Quinnipiac University Men's Soccer

Former Quinnipiac standout Eric Da Costa will enter his 21st season at the helm of the men’s soccer program in the fall of 2025. He is the longest tenured me...

Dana Angelo White, MS, RD, ATC is a registered dietitian, certified athletic trainer, journalist, nutrition and fitness consultant and author of 9 cookbooks. Dana is the sports dietitian and associate clinical professor of Athletic Training and Sports Medicine at Quinnipiac University. She has been practicing as a dual credentialed certified athletic trainer and registered dietitian for nearly 20 years. She is a member of the USOC Sports Dietitian Registry and National Athletic Trainers' Association liaison to the Sports, Cardiovascular and Wellness nutrition subgroup of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Dana is the nutrition expert for FoodNetwork.com and has served on advisory boards for Verywell, Greatist, Applegate, Chobani and has worked as a spokesperson for Gatorade, National Honey Board, National Mango Board and Cooking Light Magazine. She has made appearances on Good Day Street Talk, Food Network.com, Access Hollywood, ABC Nightly News, NBC Connecticut, GMA Health, New York Live and Better Connecticut. Dana's work has been featured on Food Network.com, Verywell.com, Cooking Light.com, Today's Dietitian, SHAPE, SEVENTEEN, Prevention, Muscle & Fitness, Men's Health, Men's Fitness, and Maxim. Dana earned her master's degree in nutrition education from Teachers' College-Columbia University and bachelor's degree in Sports Medicine from Quinnipiac.

Devin Markle, Psy.D., M.Ed joined the Quinnipiac Athletic department in the fall of 2021 as the Clinical Sports Psychology Coach. She is responsible for all of the athletic programs and works to create individual, team and coaches workshops related to sports psychology. Markle comes to Quinnipiac with over seven years of experience with working with all athletes, ranging from professional to youth. She most recently was a psychological assistant for the Fulton Psychological Group where she specialized in working with 4 to 18 year olds, counseling for mental health concerns as well as performance psychology. In 2018, she started her own private practice which specialized in helping athletes and business people to reach their highest level of performance. From August 2015 to 2018, Markle served as the Co-Director of Mindset Development at the Mamba Sports Academy. She was responsible for training athletes of all ages and levels and implementing mental skills training with individuals. In addition, she helped design the NBA and NFL Pre-Draft Training Program while working with the Mamba Sports Academy. Markle earned her Bachelor's degree in Psychology and English at the University of Vermont in 2010. She then went on to earn her Master's in Education in Counseling and Sport Psychology from Boston University in 2013. By 2020, Markle had also earned her PsyD in Clinical Psychology from California Southern University.

Kostelis returns for his second season as an Assistant Coach on Eric Da Costa's staff this season. He has background both as a player professionally and over 20 years of coaching experience. With the help of Kostelis who mainly oversees goalkeeper training, Karl Netzell was named All-MAAC Third Team in 2024 and was named MAAC Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 16. Kostelis has been in the Connecticut soccer community since he was a player at University of Hartford from 1989-1992, including being named captain for his senior season in 1992. He was named North Atlantic Conference Tournament Most Valuable Player in 1992. He was also named All-New England and was selected to the senior bowl in 1992. Kostelis was also an All-North Atlantic Conference Team three times from 1990-1992. After his collegiate career finished, Kostelis played professionally in Mytilene, Greece for Aiolikos Football Club from 1993-1995. Prior to CCSU, Kostelis was a part time assistant coach for Hartford men's and women's soccer programs from 2021-2022. He has also coached in youth soccer, most recently with Soccer Club of Newington from 2019-2021, where he was director of coaching. Kostelis coached in the USL with the Hartford Athletic as their goalkeeper coach from 2019-2020, and prior to that had other stints with other colleges in the area. He coached at URI from 2017-2018 as their associate head women's soccer coach, and was Southern Connecticut's part time assistant men's soccer coach from 2016-2

Kristen Casamento enters her first academic year as the Assistant Athletic Director for Academic Support. Casamento will be responsible for Golf, Men's and Women's Tennis and Men's and Women's Soccer. Prior to Quinnipiac, Casamento held the position Academic Advisor and Learning Specialist at the University of Rhode Island. She was responsible for Men's Basketball, Volleyball and Softball. In this position she worked together with student-athletes to educate them on their eligibility and academic progress as well as give them any resources they may need academically. Prior to Rhode Island, Casamento held many positions at Wagner College. Her first position at Wagner was a Graduate Assistant position in academics and compliance. At the same time that she held that position, Casamento was also a Study Hall Coordinator within the department. Once her Graduate Assistant position was over, she stayed at Wagner to become an Assistant Director Academics & Compliance/Academic Resource Coordinator. For her work at her various experiences, Casamento received the N4A Professional Promise Award for Region 1 in 2015, as well as the Diversity Action Council Award by Wagner College for her work with its diverse community of students in 2012. Casamento graduated from Marist with a Dual Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics and Communications (Concentration in Sports Communication) in 2009. She received a Masters of Education; Mathematics and Special Education from Wagner College in 2011.

Sergio Merino was hired as an Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach in January 2021. Merino spent the first half of the 2020-21 season as an Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach at Sacred Heart after spending three-and-a-half seasons as the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at Rensselear Polytechnic Institute (RPI). Merino joined Sacred Heart Athletics in August 2020 where he directly supervised the strength and conditioning programs for men's and women's basketball, baseball and women's volleyball. At each of his institutions, Merino developed and implemented performance testing, speed, agility, energy systems, strength training and mental performance programs. He spent three-and-a-half seasons as the head strength and condition coach at RPI from December 2016 through August 2020, overseeing the entire strength and conditioning department and responsible for the development of football, field hockey and men's golf. Merino previously was the Director of Athletic Performance at Canisius from August 2014 to December 2016 where he supervised and oversaw the athletic performance department and was an adjunct professor for Kinesiology 420. Prior to his time at Canisius, Merino also had two stops at Quinnipiac as an assistant strength & conditioning coach from 2012-14 and volunteer assistant from 2009-11. He also spent two years as a sports performance coach at Ranfone Training Systems from 2012-14, Director of Darien Fitness at Moore Center for Rehabilitation from 2011