Newsfeed
Printer-Friendly ModeSix seniors return to help young men's soccer talent
August 25, 2005 —
The 2005 SVSU men's soccer team has six returning seniors on a team with an abundance of talented young players, talented enough to offset their inexperience.
They hope to improve on last year's record of 6-5-2 under second year head coach Art Moody. He was promoted from interim status to head coach back in March.
One of those seniors returning is the GLIAC player of week for the final week of last season, senior Cale Wasserman.
Wasserman, a midfielder, ended last season tied for second on the team with three goals and led the team in assists with four. He will be looked at for offensive production, since the team lost last season's top goal scorer, Kyle Grant, to graduation.
SVSU also lost many of its top midfielders and defenders to graduation, but Moody replaced them with five out of the ten freshmen he signed that can play those positions. Some of them include defender Brent Walker, midfielders Ryan Seelhoff and Devon Babylok. The recruiting class is a good one for Moody, but will lack the experience and continuity of his former players.
To counter this effect, Moody feels that with strong midfield play, he can make up for what he lost last season. Some of the players he looks for this type of play are juniors Matt Urick and Ryan Norman, senior Eric Welton, and Wasserman.
The Cardinals are also set at the goalkeeper position. They have an excellent young goalkeeper in sophomore Eric Carnes, who is replacing the departed All-GLIAC peformer Grant Pierce. Last season Carnes had a save percentage of .857 with 30 saves. Opponents could only average 0.79 goals against the dominant goaltender.
Last season, SVSU out shot their opponents in the second half of their games. They also outscored their opponents in overtime games by a four to one margin. Both are a tribute to conditioning that they hope will carry into their games for this upcoming season.
The Cardinals open their season today at St. Joseph's in Indiana and will begin conference play against Gannon on Saturday, Sept. 17. Their first big game comes the next day when they take on Mercyhurst, last season's GLIAC champions.
There will also be the rival games against Northwood University. The two squads take on each other twice, on Oct. 14 and 30.
Winning the final two games of the season last year provided much needed motivation and drive towards the start of the 2005 season. Having won those final two games propelled the Cardinals to a winning record.
The Cardinals have high expectations and will be relying on their returning players for leadership. Moody also expects them to be major contributors to the team.