Matt Kmosko

Matthew W. Kmosko (born January 8, 1972 in Ship Bottom, New Jersey) is a former U.S. soccer defender who played three and a half seasons in Major League Soccer. He also earned three caps 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. [1]

Matt Kmosko
Personal information
Full name Matthew W. Kmosko
Date of birth (1972-01-08) January 8, 1972
Place of birth Ship Bottom, New Jersey, United States
Height 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Position(s) Defender
Youth career
1990–1994 Hartwick College
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1995 New York Fever
1995–1996 Cincinnati Silverbacks (indoor) 22 (0)
1996–1997 Colorado Rapids 67 (1)
1998 Miami Fusion 29 (0)
1999 Columbus Crew 14 (0)
International career
1992 United States 3 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

High school and college

Kmosko attended Southern Regional High School in Ocean County, New Jersey.[2] He graduated in 1990 and entered Hartwick College. 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.[3]

Minor leagues

The Buffalo Blizzard 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 New York Fever where he earned Northeast Division Rookie of the Year. That winter, he joined an NPSL team, the Cincinnati Silverbacks instead of signing with the Blizzard.

MLS

Colorado Rapids

In February 1996, the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer 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.[4] Later that month, the Rapids loaned him to fellow MLS team Dallas Burn for an exhibition match with the El Salvador national team.[5] 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. Kmosko started and played the entire game.[6]

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. The Miami Fusion 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 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,[7] but waived him on March 16, 2000.[8] There has been no official or public explanation for the end of Kmosko's playing career.

National team

Kmosko earned three caps with the U.S. national team while still in college. His first game came in a scoreless tie with Costa Rica on February 12, 1992. Six days later, he played in a 2-0 loss to El Salvador. His last cap came on September 3, 1992 when he came on for Fernando Clavijo in a 2-0 win over Canada.

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

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 Nelsonville, Ohio. 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.[9]

References
  1. Ebrahimji, Alisha (16 May 2023). "The first known athlete with Down syndrome to play in a college football game is suing his alma mater over alleged discrimination". CNN. Retrieved 16 May 2023.
  2. McWilliams, George. "SOCCER / KMOSKO OFF MUTINY'S ROSTER", The Press of Atlantic City, March 19, 2000. Accessed August 14, 2007. "Kmosko, a Southern Regional alumnus, had been picked up by the Mutiny off waivers from the Columbus Crew on March 2."
  3. Hartwick soccer statistics Archived 2006-11-28 at the Wayback Machine
  4. soccer – MLS – Several Rapids on Loan for Upcoming Action Archived 2007-08-06 at the Wayback Machine
  5. soccer – MLS – Colorado Rapids Will Return for Mini-Camp Archived 2007-08-06 at the Wayback Machine
  6. MLS Cup 1997 Archived 2008-02-06 at the Wayback Machine
  7. Professional Sports – WEDNESDAY'S SPORTS TRANSACTIONS 02/24/00
  8. Professional Sports – WEDNESDAY'S TRANSACTIONS 03/16/00
  9. Hendrix, Sheridan (12 May 2023). "Former Hocking College football player with Down syndrome sues college and its president". The Columbus Dispatch. Retrieved 13 May 2023.
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