Last year the Wabash College soccer team debuted a brand new stadium at the start of the year. The 2012 season will also see a change at Mud Hollow Stadium, this time with new head coach
Chris Keller.
Keller took over the program in July and has spent the last week meeting and working with his 22 players to prepare for their opening match this Saturday against 20th-ranked Hope College at 2 p.m.
“It's clear we have a group of guys that want to work hard together,” Keller said. “I have a good corps group of seniors — five guys that really want to get after it and have been really good working with the younger guys. We have one junior, a large sophomore class and good-sized freshmen class. It's a young team that needs to find its way.
“I'm happy with the work rate thus far. We need to continue to work on the tactical aspect of the game heading into our first contest.”
The senior class included goalkeeper
Matt Paul. Paul started 17 games in goal, recording 61 saves and five shutouts for the Little Giants (8-9-2, 3-6 NCAC in 2011). He ranks first in all-time goals-against average at 1.22 in Wabash history. Joining Paul for a fourth season on the Wabash roster are
Joe Stiglitz,
CJ Francoeur, and
Levi Noblitt. Backup senior goalkeeper
Kenny Harris is back for his third season with the team.
Stiglitz played in 19 games as a defender last season. Francoeur started 18 times on the defensive end of the field, while Noblitt appeared in 17 contest with 10 starts at midfield.
Sophomore
Blake Jennings led the team in scoring as a freshman. Jennings finished with six goals and two assists in his rookie season, including two game-winning shots. Fellow sophomore
Steve Magura added a goal as well, providing the only returning scoring from last year's squad.
Second-year player
George Vinihakis provided a big foot on restarts, drilling the ball into the box from beyond midfield to set up scoring chances last season. He started 13 games and played in two others.
Evan Coudriet played in 14 matches as a freshman. Fellow rookies
Zach Woloshin,
Matthew Bupp,
Jacob Nigh, and
Ethan Dove each saw limited action in 2011.
Will Wettering is the lone junior on the squad. The goalkeeper has yet to appear in a varsity contest.
Seven freshmen will compliment the returning veterans for the 2012 Little Giants. The first-year players could see significant playing time with the smaller roster of players.
Wabash was picked to finish ninth in the ten-team North Coast Athletic Conference standings in the
preseason coaches poll. Keller is less worried about standing and more about in his opening season at the helm.
“Of course we would like to win every game,” Keller said. “That would define a pretty successful season. Most importantly we're trying to develop a good corps group of guys that will develop a good, winning culture. We need to set the foundation of success that we can build upon every year. If we work hard and out-work our opponents we can build from there.”
Wabash will open the season with three consecutive home matches. The season opener against Hope College is part of the Third Annual Robbie Dreher Classic, honoring the late son of former Wabash soccer player Scott Dreher. The Little Giants will play Monmouth College on Sunday at 2 p.m. in the Classic's finale. Tuesday afternoon at 5:30 p.m. Wabash will take on St. Joseph's College.
The Little Giants open NCAC play on Saturday, September 22 at home against Oberlin College at 4:30 p.m.
