Joseph Stanley Koziol (July 29, 1965 – March 3, 2014) was an 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 ...

midfielder who played professionally in the Major Indoor Soccer League, National Professional Soccer League and

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 ...

. He also competed with the Puerto Rico national football team in 1992.

Career

Youth

Koziol, the older brother of

Joe Koziol Joe Koziol (born March 26, 1967) is a retired American soccer player who played professionally in the American Professional Soccer League, Major Indoor Soccer League and the National Professional Soccer League. He also won three indoor USISL tit ...

, 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 1983 to 1987. He holds the school's career assists record and was a 1986 and 1987 Second Team All American. In 1994, Koziol was inducted into the Loyola Hall of Fame.

Professional

In 1988, Koziol began his professional career with the Maryland Bays of the American Soccer League. In 1989, he moved to the Boston Bolts where he spent two seasons. In the 1989 season, the Bolts played in the

. In 1989, Koziol moved indoors with the Baltimore Blast of the Major Indoor Soccer League. On November 4, 1990, Koziol signed with the Hershey Impact of the National Professional Soccer League. He played for the

Canton Invaders The Canton Invaders was an indoor soccer club based in Canton, Ohio that competed in the National Professional Soccer League. After the 1995–96 season, the team relocated and became the Columbus Invaders. History The Canton Invaders were a p ...

during the 1992-93 NPSL season. In 1996, he played for the Central Jersey Riptide of the

USISL Pro League The USL Second Division (commonly referred to as USL-2) was a professional men's soccer league in the United States, operated by United Soccer Leagues (USL). It was at the third tier of soccer in the United States, behind Major League Soccer (t ...

. On July 17, 1996, the MetroStars called up Koziol for an exhibition with the Italian U-23 national team.

International

Koziol competed for the Puerto Rico national football team during Puerto Rico's qualification games for the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...

Personal life

He died on March 3, 2014, following a short battle with

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

. at the age of 48.

External links

MISL: Joe Koziol

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Koziol, Joe 2014 deaths 1965 births American soccer players American Soccer League (1988–89) players American Professional Soccer League players Baltimore Blast (1980–1992) players Baltimore Bays (1993–1998) players Boston Bolts players Canton Invaders players Central Jersey Riptide players Loyola Greyhounds men's soccer players Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players Maryland Bays players National Professional Soccer League (1984–2001) players USL Second Division players Puerto Rican footballers Puerto Rico international footballers Soccer players from New Jersey Sportspeople from Clifton, New Jersey Place of death missing Association football midfielders