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Anthony Tuesta
Anthony Tuesta, a Hall-of-Fame standout player who was the 2006 New Jersey Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year, enters his fifth season as head women’s soccer coach at New Jersey City University during the 2020-21 season. Tuesta is the second winningest coach in program history with 24 victories over his first four years while playing in one of the top conferences in NCAA Division III.
Tuesta was named the 15th head women’s soccer coach in program history in November 2015 and in August, 2016, was elevated to full-time—the first-ever full-time coach of the sport at NJCU.
Tuesta served two seasons as assistant men’s soccer coach for the Gothic Knights (2013-14) before returning to Jersey City after one season as assistant men’s soccer coach at Division I NJIT.
In his first four seasons at NJCU, the Knights have had their greatest success in non-conference games, posting a 20-8-1 record for a .707 winning percentage. NJCU was 5-1-1 out of conference in 2016, 5-1-0 in 2018 and 7-2-0 in 2019.
Tuesta has coached one of the best players to ever take the pitch for the Gothic Knights, Mallensy Vargas, who became the program’s third all-time leading scorer and one of the most prolific in league history, producing 139 points on 59 goals and 21 assists from 2016-19. Vargas became the first Gothic Knight to ever be named First-Team All-NJAC three times and the fourth NJCU women’s soccer player to earn a spot on an All-Conference team in four seasons playing in Jersey City. She was also a three-time All-ECAC selection, taking home First-Team twice. She was a five-time NJAC Offensive Player of the Week and was named the NCAA Division III National Player of the Week on September 17, 2019 after producing 29 points in one week—the most in the same calendar week in NCAA Division III history.
In addition to Vargas, one of his players was named NJAC Defensive Player of the Week (Aracelli Carranza, 2019) and there have been three NJAC Rookie of the Week selections (Arame Diouf, 2019; Vargas, 2016, twice).
Academically, the 2018-19 team earned an impressive 3.208 grade point average and the 2016-17 club produced a 3.068. In all, 20 of his student-athletes have earned Academic All-NJAC honors. Daniela Betancourt was named Second-Team Academic All-NJAC in 2018-19.
An experienced club coach, Tuesta has coached with New Jersey Cedar Stars Academy (NJCSA) of Holmdel as a head coach and before that with Parsippany (NJ) Soccer Club 2012 to 2015. With NJCSA, he coaches U-11 and U-12 boys pre-academy teams, while at Parsippany, he was head coach for U-9, U-12, U-13, U-18, and U-20. In 2015, he worked with teams that were U-18 Boys NJ State Cup finalists and USL Super-Y League U-13 national qualifiers; 2014 U-20 USL Super-Y national champions; and, in 2012 won the USL Super-Y League U-17 national champions in Orlando, Fla. and captured the NJ Youth Soccer State Cup Champions. That team also competed in the 2012 National Premier Leagues (NPL) championship in Chicago, Ill. Tuesta has also served as a club trainer.
On the high school level he was assistant coach of the Clifton varsity boys’ soccer team in 2014 and in 2012 was a volunteer coach for the Montville High School varsity boys’ soccer team.
A 2009 graduate of Kean University with a B.A. in Spanish, Tuesta, a two-time First-Team All-NJAC selection in 2006 and 2007, was an outstanding forward and the league’s top player in 2006. He claimed 2006 and 2007 NCAA Division III/NSCAA First-Team All-Metro Region honors. In 2006, he was a D3kicks.com Second-Team All-America choice and Kean’s Player of the Year.
In two seasons at the NJAC-rival school under Coach Tony Ochrimenko, Tuesta scored 24 goals and added 10 assists for 58 points, with eight goals proving to be game winners. He played in 40 games (36 starts) and was credited with 101 shots (65 on goal) while converting 4-of-5 penalty kicks. The Cougars were a combined 19-18-5 in his career.
Prior to arriving at Kean, Tuesta played two seasons at Mercer County Community College, leading the Vikings to back-to-back National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) national finals in 2002 and 2003 under Coach Charlie Inverso.
A 2002 alumnus of Clifton High School in Clifton, NJ—one of the top high school programs historically in the state—Tuesta will be inducted into the Clifton High School Athletics Hall of Fame on October 11, 2020.
He played four seasons (1998-01) of varsity soccer for the Mustangs under late legendary coach Fernando Rossi. He was instrumental in the school winning four consecutive Passaic County and Northern New Jersey Interscholastic League (NNJIL) championships during his career. The Mustangs won the 2000 state sectional title and advanced to the 2000 overall state finals.
Individually, Tuesta scored 93 goals and delivered 40 assists for a remarkable 226 points in four years for Clifton, but essentially in three years as he missed much of his junior campaign in 2000 with a leg injury. He was a three-time First-Team All-State sectional, All-Passaic County, All-Area and All-NNJIL league selection in 1998, 1999 and 2001 and the 1999 Herald News Area Player of the Year as a sophomore. In 1999 and 2001, he was listed as one of the Top 51 Players in the state by the Soccer Coaches Association of New Jersey as a first-team selection; as a freshman in 1998 he was listed as a third-team SCANJ Top 51 pick.
Tuesta comes from a successful soccer family. Most predominantly, his uncle, Carlos Atoche, was a professional player for Sports Boys in Peru. He is currently an assistant coach with the Peruvian Women’s National Team.
Tuesta, 36, is a native of Peru where he lived until 1995. He resides in North Arlington, N.J.
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