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BLACKSBURG – Virginia Tech head men’s soccer coach Mike Brizendine has announced the signing of four student-athletes to the Hokies’ 2016 recruiting class.

The class includes two native Virginians as well as players hailing from New York and France. This recruiting class will join a young, talented Tech squad that only graduated one senior in Daniel Lauretano.

Dan Damiani, Kevin Lozada, Brendan Moyers and Elias Tamburini have all signed with the Hokies.

“In this program, we’re committed to finding excellent soccer players who are also high-level academic achievers with great character. I truly believe we found guys that meet our criteria in this signing class. I want to commend my two assistants, Patrick McSorley and Jeff Kinney, for the work that they put in. With the team's roster not changing much from this past season, we were able to add to a couple key spots and also give us some depth,” Brizendine said.

Damiani is a dynamic and versatile midfielder who currently attends West Potomac High School where plays for coach Ahmad Sasso. The 6-foot-1 midfielder has served as a team captain for the past two seasons and helped lead his team to the district championship and the region semifinals last spring. He was named Honorable-Mention All-Patriot District his freshman year. Damiani plays club soccer for Arlington Soccer Association Red Impact and coach Amos Magee. His club team finished as a U.S. Soccer National Championship Finalist in 2015 and he helped lead his team as they won the National League Blue Division. He has been a part of the Virginia ODP State Pool and trained at the U.S. Soccer Training facility.

“Damiani is one of the best players and midfielders in the state of Virginia and we’re thrilled to have him. He’s a great left-footed player who’s also unbelievably versatile. Those skills make him a very exciting player to watch and there are all kinds of possibilities as to where we can play him. I think he’s going to be a wonderful fit for Virginia Tech,” Brizendine said.

Lozada is a technically sound 5-foot-7 midfielder who played his club soccer for B.W. Gottschee as well as the HBC Titans. He currently attends Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School. With the Titans, they were the 2011 New York State Champions and the 2011 Region I Semifinalists. With B.W. Gottschee, he played for coach Dennis McGowan where the team finished first 2015 U16 Academy Northeast Conference. He also won the 2014 U15 National Championship and finished second in the U16 US Club National Cup. Lozada plans to major in business at Virginia Tech.

“Lozada is a fantastic technical player who excels at keeping the ball and his passing is excellent. I think he really brings a unique skill set to our team along with his winning mentality from playing for one of the best club teams in the country. It’s really important to our program to have players like him,” Brizendine said.

Moyers is a 6-foot midfielder who signs from Albemarle High School in Earlysville, Va. Moyers plays for coach Jeff Balnave at Albemarle and plays his club soccer for SOCA and coach Dan Atwell. In 2014, he was named to the Atlantic Soccer League First XI and was the team’s offensive MVP in 2014 and 2015. He helped lead his team to the VHSL State Finals in 2014 and has lettered every season. For his club team, SOCA reached the state finals in 2014 and won the state championship in 2016. Prior to SOCA, he also played club soccer for the Richmond Strikers Arsenal Academy and coach Bob Jenkins.

“I’ve wanted Moyers to join our Tech team for quite some time and I’m thrilled he’s signed with us. As a player, he can do it all. He’s a box-to-box midfielder with immense passing ability. I think SOCA did a fantastic job developing him and I think he’s capable of doing big things at Virginia Tech once he gets into our training program,” Brizendine said.

Tamburini was born in Essey-les-Nancy, France and attended Makelanrinteen lukio for high school. The 5-foot-10 junior college prospect is an accomplished player who played his club soccer for HJK Helsinki and coach Pasi Hyyhio and Marco Naukkarinen. He spent last year playing at Patrick Henry Community College for coach Enda Crehan where he was named to the All-South Region First Team, All-Region X First Team, a NSCAA Second Team All-American and a NJCAA Third Team All-American. He was also named the NJCAA Student-Athlete of the Year as he earned multiple dean’s list honors. In high school, he helped lead his team to become two-time national champions in France under coach Toni Koskela. Tamburini plans to major in psychology.

“Tamburini is seasoned and talented enough to make an immediate impact in our program. He’s got a great left foot that combines with his powerful running style and a very high soccer IQ. Bringing in someone with his experience, we expect him to be able to come in and adapt to what we’re doing and the level of competition that comes with playing in the ACC,” Brizendine said.

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