MARIETTA, Ohio — We move into the decade of the Eighties celebrating the history of Marietta College soccer this time with the Defensive Player of the 1980s Decade. This honor goes to unquestionably the most decorated goalkeeper to ever don the gloves in Marietta College soccer history, Ken Rickvalsky '84.
Recruited as part of the New Jersey pipeline that Head Coach John Blair established, the Old Bridge New Jersey native stepped right in replacing the graduated 1967-79 All Decade goalkeeper Jeff Muscatello in the starting lineup. He made a significant immediate impact on the program as in only the second game of his college career he set the record for most saves in a game when he had 25 against the University of Charleston in a 1-0 loss. He would go on to set three more Marietta goalkeeping records in his career, two of which (most saves in a career and most shutouts in a career) he still holds today.
Impressively Ken is the only player in MC Soccer history to receive All-Ohio and All-Ohio Athletic Conference awards in all four of his playing years. On top of that Rickvalsky was named All-Region twice, earning those honors in the 1981 & 1982 seasons. Lastly, he is one of only six players in our 52-year history to receive an All-Region award and he is the only goalkeeper of that prestigious group.
The Marietta teams that he manned the nets for steadily improved in his four years. His senior year the team finished with a then school record 9 wins. Ken is one of our five Marietta College Athletics Hall of Fame soccer inductees when he was given that honor in 2014.
