2007 Men's Soccer Season Preview

If there is one word to sum up what the men’s 2007 soccer season holds, the word would be experience which the Blazers boast in two major areas, with their players and against their opponents.

This season marks the first recruiting class that has been a part of the program for four years. The group consists of five four-year starters, Jason Donnelly, Shane McCarrick, Tom Noonan, Marcelino Rabara and Craig Wachter in addition to key reserve Samson Olorunfemi.

Donnelly and Wachter have continuously contributed to the team’s defense. In 2006, McCarrick scored three goals for a total of six points. He was also named to the 2006 ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-District Second Team. Noonan was the team’s leading scorer in 2006 with 34 points on 12 goals and 10 assists. Noonan currently holds both seasonal and career records for goals, assists and points. Rabara was second on the team for scoring (17), shots (37), goals (6) and assists (5) last season. He also assisted in the pair of goals that led to the team’s first conference win over Gallaudet. Over the past three years

Olorunfemi has served mainly as a spark off the bench, but will contribute more heavily this season. Two juniors, Tom Sprague and Brandon Garton, along with the addition of sophomore Quinn Miller will add even more depth to the team.

“[Miller] is a transfer from Goucher College that we hope can provide us with a stronger midfield presence. Having a full year of Division III experience, we expect him to be an immediate impact player,” head coach Brian Wall said.

The other advantage this year’s men’s soccer team has is a full year of experience with the Capital Athletic Conference. Last season in the CAC the team held a record of 1-6-1, with an overall record 8-10-1, with many of the losses the result of one goal differences. “With last year being our first year competing in the CAC, our core group of players experienced first hand the intensity they must bring to every training session and match in order to be competitive,” Wall said.

“We hope that our past experiences can act as learning lessons and can enable us to take another step forward in building a consistent and competitive Division III soccer program.” Such a goal will not be hard for the team, which also has the addition of ten freshmen.

“We are very happy with this year’s freshman class and we feel that they can have a positive impact on our program,” Wall said. The freshman class is the largest recruited class in the program’s four-year history. Wall is looking for the underclassmen to develop during this season, so they can adjust to the speed and physical aspects of collegiate play.

The team’s main objective this season, aside from building its program, is to make their way into the “middle of the pack” of the CAC and gain their first playoff win, Wall said. Last year the team faced nationally ranked York College in the first round of playoffs and lost 3-0.

The CAC overall has a strong tradition for having great men’s soccer programs, several of which are nationally ranked, Wall said.

“We hope to work hard and be competitive in every CAC match we play this year. If we are able to maintain a consistent competitive level, we feel that we can win a few more conference matches than we did last year,” Wall said.