Columbia men’s soccer welcomes eight newcomers for 2021 season

A transfer from North Carolina, Lenny Aharon played in four games for the Tar Heels during his freshman 2019 campaign. The defender ironically made his collegiate debut against Ivy League foe Harvard that season and would play a season-high 36 minutes off the bench against UNC Wilmington. Prior to arriving at UNC, Aharon had international experience playing for the Israel U16 and U18 National Teams. He also played for the Maccabi Tel Aviv FC Youth Team and captained his Maccabi Netanya U19 squad … Among his accolades are a Cup Championship with the Maccabi Tel Aviv U16 Team, as well as qualifying for the elite round of the European Championships with his Israeli U19 National Team. He enters Columbia having made the Dean’s List all four semesters at UNC.

A local product from just over the Hudson in nearby Lyndhurst, New Jersey, Bryan Cosman enters Morningside Heights after a prolific two-year stint at Lyndhurst High School. Cosman tallied four goals and 16 assists as just a freshman before going on to score 13 goals and tally 14 more assists as a sophomore. The team captain went on to be named league MVP that year as well. Cosman is also talented off the pitch, having been named a 2021 Slam Poetry Top Winner at his high school, as well as a World Language inductee and President’s Award winner.

DeNight transfers in from Div. III Brandeis University, where he was one of only two rookies to earn first-team All-University Athletic Association honors in 2019. He led Brandeis and the UAA with seven goals and 15 points despite missing four non-conference games that September. He was also named a Top 10 New England D3 Freshman Standout. Prior to college, he attended MAST Academy in Miami.

From just up the I-95 corridor in Stamford, Ryan Kipness joins the Lions from Westhill High School. He played soccer at the club level in the NYCFC Youth Academy, as well as the prestigious Met Oval. In 2016, he was invited to the United States Soccer Federation U14 Boys National Team out in Carson, California. The year after, he was invited to the U.S. Soccer Federation Youth National Team Futures Camp. Kipness’ time in high school included being nominated for the “10 Teens to Watch” list by Stamford Magazine, being nominated to attend a Junior National Leader Conference, as well as being a four-year member of the National Honor Society, Spanish Honor Society and Honor Roll.

A New York City native, Paolo Primavera spent his high school days playing on the club circuit for BW Gottschee in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy. His freshman season on the U15 team, Primavera scored 23 goals in 29 games, ranking No. 10 in the country in scoring. Two years later, he found himself inside the top 10 again in scoring, posting 11 goals in just 14 games. Primavera was ranked No. 63 as a junior and No. 69 as a senior in the IMG Top 100 Player Class of 2021. He also played summer club ball for Manhattan SC and volunteers at Shark Waves Swim Program for Adults with special needs. The academic was a four-year honor roll student and a recipient of the Honor Character Award.

Ryan Wallace transfers to Columbia from Yavapai College in Arizona. The defender played for one season at the junior college, scoring two goals and tallying six assists to help Yavapai go 14-5 with an 8-2 record in the ACCAC. Wallace started 17 of those contests, scoring his two goals in back-to-back outings against Paradise Valley and Chandler-Gilbert.  Originally from the West Coast, Wallace was a three-year letterwinner on the Southridge High School soccer team in Beaverton, Oregon. He scored 15 goals in his high school career, which included a hat trick as a junior against Century. Wallace was named First Team All-Metro and a Southridge Outstanding Senior Athlete his graduating year. On the club circuit, he competed for Westside Timbers 00 Boys, winning the State Cup in 2019 and advancing to the Far West Regional Semifinals.

Having played in youth systems for both Bethesda Academy and DC United, Adrien Wheaton-Schopp joins the Lions as a striker. He began playing for Bethesda Academy as a U12 player in 2016 and progressed with the club through the beginning of 2019 on its U16 squad. His Bethesda highlights include 17 goals and eight assists in 22 games during the 2018-19 U15 season, as well as six goals and four assists in just five games with the U16 team. Wheaton-Schopp then moved to DC United, starting off on the U17 team in 2019-20 before quickly advancing to the U19 that same season. He had three goals and one assist in the notorious IberCup, a goal against England’s Blackburn Rovers, as well as a goal against Philadelphia Union at the Generation Adidas Cup. The talented striker has also been showcased at the 2021 MLS Next Playoffs, 2019 USSDA Showcase and 2017 Supercopa in Chicago.

Rounding out the incoming class, Andreas Zamanian hopes to contribute between the posts for the Lions. The keeper out of Portola Valley, California played for Silicon Valley Soccer Academy, beginning as a U15 member in 2017 before moving up to U17 in 2018-19 and 2019-20. With the USSDA’s transition to MLS Next in 2020, Zamanian helped his team to a fifth-place finish in the Northwest Division. Zamanian has a Seal of Biliteracy in Spanish from the San Mateo County Office of Education. In his spare time, the Woodside High School graduate volunteers as a soccer coach at multiple summer camps, and also enjoys playing the guitar.