Men's Soccer Preview

The 2010 men’s soccer season around the corner and it’s time to start getting excited for what’s in store for the team this season. Winthrop has won back-to-back titles in the Big South and three of the last four. Since winning in 2006, the Eagles have lost goal scorers such as Saidi Isaac, Daniel Revivo, and Matthew Skonicki in addition to playmakers Michael Luk and David Kenga. Along with their departures have been the likes of Otto Loewy, Patrick Mitrovich, Henry Kalungi, Stephen Nsereko, Sean Weron, John Gilkerson, and Matt Lacey. All of these players accumulated several awards and achieved many great things in their careers at Winthrop.
Each year always has question marks and brings new faces to the roster. Last year the Eagles knew there were questions on whether the amount of youth could mesh with the veteran players and things turned out just fine in the end. Again, this season there is the question: How successful can this team be with so many inexperienced players accumulating a majority of the playing time and starting positions?
This year could see as many as eight underclassmen in the starting line-up. The last time there were this many underclassmen in the line-up, Winthrop pulled through for its first ever Big South Conference title in 2002. That season saw seven underclassmen in the starting line-up. It was a banner season for the Eagles including two wins over nationally-ranked Coastal Carolina. Of those underclassmen, four of them earned multiple all-conference awards and were four-year starters. The Eagles have started six underclassmen three times (’03, ’05, ’06) since then, but have only started a total of six in the last two years. Now don’t get me wrong. There is definitely a lot of youth on the team this year (18 underclassmen), but among this group is a lot of talent.
The coaches in the Big South obviously thought so because Winthrop was picked second in the preseason poll with Coastal Carolina. High Point was the favorite, which most of us believed would be and Coastal Carolina second doesn’t surprise me either, but I didn’t see this coming. I figured anywhere between third and fifth, but closer to fifth with everything that’s been lost in the past two years. Last year’s team finished tied for fourth in the regular season and were the fifth seed in the tournament. Matthew Skonicki graduated and Michael Luk along with Matt Lacey are graduated. That’s a lot of to lose in one year. Being picked second can be good or bad. Depending on how the young players look at it. Even if they were picked fifth or sixth, you will be a game most teams look forward to playing. That comes with having won three of the last four championships. You may not have played last season, but the other teams don’t care. So even with High Point as the favorite and a game everyone will look forward to, Winthrop will have to be ready to play every single conference game. There is always a little extra joy in defeating a conference team that is the defending champion. It’s a pride thing the young guys will have to take into consideration. That’s really nothing new since every conference game seems to be a knock-down drag out no matter who or where you play.
I’ve now seen the Eagles play two exhibition games and I’m not sure I can make a full assessment of what you will see in 2010. The team has suffered through injuries during the preseason and the line-ups have been all over the place. The two games I watched I did see a lot of good things and was impressed how the team knocked the ball around despite having guys out of position and so many starters out.
Winthrop returns Enrique Miranda (goalkeeper), Daniel DiBiagio (defender), Wylie Rea (defender), Matt Horn (defender), Jordan Osborn (defender), Tomas Brennan (midfield), Miquel Casajuana (midfielder), and Adam Skonicki (forward) who are all expected to start. That is a good amount of returning talent with experience, but it’s going to be up to what players plug the whole that will dictate the amount of success the Eagles have this year. Freshman Alex Bolton has impressed me so far in the two games I watched and he could be a mainstay in the midfield on the outside. He works hard and goes forward well. Like any freshman, he does have the tendency to give the ball up more than a coach would like, but that will be cleaned up as the season goes on. Freshman Matt Stinson is another freshman expected to start and he’s a very solid defensive midfielder from what I’ve seen so far. I was really impressed with him and DiBiagio against Furman in the exhibition opener when they arrived by plane at 6:30 at Charlotte-Douglas Airport and then came straight to the field to start the second half and play 45 minutes of very solid soccer.
Freshman I have not seen play are Tinotenda Chibharo, who is expected to be a starter or see a lot of playing time. One of the most impressive players in the preseason for me is senior Ted Bartels. This is a guy that has been hurt, ineligible and I saw him for the first time in three years on the field against Furman and he was moving the ball well and creating in the midfield for the Eagles. I was told that he was playing really well, but for him not having played in a real game in so long, I was impressed. He should see a lot of time if he maintains that level.
There is some talent that Winthrop can turn to for the starting line-up for the first few weeks while everyone gets healthy. One of the players we’re waiting on to get healthy is freshman Nick Kowalski. He had a small surgery a few weeks back and is expected to make an impact in the midfield when he returns (which could be 5-6 games into the season).
The goalkeeper situation is solid as Miranda returns after playing every minute last season and Tom Banfield, who redshirted last year, has looked solid in the preseason.
Defensively, Winthrop should be pretty strong and will be young, but good in the midfield. Up top, the Eagles will have a sophomore in Adam Skonicki and a combo of Andres Pullin, Brandon Forlemu, Felipe Netto and Randall Eads. Maybe even Bartels? We’ll see.
My prediction: If Kowalski comes back healthy and can play significant minutes, along with the rest of the guys getting healthy—this team can once again be a team to reckon with in the league. The Eagles are playing a solid schedule and will get tested early with games against Mercer, UNC Wilmington, East Tennessee State and Georgia Southern.
Personally I don’t agree with the prediction of the Eagles being second in the preseason poll, but I don’t get a vote in that anymore. Coach Rich Posipanko and his staff have been able to keep reloading for this run of three championships in four seasons no matter who graduated, etc. Why should this year be any different? I still think 4th or 5th is realistic. One thing for sure is no matter how the team starts the season, I believe this squad will get stronger and stronger as it moves into November and will fight to defend its title. There will be games where they look like they’ve figured it out and then games where you scratch your head. That’s the life of having a young team. Let’s hope we’re not scratching our heads very often.

