How does the Wabash College soccer team improve on a record-setting 2014 season? By continuing to work on fundamentals, execution, and playing together as a team in 2015.
 
The Little Giants set a new record for victories in a season with a 13-3-3 mark last year, including wins over a pair of nationally ranked opponents. Wabash set another record by playing 12 consecutive matches without a loss to open the season before dropping a 2-0 decision to national semifinalist Ohio Wesleyan. The Little Giants completed the North Coast Athletic Conference portion of the schedule with a record of 6-2-1 to place third in the standings and earn the team's first berth in the league tournament.
 
Coming off the accolades of last season, Wabash was picked to finish fifth in the conference standings in the annual NCAC coaches' preseason poll, released Tuesday by the league. The Little Giants received 60 total points, trailing fourth-place Denison by two points (62). Ohio Wesleyan received eight first-place votes and a total of 96 points. Kenyon picked up two first-place votes and 91 points to rank second in the poll, followed by DePauw with 74 points. Allegheny placed behind Wabash in the sixth spot with 48 points, followed by Oberlin (45 points), Hiram (34), Wooster (23), and Wittenberg (17).
 
"Preseason polls are kind of an evaluation of what happened last year," Wabash head coach and 2014 Great Lakes Regional and NCAC Men's Soccer Coach of the Year Chris Keller said. "Every team in the conference is completely different every year.
 
"We lost a lot of seniors. A lot of other teams in the conference also lost a lot of seniors. To me it's not too relevant. The fifth-place ranking does give us a little more respect after being ranked ninth in last year's preseason poll. But we obviously wouldn't be happy finishing fifth after the last game of the season. So we don't read too much into it considering we have so many young guys."
 
While Wabash lost seven seniors to graduation, a corps group of players return, led by Second Team All-NCAC and Newcomer of the Year striker Mike Gore. The Portage, Indiana product led the Little Giants with five goals and four assists for a total of 14 points. Joining Gore is two-time All-NCAC selection Riley Pelton, who tied for the team lead in goals scored with five. Rodrigo Porras is another two-time All-NCAC player back in the lineup for Wabash. Primarily a defensive player, Porras played in 16 of 19 games last year after starting every contest as a freshman. He tallied one assist in 2014.
 
Eleven players who notched a total of 26 goals are back for Wabash this season, as well as All-NCAC goalkeeper Dayton Jennings. The junior put up school-record numbers protecting the net with a total of eight shutouts to rank second in the NCAC in that category. He also finished second among NCAC goalkeepers in save percentage (.798) and goals against average (0.98) while finishing fourth in saves per game (3.94). Chase Francouer played in three matches with two starts at goalkeeper and posted a 2-0 record with five saves.
 
"Twenty-two of our 29 guys are either freshmen or sophomores," Keller said. "However the sophomore group played massive amounts of minutes last season. They really are a year ahead of where a lot of sophomore players are on other teams. We won't use our youth as an excuse for any losses or for games where we don't play well. This is our team regardless of their age."
 
Francisco Trejo paced the returning sophomores with four goals in his rookie season. Stojan Krsteski tallied three goals, while Max Rowley picked up a pair of scoring strikes. Cory Sims, Spase Dorsuleski, Austin Crosley, and Gabe Murei each scored a goal in the first year on the team.
 
Adam Antalis will provide the leadership for the Little Giants as the team's lone senior. He scored twice last year and will anchor the back line for Wabash this season. Junior Geno James added a goal last season to the Wabash totals, as well.
 
The Little Giants manhandled Saint Francis Sunday in an exhibition match, winning 6-2. Despite the positive outcome, Keller knows the team still needs some time to come together.
 
"The players came into camp pretty fit, so that was a positive. We're just trying to mesh well together as a team right now. We had a pretty good scrimmage Sunday against Saint Francis. We had some flashes of good play but we also have a lot of cleaning up to do defensively and in terms of communication on the field. Our freshmen players are still adjusting to the physicality and speed of play. I'm satisfied where we are right now, but we really need to ramp it up to be ready for our first match next week.
 
"The midfield play was good for us Sunday with Cory, Max, and Alexiz Arellano," Keller added. "They held the middle pretty well. We had some good showings by Geno and Adam in the back line. We have a pretty versatile group that brings a lot of different tools in our front third. Those guys know that their main job as strikers is to put the ball in the net and create opportunities for their teammates and make assists. There is a good level of competition among that group. The attacking third is always the last thing to come around at the start of the season."
 
Wabash opens play at MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Illinois next Tuesday at 5 p.m. (EDT). While the Little Giants hope for another fast start to the season, Keller's main goal is to start 1-0.
 
"It's always important to get some early wins to provide a confidence factor. Our guys know last year we won a lot of close games. We learned how to finish teams off and execute in the last 15 minutes of each game to get those wins. But we also understand that in a handful of those games our opponents had some chances and the bounces just didn't go their way. We didn't just run over teams for those 13 wins. We earned each one. That sets our mentality going into this year --- we're going to have to earn every win starting with game one."