Courtesy: Rochester Democrat & Chronicle




Guastaferro retiring after MISL final

Canandaigua graduate ends nine-year pro soccer career to work toward master's degree

by Jeff DiVeronica
Staff writer

(April 20, 2007) — Andy Guastaferro hasn't made millions playing professional soccer, and he hasn't played regularly in front of huge crowds. But for the past nine years he has done something most people wish they could.

He lived his dream
"Pro soccer in America, you play it because you love it," said the Philadelphia Kixx midfielder from Canandaigua, who is retiring after Saturday's Major Indoor Soccer League championship game against Detroit.

"I dreamed about doing this ever since I was little."

The 29-year-old said it's time to hang up his cleats and start the next chapter of his life, which includes earning his MBA at Eastern University near Philly over the next 18 months. He and his wife, Heidi, married last July.

Soccer has taken Guastaferro all over the world. The Canandaigua Academy (1995) and University of Maine ('99) graduate has played for outdoor club teams in Michigan, New Orleans and Charlotte (N.C.) and indoors with Harrisburg, Pa., Chicago and Philly.

He was part of a championship team in 2005 with Charlotte in the USL Second Division, one notch below the Rhinos. Guastaferro said his proudest moment was representing his country on the 2004 U.S. Futsal team in Costa Rica and China with Rhinos midfielder John Ball and ex-Rochester players Greg Howes, Steve Butcher and Danny Kelly. Futsal is an international form of indoor soccer.

Internationally, he played in 1999-2000 in France, but places such as Haiti, Mozambique, Sudan, South Africa, Thailand and Laos made the biggest impression on Guastaferro.

He took those trips with Charlotte, a club owned by Missionary Athletes International.

"I've seen a lot of poverty, and it has kind of burned into my heart the desire to take action toward doing something about it," he said.

That's why his MBA concentration is in international economic development.

In that respect, maybe pro soccer has led him to a reward greater than riches, which is helping others who are less fortunate.

"I'm still going to play soccer (as an amateur)," said the 1994 All-Greater Rochester soccer team pick, who played for his father, Joe, in high school. "I'm too competitive not to."


Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com