Coastal Carolina
This program has one of, if not the richest tradition in the Big South. The Chanticleers have won nine regular season titles, been to the conference tournament title game 11 times and brought home nine Big South titles.
Despite being tied with the Eagles at second in the preseason poll, Coastal Carolina could easily capture the regular season like it did in 2009 and is always a contender to win the conference tournament. Even though 2009 Big South Conference Player of the Year Djamel Bekka graduated, the Chanticleers are loaded with nine of 11 starters returning. This teams overall record is always deceiving as head coach Shaun Docking always puts together a tough non-conference schedule. This year is no different with the likes of Old Dominion, Virginia Commonwealth, Elon, College of Charleston, North Carolina State and Maryland.
The returning players are featured by First Team All-Big South member Alex Russell, a senior with good size and one of the best defenders in the league. Senior’s Joe Anderson and Matt Schroeder return as the top two scorers for a Chanticleer team that put the ball in the net 29 times in 18 games last year. However, defensively, Coastal Carolina only allowed 20 goals all season, 10 of which came in three games. Both are very strong midfielders with good size and pace (Anderson at 6-3 and Schroeder at 6-2). Schroeder, Second Team All-Big South in 2009, is a defensive midfielder where as Anderson will be more involved in the attack as he plays on the outside.
Junior Scott Angevine returns in net for the Chanticleers and had a solid 2009 season in which he was 7-0-6 with four shutouts and a 0.65 goals against average. Those were good enough to earn him First Team All-Big South honors. I would assume he will be back as the starter.
Coastal will get Winthrop and High Point at home this season. Coastal Carolina was 5-0-3 in the league last year while High Point was 5-1-2. Hosting High Point could be the difference again this year. Coastal will have to travel to Liberty to open conference play and that will be in the middle of a three-game road trip and five of six on the road. Five of the conference games will be on the road. That will make it tough to repeat as regular season champions. The Chants will only play six home games.
Don’t know too much about the recruiting class of the Chanticleers, but just reading through the list there are a lot of players coming in with Olympic Development and Regional Team experience. There isn’t much room with nine starters returning but talented players like that will be fighting to start and earn playing time. Even with only six home games, I expect Coastal Carolina to be right there in the end and make its 12th title game appearance. Coastal is always a very physical team and that is key for playing in the postseason. I think all the experience of playing away from home will be an advantage in the end, especially for a veteran team.

High Point
There is a lot of attention on this team in 2010. The Panthers are the preseason favorite, they have the preseason Player of the Year and they are hosting the 2010 Big South Conference Tournament. With 10 of 11 starters returning, it isn’t surprising the coaches selected them as the favorite. High Point was definitely one of the favorites to win the conference tournament last year before all things got crazy with the rain and the relocation of the tournament to Gardner-Webb. High Point is ready to be the most relaxed team as the host and the players wake up and find out things are changing and it will be moved to Gardner-Webb. That curveball along with playing a seventh-seeded Radford team that was way better than its record, just made it that more difficult for the Panthers. It was a young team last season and eight of the top returning players for 2010 are sophomores. Mix that with Karo Okiomah (Preseason Player of the Year) and a few more veterans and you have a very solid Panther squad. This team played fast when I saw them play last fall and I expect the same out of them this season. The Panthers did add a Rock Hill, SC native to its recruiting class in Alex Martinez. He was named the MVP of the Clash of the Carolinas. Scott Rojo, one of the few seniors on the team, has been a key player since his freshman season and had a solid summer as he was named to the All-Premier Development League as well as the All-Eastern Conference Team in the PDL.
Shawn Sloan (So.) was a First Team All-Big South selection in 2009 and was the Freshman of the Year as he played in all 18 games. He scored six goals and had two assists while playing in the midfield. Defender Todd Ray was another Panther that made All-Big South honors. The All-Freshmen Team featured three High Point players in Sloan, Fejiro Okiomah and Patrick Donahue. Fejrio Okiomah scored four goals and had three assists while Donahue started all 18 games in the midfield. Michael Chelser returns in net for the Panthers. He started all 18 games and finished with a 1.30 goals against average and five shutouts.
This is a team with a lot of young talent that head coach Dustin Fonder has assembled and it is a team that has a very good chance at winning its first Big South Championship in men’s soccer.

