The Adelphi Men’s soccer team has recently emerged as one of the top teams in the NE10 conference. The Adelphi Panthers have won two titles in the last five years, one in 2016 & the other in 2018. This program has been on the rise in the past decade and now they are showing even more improvements since coach Gary Book took over as head coach in 2018. In addition to the new head coach in 2018, the Panthers pulled in a sensational defender from Copenhagen, Denmark that has contributed greatly to the Panthers success in the past few years.
Mads Michaelsen was that player, he is an elite 20-year-old defender who had played for the Gammel Hellerup Gymnasium in Denmark before his time at Adelphi. During his time playing soccer in Denmark, he quickly became team captain and also was named Player of the Year in 2016. He also helped his team win the DBU Pokalen U-17 Cup. These were phenomenal accomplishments for the young teenage soccer sensation, but he was not yet satisfied.
Mads later joined the Adelphi Men’s soccer program in 2018, quickly adjusted to their style of play, and helped propel them to win after win in his two years playing as a Panther. In his freshman year, he made an immediate impact for the Panthers by helping lead them team to a division championship, as well as gaining his own personal accolades in earning All-Rookie status, NE10 All-Conference Second Team, and NE10 All-Rookie Team. In this 2018 season the Panthers finished with an outstanding record of 17-4-2, and also earned the number 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, but eventually lost in the national quarterfinals to West Chester. Mads was a prime contributor to the success that Adelphi had achieved in that year and he was still looking to bring more to his team going into his sophomore year.
Some would believe that Mads would have a difficult time adjusting to the Panthers style of play led by Coach Book. However, Mads’ pure skill, determination, and superb communication with his coach and teammates allowed him to make the transition. When asked about his transition, Mads replied, “Our play style in many ways was very unorthodox and adapting to it was no easy task. Coach Book did a tremendous job in communicating what he expected from each play so that there was no confusion amongst the team on where to be and what you needed to do throughout the games. On top of that there was still great amount of freedom in Book’s system that allowed us all to be creative and showcase our skills in our own ways. Being apart of Adelphi Men’s soccer was an incredible experience and it was certainly not an easy task to perform 100% day in and day out, but after every win and the trophies we earned you looked back very happy to see your sacrifices truly payed off.” Mads was greatly appreciated by his coach and his teammates, and they all knew that there were certainly personal challenges for this young man in making a transition to a new team & school, let alone a new country.
As stated by Coach Book, “As a player Mads brought a combination of abilities. He is a tenacious and astute defender who reads the game extremely well. Mads ability to also attack in a powerful and technical way made him a tremendous asset to the team and helped to take the team to the number one ranking in the USA.” Mads was an impact defender and clearly made huge contributions to this team in his two years playing with them. His intelligence, shown in his consistent performance in school in achieving NE10 Academic Honor Roll in Fall ’18, Spring ’19, Fall ’19, helped him dominate on the field as well as he took his time to think through every play before they happened by slowing the game down and subsequently perfecting each possession. Along with this intellectual approach to the game, he also had the physical skills to prevent opposing players from passing by him.
Teammates loved Mads, and knew he brought a special element to the game that allowed them to stay strong-minded in closely-contested games. Panthers defender, Billy Horgan was also asked about Mads contributions to the team over the years as he played right alongside Mads on the defensive end. Billy said, “Mads was insanely efficient and as consistent as they come. When the games got tough, Mads feels the atmosphere and excels. There has been numerous occasions where our team was struggling to find a rhythm and Mads produced a special play to inspire us all to work harder and to put in the extra effort to control the game. He’s much faster than he looks and deadly going forward. He was a leader on and off the field and a guy to look up to in the locker room”. Along with Mads tremendous skillset, he was also a team-oriented player as his teammates respected and looked to him to perform fro them down the wire.
Moving on to 2019, this was just as special of a season for the Panthers as Mads once again led his squad to great heights. The Panthers started the season dominating once again. They came out to a 15-game unbeaten streak as they turned in a 14-0-1 (one tie) record. Along with this amazing start, the Adelphi Panthers received the number one ranking in the USA in the United Soccer Coaches Division II Poll for the first time in program history. Unfortunately, they lost in the second round of the NCAA tournament, however the finished the regular season with a NE10 regular-season title and an overall 15-3-1 record. This season was especially special for Mads, as he once again achieved immense personal success. He received NE10 All-Conference Second Team once again, ECAC All-Star First Team, NE10 Academic All-Conference, and CoSIDA Academic All-District. This year was a tremendous year for Mads, but unfortunately it was also his final year playing at Adelphi as well.
Mads has made the decision to move back to Denmark after the 2019 season and to pursue a medical career. Coach Book and teammates will miss him greatly as he was on of the leaders on the squad that consistently pushed his teammates to work harder which ultimately led to the great successes that Adelphi has achieved over the years. When asked about Mads’ departure, coach Book had said, “Mads combination of talents will be exceedingly difficult to replace.” There aren’t many young players with the abilities, leadership qualities, and professionalism that Mads displays on and off the field and the Panthers will need to work together moving forward to move on from the loss of their star player.
Contact Information –
Coach Gary Book – email address (gbook@adelphi.edu) & cell number (516-987-0383) *more easily accessible through email
Subject Mads Michaelsen – email address (mads.michaelsen98@gmail.com), cellphone number foreign number (nation code 45), (+4530249934)
Teammate Billy Horgan – email address (williamhorgan@mail.adelphi.edu)