartwick Athletic Hall of Fame in 1995.

Minor leagues

The

Buffalo Blizzard The Buffalo Blizzard was a soccer club that existed from 1992 to 2001 in Buffalo, New York. History The team was originally owned by the Knox brothers who owned the Buffalo Sabres at the time, and additionally by the Riches who owned the minor l ...

of National Professional Soccer League drafted Kmosko in 1994, but he did not sign with them. In 1995, he began his professional career with the

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 ...

New York Fever where he earned Northeast Division Rookie of the Year. That winter, he joined an NPSL team, the

Cincinnati Silverbacks The Cincinnati Silverbacks was an indoor soccer club based in Cincinnati, Ohio that competed in the National Professional Soccer League. History They performed under the leadership of All-Star goalkeeper Carlos Pena. Other star players include ...

instead of signing with the Blizzard.

MLS

Colorado Rapids

In February 1996, the

Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids are an American professional soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Founded in 1995, as part of the Anschutz Corporation, la ...

selected Kmosko in the 7th round (62nd overall) of the league's Inaugural Player Draft. He spent the next two seasons with the Rapids. However, at the end of the 1996 season, the Rapids loaned out Kmosko for two exhibition games. On November 7, 1996, the team sent him to the Rapids farm team, the Raleigh Flyers (USISL), for an exhibition match with

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

. Later that month, the Rapids loaned him to fellow MLS team

Dallas Burn Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County wi ...

for an exhibition match with the El Salvador national team. In 1997, Kmosko was an integral part of the Rapids team which went to the MLS championship game where it lost 2-1 to

D.C. United D.C. United is a professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer, the top tier of American soccer. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Supp ...

. Kmosko started and played the entire game.

Miami Fusion

In 1997, MLS prepared to expand the number of teams in the league for the 1998 season. As part of this process, the league ran an

expansion draft An expansion draft, in professional sports, occurs when a sports league decides to create one or more new expansion teams or franchises. This occurs mainly in North American sports. One of the ways of stocking the new team or teams is an expansion ...

. The

Miami Fusion The Miami Fusion was a professional soccer team based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. They played in Major League Soccer (MLS) for four seasons, from 1998 to 2001. Announced in 1997 as one of the league's first two expansion teams, their best seas ...

selected Kmosko with the eighteenth pick draft and he played twenty-nine games in 1998 with the Fusion.

Columbus Crew

The Mutiny traded Kmosko to the

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew, formerly known as Columbus Crew SC, is an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The Crew competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference and began play in 1996 as one ...

for a first round 2000 MLS College Draft pick. While Kmosko began the season well, playing in fourteen games, he suddenly and unexpectedly left the team. The Crew waived Kmosko at the end of the season. On February 24, 2000, the Mutiny selected Kmosko off waivers, but waived him on March 16, 2000. There has been no official or public explanation for the end of Kmosko's playing career.

National team

Kmosko earned three

with the U.S. national team while still in college. His first game came in a scoreless tie with

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

on February 12, 1992. Six days later, he played in a 2-0 loss to

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

. His last cap came on September 3, 1992 when he came on for

Fernando Clavijo Fernando Caetano Clavijo Cedrés (January 23, 1956 – February 8, 2019) was a Uruguayan-American soccer defender and former head coach of the New England Revolution and Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer. He played three seasons in the ...

in a 2-0 win over

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. In 1993, he was a member of the U.S. team at the World University Games.

Legal issues

Following complaints of harassment by multiple student-workers under his supervision, Kmosko resigned from his position as the soccer coach and coordinator of the college's Student Center and Campus Recreation Office at Hocking College in

. In May 2022, Kmosko threatened a special needs student-worker, Caden Cox, with a knife in the bathroom of the Student Center. As a result of this incident, Kmosko was subsequently convicted of menacing in the Athens County Municipal Court.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kmosko, Matt 1972 births Living people Hartwick Hawks men's soccer players United States men's international soccer players USISL players New York Fever players National Professional Soccer League (1984–2001) players Cincinnati Silverbacks players Colorado Rapids players Miami Fusion players Columbus Crew players People from Ship Bottom, New Jersey Southern Regional High School alumni Soccer players from New Jersey Sportspeople from Ocean County, New Jersey Major League Soccer players American men's soccer players Men's association football defenders