Knights evolve into Sea Gulls: the CCBC Essex defensive pipeline

By CHRIS MACKOWIAK
Sports Editor
@cmackowiakSGSN

The typical road for a college athlete moves from freshman to senior, learning and rising through the
ranks of the team as they move along the way at their school. For some though, the road comes with
twists and turns, potentially involving a change in location as the trip moves along.
That change in scenery is not always a bad thing as evidenced by members of the Salisbury University
men’s soccer team. As Sea Gulls now, three players and a recent former one share one thing in common,
the shine of armor over their feathers.
SU senior defender Cameron Wilson, junior defender Trent Hofmeister, senior goalkeeper Trevor
Brookhart and now assistant coach Colby Fell all spent a section of their collegiate careers near Baltimore
before dressing in the maroon and gold.
All four attended and played for the CCBC Essex Knights, a school within the National Junior College
Athletic Association (NJCAA) and the Maryland Junior College (JUCO) Athletic Conference.
“It just worked out,” Fell said. “A lot of my club teammates went there. It just made the right sense to stay
there for two years, figure out what I wanted to do. Then, I just came home because I felt like it was the
right thing to do to see family and some old friends as well.”
Originally a native of Berlin, Md., Fell played for the Knights during the 2014 and 2015 seasons, tallying
10 career goals and three assists in 39 career appearances. He made the move to the Baltimore area for
high school at first.
After his move to SU two seasons ago, Fell became a key starter on the defensive side of the ball,
recording one goal and two assists in 27 career starts and 32 overall appearances. He was a consistent
force for SU head coach Alex Hargrove in his first two seasons as a collegiate head coach.
With his success in college, Fell was the first Sea Gull in a recent line of defensive-minded players to gain
their first collegiate experiences as a Knight across the Chesapeake Bay. He even played a role in
recruiting two future Sea Gulls.
Due to their recent time at CCBC Essex, all four of the players overlapped in some way with each other at
the junior college. It was because of this that Fell became familiar with Wilson and Brookhart over the
years. With Brookhart, his first performance was enough of an introduction for Fell
“It started with our very first game together at Essex. He had 16 saves in one game. Ever since then, I told
him, ‘Me and you we’re gonna be buddies,” Fell laughed.
Brookhart spent two seasons as a Knight in 2015 and 2016, posting a 1.09 career GAA and 81.2 save
percentage over the course of 26 career starts. Now in both last season and this season, the Eldersburg,
Md., native is a familiar face leading the Sea Gulls in the goal with a 0.83 GAA and 82.2 save percentage
across 27 career starts.
Fell’s other recruiting work came in the form of Wilson after the two built a close relationship together
during the 2015 season at Essex, Wilson’s only one as a Knight. That connection brought a chance with
Hargrove and the Sea Gulls two seasons later in the 2017 campaign.
“When he contacted me after the season, I already had been [at Salisbury] for a year,” Fell said. “I was
really happy to try and get him to come out and get him some time. It was just another old friend back on
the field, so last year was a lot of fun getting back to playing with him for one last ride.”
Wilson brought starting experience from his freshman season at Stevenson University and his time at
Essex, posting one goal and six assists in 20 starts for the Knights.
Initially coming in as a defensive midfielder, the Baltimore, Md., native has worked his way back into
more of a center back role in the maroon and gold this season. After seeing 20 appearances including
three starts in 2017, Wilson already has three starts so far in 2018.
“I wasn’t in a position that I was used to because I’m usually in the back-line,” Wilson said. “For this
season, I’m playing a position that I’m more used to. Once I got my shot starting, I wanted to prove a
point. From now on here, I just have to stand my ground.”
The new opportunities have come alongside a new face to the Sea Gull backline in 2018 as Hofmeister
joined the group of former Knights. The Fallston, Md., native has started at center back in every SU
match so far this season.
“I was planning on coming to [Salisbury] straight out of high school, but then Essex came to me, so I
went there for two years,” Hofmeister said.
Hofmeister’s attraction to Salisbury remained two years later, dressing for the maroon and gold in 2018.
He remains as the most recent Knight to join the Sea Gulls.
The four players span four seasons of Essex soccer under head coach Joe Fiedler. Those four campaigns
were fruitful for the program, winning their NJCAA Region each season and making the NJCAA
National Tournament two times. The team had a 61-24-2 over those recent seasons.
As these four Sea Gulls aided the Knights in their successful campaigns across the last four seasons, they
were also gaining valuable experience on the field in collegiate soccer. The players agreed that their
experiences at Essex prepared them for their time in NCAA Division III soccer.
“What a lot of people don’t understand is that once you get out of the Maryland area and start playing
teams from New York, Texas or Arizona, those are where some of the higher quality teams come from
especially with a lot of international influence,” Fell said.
The former Sea Gull center back said that some of the toughest teams he ever remembers facing came in
the NJCAA National Tournament. Some junior colleges had international talent recruited from Africa,
South America or Europe.
“For me, it was an eye-opener, especially going into that tournament,” Fell said. “The quality of Maryland
JUCO was still high and still competitive. Not every game was a big result, but it was a very good
experience to catch up to that college level.”
Wilson saw the national contenders as a whole different level of play. His memory immediately returns to
one of his first matches with Essex when the Knights faced Eastern Florida State College, which Wilson
said was like a track team on the field and had at least 10 NCAA Division I talented athletes.
Hofmeister sees nuances in the play between the JUCO-level and NCAA Division III play. The now SU
center back pointed out the physicality of the opponents while he was a Knight.
While the talent of the opposition did have a hand in preparing the players for their success today, their
current head coach Hargrove sees great value in just the on the field experience that each player received
during their first years in college.
“With defenders, the hardest thing to find is young defenders who have that experience of leading a back-
line,” Hargrove said. “Those are all guys who came in with a lot of starts and a lot of playing time and
also playing in the national tournament.”
“[They] are able to step in and lead effectively right away [when they arrive at SU], where sometimes you
bring in a first-year defender and it takes them that year to get comfortable vocally as well as knowing all
of the little details and nuances of what it takes to be a successful defender.”
Knowing those nuances and having that experience helped to pave the way for all four Sea Gulls to have
future success. With Fell in a different role now coaching from the sidelines, the three other former
Knights continue to impact the results on the field for the Sea Gulls.
Salisbury (6-1) is currently riding a six-match winning streak after a season-opening loss to Hobart
College. The team is playing strongly on the defensive side of the ball with a 0.43 GAA and five clean
sheets currently.
With conference-play coming on Saturday, the Sea Gulls might soar in as a hot team to contend for a
CAC title. While each of their stints at Essex may have not overlapped recently, all four former Knights
are now part of a different team with one goal in mind, utilizing the experiences they drew in across the
Chesapeake Bay.