Liberty
The Flames are coming off a very impressive season in which they won 12 games and will return seven very solid starters for the 2010 season. Liberty reached its fifth over final in 2009 and will have a lot of experience back for this season. The four starters not back were impact players. Juan Guzman was a very solid midfielder and Chris Mandall and Michael Ward (both All-Big South selections) were very solid in the back. Goalkeeper Andrew Madero also graduated after starting in 18 games with a 0.45 goals against average.
The biggest loss will be in the defense with those three gone, but the Flames do return their top five scorers from a year ago led by Darren Amoo. He is a very skillful and quick player that scored 14 goals last year as a redshirt freshman. He will be a player that will contend for the Big South Conference Player of the Year award. Playing alongside him will be junior Timothy Bullock, who had four goals and four assists last season and was selected to the All-Big South team. In the midfield, Phillip Aseweh, Juan Nino and Chris Phillips return to give the Flames one of the strongest, experienced midfields in the league. Nino posted eight assists last year and Aseweh had seven goals and six assists. This group was the foundation of a team that scored 43 goals last year and should be able to equal that. This is definitely the making of a team that could return to the championship match.

RADFORD
Radford is an interesting team and kind of an unknown, but has the potential to be a solid team. The Highlanders have a new coach for the first time in 17 years. New head coach Marc Reeves brings a wealth of experience from a successful program (St. John’s).
This team that finished seventh in the Big South last season returns a very solid core of players that were a part of a positive finish to the 2009 season after an upset of second-seeded High Point in the opening round of the Big South Conference Tournament.
The record of 5-9-3 last season was a bit deceptive as the Highlanders had a talented team that was involved in nine games decided by one goal or ended in a tie. The team managed just 18 goals in 17 games and if Radford solves that problem it should be one of the top four teams in the league. Radford had a 3-1 win over Virginia Tech and tied High Point and Winthrop during the regular season. Having watched the game against Winthrop, the game could have easily gone in favor of Radford as it applied a lot of pressure but missed opportunities, as did both sides.
The top five scorers return and seven or eight starters as well as both goalies. Sophomore Myles Jones is coming off a very impressive season in which he was named to the All-Big South Second Team and the All-Freshmen Team. He is a very solid defender and has great size at 6-3. He is from the same hometown as Winthrop’s two freshmen players from Harare, Zimbabwe. In addition to Jones, Radford returns a solid defense in veterans Aldo Macias and Brendan Shaffer. James Jordan and Iyiola Awosika return as the top scoring forwards and just add to the experience Radford brings to the 2010 season.
Reeves added five freshmen to the roster for the 2010 season (four midfielders and a forward). The newcomers will add depth to a midfield that returns Brian Gwanzura, Joe Baxter and James Leith.
One of the more interesting things about the 2010 Highlanders is the schedule. They will only be playing five games at home, opening up the home schedule with a conference game against rival Liberty and then playing Longwood, Presbyterian, Winthrop and Coastal Carolina at home. The non-conference schedule features games at North Carolina, Virginia Tech, Davidson, and Elon as well as neutral site games against Mercer and Georgia Southern. One thing for sure, the Highlanders will be battle tested and well prepared for the conference tournament. Playing on the road for 12 of your 17 games in a season won’t be easy. Despite that, I still feel Radford will finish among the top five teams in the league.

