Season Preview: Men's Soccer Looking for Equal Distribution
Thursday, September 1, 2011|
Politicians in Washington may have trouble agreeing on a budget, but the Muhlenberg men's soccer team has a good spending plan for this fall.
After losing five starters, including four all-region players and two All-Americans, from last year's squad that reached the "Sweet 16" of the NCAA Tournament, the Mules will turn to some new faces in some new roles when they open the 2011 season against Cortland State on Friday and DeSales on Saturday. Both games are scheduled for 6 p.m. at Varsity Field.
And according to senior Steve Giannacio, the biggest key this season will be sharing the wealth.
"We're going to have to talk more if we're going to be successful," he said. "The big names may be gone from last season, but a lot of other guys got a lot of experience and are back. And even the guys that may not have played much were able to learn a lot from the seniors last year. We're going to try to get everyone involved."
One player the Mules are hoping gets involved in a big Way is junior forward Danny Way. The squad's lone returning all-conference and all-region selection, Way leads all returning Centennial Conference players in scoring after finishing the 2010 campaign with 13 goals and three assists.
Joining Way up front is expected to be senior captain Josh Luginbuhl, who plans to move up from the midfield. He scored seven goals in 2010, including the game-winner in double overtime against Stevens in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
After losing some dynamic offensive threats, the Mules want to be more methodical and patient this season to help break opposing defenses down.
"Going through practice we've pretty much been looking for the open man instead of the trying to find one or two key scorers," Giannacio said. "I think we'll be able to score from more angles this year.
"I don't think we're going to have two or three guys scoring most of the goals and then have a big drop off. We're going to have a lot of different guys scoring and getting assists."
Two players who showed the ability to distribute last fall are senior Tim Leischner (five assists) and sophomore Jacob Joseph (three assists). Also in the midfield, junior Nate Squire started all 22 games last season, scoring three goals, while Giannacio appeared in 21 games, registering a goal and an assist.
Although they lost a pair of all-region backs from their defense, the Mules' cupboard is not by any means bare. Junior captain Kyle Plifka has been a rock since his freshman season and should contend for postseason honors this year.
Joining him are sophomores Ryan Barlotta, who started all 22 games in 2010, and Jonathan Schauer, who saw time in 20 games with eight starts, to form a nucleus that should help keep balls away from the goal.
In the net, the Mules will have to replace a departed All-American, but senior Conor Choi said both challengers for the spot, junior Ari Nutovits and sophomore Jas Chojnowski, have performed well this preseason and appear poised to step in.
"They are both really good shot-stoppers," Choi said. "Some of the reaction saves they've made have been incredible. I feel pretty confident with either one in goal; I think we'll be just fine."
Expectations are once again high for the Mules, who were picked to finish second in the CC preseason poll and are ranked in the top 25 in both national polls.
This year's squad wants to continue the tradition of winning ways, which Choi said has been evident by how much effort each and every player has put forth in during preseason drills.
"I would be surprised if we aren't as successful as we were last year," he said. "We've got the guts that a lot of people don't necessarily have, and we are prepared to outwork everyone we play."
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