August 30, 2010

Men's Soccer Begins 2010 Campaign Thursday at Newman

Coming off its first Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament appearance in four years, the University of Missouri-St. Louis men's soccer team is looking to pick up where they left off in 2009.

While many senior standouts graduated from that 9-7-2 squad, a core of quality returnees, along with several talented newcomers, should help make for a smooth transition and allow the Tritons to build off of last year's successes.

Head Coach Dan King enters his 10th season at the helm of the program and returns 10 letterwinners, including his top two scorers from a year ago in senior Jack McKenna and junior Johnny O'Mara.

McKenna scored a team-best six goals and had three assists for 15 points, while O'Mara tallied five goals and three assists for 12 points. O'Mara also led the team in shots, firing 41, and landed 21 of those on goal.

Also returning on offense are seniors Alex Agne and Kyle Wogetch and junior Yama Barekzai.

Agne saw action in all but one contest last season, scoring three goals, while Wogtech, in his fourth season with the Tritons, scored two goals and recorded one assist, starting eight of 16 contests played in. Barekzai played in five contests in his first season at UMSL last year.

The midfield and backfield feature four returnees in seniors Justin Barwick and Drew O'Brien, junior Mike McCarthy and sophomore Jordan Bruce.

Barwick and McCarthy each started the past two seasons for the Tritons, while Bruce saw action in each contest of his freshman campaign and scored the game-winner at No. 12 Northern Kentucky last year in the regular season finale to help send UMSL to the GLVC Tournament. O'Brien saw limited time, but is expected to compete for more field time this season.

The final returning letterwinner is senior goalkeeper Adam Geisegh. Although he appeared in just three contests last season, he is also expected to compete for more time between the posts this year.

15 players begin their careers with the Tritons this season, including many with impressive resumes, who should make an immediate impact. Those newcomers include four junior college transfers in juniors Almin Sabotic, Evan Schumaker, David Schwer and Gino Valenti.

Sabotic comes to UMSL from Meramec Community College where he earned Region 16 Player of the Year honors and was a second team all-American selection. The midfielder also garnered all-conference accolades after scoring 15 goals and recording 10 assists last season. As a freshman at Meramec, he tallied 13 goals and four assists.

Schumaker played two years at Southwestern Illinois College, where he was a two-time all-region selection and garnered all-America honors as a sophomore in the backfield.

Schwer and Valenti are both transfers from Lewis & Clark Community College. Schwer was named a second team all-America pick as a freshman and was also selected Region 24 Player of the Year. He recorded 23 goals and 19 assists, finishing with 65 points. During his sophomore season, he recorded 10 goals and nine assists for 29 points.

Valenti will add experience to the backfield, where he was a two-year starter at defender for LCCC.

Freshmen Robbie Baird (forward/midfield), Dennis Bayens (midfield), Matt Burrusb (midfield), Garrette Daugherty (back), Chad Haymart (back), Tim O’Connor (midfield/forward), Dane O’Keefe (back) and Doug Ruzicka (midfield/back) along with freshman redshirt Alex Malloy (midfield) will all make their collegiate debuts this season.

Other first year players include sophomore goalkeeper Pat Ream and junior back Ted Huels.

UMSL opens the 2010 campaign Thursday at Newman University in Wichita, Kan. The Tritons then begin the home portion of their schedule on Sunday, entertaining Indianapolis in a GLVC contest.

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