Gardner-Webb
Like many of the teams in the league, the Bulldogs return a solid core of players that includes nine of its top 12 scorers from last season. Gardner-Webb finished fifth in the league with a 4-3-1 record and is a team that seems to pride itself with hard work. Every game seems to be a battle. Gardner-Webb was the fifth seed in 2009 and lost a heartbreaker in the opening round to Winthrop in a shootout. This is a team that was voted sixth in the preseason poll, but is definitely capable of finishing around the top of the standings. I know it sounds like a broken record and it seems like every team I’ve talked about so far has a chance to win the league. I think that shows the depth of talented teams in the Big South heading into the season. This team opened the 2009 season with a 1-0 win at Clemson and also picked up wins over Jacksonville, Liberty, and Georgia Southern (5-2).
Gerard Hefferon, a very talented player that scored 10 goals and had eight assists last season, has graduated but there are nine players returning that scored at least one goal in 2009. Senior Romeo Kabanda is the top playmaker back for Gardner-Webb; five goals and eight assists last season. Gardner-Webb scored 31 goals in 17 games, but also allowed 31. This team was only shutout three times last season.
With a few questions on defense, Gardner-Webb could be susceptible to the same amount or more this year. If the Bulldogs defense comes together, they will be tough to beat. All-Big South selection Jon Ole Reinhardsen will be the veteran on defense, despite being a redshirt sophomore. Head coach Tony Setzer shuffled some players between midfield and defense last season and could give them a permanent home in the back this year.
Manning the net will be senior keeper Trent Kozman, who posted a 7-5-2 record last year with three shutouts. He missed the Big South Tournament with an injury.
I don’t know much about the newcomers other than there is a lot of them. But knowing coach Setzer, he’s brought in a few talented players that will help make this team even more competitive.
The schedule is competitive and Gardner-Webb will play VMI, Presbyterian College, Coastal Carolina and Radford all at home. Non-conference schedule will prepare them for Big South action as the Bulldogs travel to play Clemson and Appalachian State and will host Mercer, Georgia State, Davidson and UNC Greensboro.
The Bulldogs will definitely be a tough contest for every league team.

Presbyterian College
This is a team that is getting closer and closer to being a winner in this league. This team plays hard and plays very physical. Two of the teams three wins last season came in the Big South and they were against Radford and VMI as well as pulling off ties against the first and second best teams in the league last year (Coastal Carolina and High Point). They lost six games by one goal.
Seven starters return, including sophomore keeper Andrew Wallingford. He had a 1.24 goals against average in 2009 while senior James Neal returns after a 1-7-0 record and a 2.23 goals against average. Neal saw over 800 minutes in net while Wallingford played in 650.
Just like last season, I expect PC to compete in every league game. Last year they surprised with the ties against the top two teams in the league and this year I think one or even both of those ties turn into wins over someone in the top half of the standings.
All three wins the Blue Hose got in 2009 were at home. Winning on the road is key in the Big South to finish in the upper half of the standings and if PC figures out how to do that this season then the league is definitely facing a large number of tie-breaking scenarios.

VMI
This is a team that no matter what the circumstances are, they will fight you to the end. VMI works its tail off and is coming off a tough season in which it went 2-15-1. However, that team lost seven games by one goal (three in conference games) and lost three of its games in overtime while tying the other. The season ended with a 1-0 loss to top-seeded Coastal Carolina in the Big South Tournament.
This should be an improved VMI squad with the return of nine of its starters, including senior keeper Brian Sowell. This guy is really good and can keep the Keydets in games. I’ve witnessed two games in his career where no matter how many times you pounded the goal, he just refused to let the ball get by him. Whether it’s making the save and bouncing right up and save the rebound. He will be a key element in helping VMI improve from last year.
Senior Brian Harding was the leading scorer last season and returns as a starter in the midfield.
Third-year coach Richie Rose has experience returning and hopes to mold the newcomers in with the returning players to produce a good season. Rose brought in a class of nine players, almost all from the state of Virginia. Three of the players brought in were forwards to try and beef up the scoring a bit. Payton Case is a midfielder and defender Stephen Mallon both were part of the Virginia Olympic Development program. The only non-Virginia recruit is Aaron White, a forward from Wilson, NC and also part of the North Carolina ODP.
With the number of close results from last year in the league, I can only assume VMI will sneak in and turn some of the one goal losses into wins this year.

UNC ASHEVILLE
A new era begins in Asheville where first year head coach Matt Kern takes over. The coach has 18-years of experience in collegiate soccer and will look to turn things around for a team that was 6-12-2 last year with a 2-5-1 league record.
One thing a new coach usually has to do replace players and deal with changes. However, Kern stepped into situation where all 11 starters are returning. The Bulldogs were involved in 11 one goal games last year and also had the two ties. Every game is close and the Bulldogs hope more of them go in their favor this year than last.
One of the top players for the Bulldogs is forward Bryan Bartels, who was named to the All-Big South Second Team in 2009. He had two goals in 20 games with 12 starts. Also returning is Lassi Hurkainen, a junior that played over 1,600 minutes for the Bulldogs in 2009. Of the 11 starters returning, all but Eli Morrow and David Parra are juniors. Parra was a member of the Big South All-Freshmen Team along with teammate Zachery Odum, who tied for the team lead with three goals.
With so much returning, Kern only had to bring in a small number of recruits as he added five for the upcoming season. All freshmen and a transfer from the University of Rhode Island (Cody Zane) make up the class.