Bi-weekly, Sports Information will report on a former Purchase College student-athlete and where the world has taken them these days. Today's “Where Are They Now?” … Former men's soccer standout Ryan Roach.

Purchase, NY (Dec. 7, 2012) – When Ryan Roach played for the Purchase College men's soccer team, he was a tremendous operator in and around the goal. 

Now, some five years after he graduated from Purchase, he hopes to literally operate – as a surgeon.

Roach, – a 2007 graduate who led the Panthers in scoring his senior year with 11 goals and four assists for 26 points – headed off after graduation to Tulane University in New Orleans. After first getting a master's degree there in cellular microbiology, he then studied at Tulane's Medical School to become an orthopedic surgeon.

"It was because of the amazing science faculty at Purchase College that I decided to first get my master's in cellular microbiology and then move onto medical school," Roach said in a phone interview. "The science department at Purchase is unique in that because of its size you get personalize attention from each and every professor and that was huge in terms heightening my interest in biology and in medicine."

Roach said that it was actually a combination of science and soccer that led him down the path to become an orthopedic surgeon.

"Absolutely it was my love of soccer and science that led me to choose this line of medicine," he said. "Being an athlete led me to the fact that after school I wanted to help other athletes and I realized I could do that by becoming an orthopedic surgeon. 

"And of course," he noted, "being competitive helps in order to get into a competitive field like medicine."

Lonny Unger, Roach's first coach at Purchase, said that Roach was one of the most competitive players he had coached.

"Purchase's team was just entering Division III at that time and some of our players didn't know what to make of that," Unger said. "But not Ryan. Every game was a war for him; at times that led to a yellow card or two but I know that by the end of his career he was a top player for the team and in the conference. "

"I know that Ernie Palmeiri (former AD and now VP of Student Affairs), Chris Bisignano (current AD and Assistant AD when Roach was at Purchase) and myself could not be more proud of the fact that he is now becoming a doctor," Unger said.