Putting this up now as I don't know how much time I will have tomorrow.
Our defending national champion and preseason No. 1 Tigers host Penn State on Thursday at Riggs Field.
The Nittany Lions are coming off of co-B1G regular season title and lost 1-0 to powerhouse Indiana in the B1G title game. They went 10-4-5, but somehow were left out of the NCAA tournament. Indiana was the only B1G team to make the tournament (a side note - Maryland soccer has fallen off BIG TIME. Once a soccer power and a thorn in our side, didn't win a game in the B1G last year and went just 4-8-3 last year). Penn State also drew with Pitt and Syracuse - two quality teams that we've tangled with. HC Jeff Cook was named the B1G Coach of the Year.
Gone from that team is Peter Mangione and his 10 goals & 4 assists. Their leading point returner is Caden Grabfelder, who had three goals and three assists last year.
Defensively, Penn State was pretty good - allowing just .79 goals per game with keeper Kris Shakes playing all but 16 1/2 minutes of the entire season. Guess what? Shakes is gone, too. Penn State does return 7 of the 12 players that started at least 10 games last year, but none of the players that made the All-B1G team. They did bring in seven transfers from good programs.
Now, on to our Tigers.
A lot of intrigue with this squad. Our leading point returners are Alex Meinhard (7 goals, 6 assists) and Nathan Richmond (5, 5). We return six players that started at least 10 games last year, and Tyler Trimnal that started nine games and scored five goals - including three big ones in the postseason (2 vs. Duke in ACC quarters and 1 against Stanford in NCAAs).
Defensively, we return Joseph Andema between the pipes. He gave up 19 goals (.84 GA), but after giving up eight in the first six games, he did not allow more than one goal in a game the rest of the season outside of the ACC Quarterfinal game against Duke (3). So, if we are doing the math at home, in 16 of the final 17 games of the season, Andema allowed 8 goals... that will win a lot of games.
Biggest losses are Ousmane Sylla and Papa Mar Boye, as well as Brandon Parrish and Shawn Smart. But Coach Noonan has certainly backfilled those losses with talent via freshmen and transfers. Two-time National PoY Ransford Gyan, Kansas and National PoY Vitor Geromel, SC PoY Duncan Wilson (out for a bit with collarbone) join internationals from Iceland, Ghana, and Bolivia. Also have an Austin FC Academy keeper Charlie Reed in the freshman class.
Antonio Illuminato comes in from Drexel where he had five goals and eight assists; Misei Yoshizawa was a freshman All-ACC member in 2022 at VT; Galen Glynn started 14 games for St. Louis; Mason Lamb was second team All-Big West last year at Cal State-Fullerton.
Questions that I have today:
1) who is our centerback? @JTJohnston and I have contended that Papa Mar Boye might be the bigger of the losses between him and Sylla. Certainly have talent, but I am guessing it's either one of the transfers (Lamb) or our new Ice King - Lukas Magnason, freshman from Iceland.
2) it appears that the Ghanian Messi (Gyan) has scored two game-winners for Clemson in the preseason (just going off of social media pictures), but how does he hold up? He is listed at 5-4 and will be going up against grown men.
3) is it going to be a goals by committee approach, or will we have someone step up to replace Sylla (13 goals, 10 assists)? I don't know if Meinhard, Trimnal or Richmond can do it - although they will be All-conference caliber. Does a freshman or transfer take the load?
4) not so much a question, but we will drop some games this year (just like last year). While we are preseason No. 1, I think it's impossible we are there at the end of the regular season. We play No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 5 Stanford, No. 6 UNC, No. 15 Wake Forest, No. 24 Louisville and No. 25 Syracuse. We just won't win all of those and a team like WVU will have a much easier schedule. This doesn't mean I think we can't win it all - we absolutely can. We just won't win all of our games.
OK, I'm done typing now. But looking forward to a great season!
Our defending national champion and preseason No. 1 Tigers host Penn State on Thursday at Riggs Field.
The Nittany Lions are coming off of co-B1G regular season title and lost 1-0 to powerhouse Indiana in the B1G title game. They went 10-4-5, but somehow were left out of the NCAA tournament. Indiana was the only B1G team to make the tournament (a side note - Maryland soccer has fallen off BIG TIME. Once a soccer power and a thorn in our side, didn't win a game in the B1G last year and went just 4-8-3 last year). Penn State also drew with Pitt and Syracuse - two quality teams that we've tangled with. HC Jeff Cook was named the B1G Coach of the Year.
Gone from that team is Peter Mangione and his 10 goals & 4 assists. Their leading point returner is Caden Grabfelder, who had three goals and three assists last year.
Defensively, Penn State was pretty good - allowing just .79 goals per game with keeper Kris Shakes playing all but 16 1/2 minutes of the entire season. Guess what? Shakes is gone, too. Penn State does return 7 of the 12 players that started at least 10 games last year, but none of the players that made the All-B1G team. They did bring in seven transfers from good programs.
Now, on to our Tigers.
A lot of intrigue with this squad. Our leading point returners are Alex Meinhard (7 goals, 6 assists) and Nathan Richmond (5, 5). We return six players that started at least 10 games last year, and Tyler Trimnal that started nine games and scored five goals - including three big ones in the postseason (2 vs. Duke in ACC quarters and 1 against Stanford in NCAAs).
Defensively, we return Joseph Andema between the pipes. He gave up 19 goals (.84 GA), but after giving up eight in the first six games, he did not allow more than one goal in a game the rest of the season outside of the ACC Quarterfinal game against Duke (3). So, if we are doing the math at home, in 16 of the final 17 games of the season, Andema allowed 8 goals... that will win a lot of games.
Biggest losses are Ousmane Sylla and Papa Mar Boye, as well as Brandon Parrish and Shawn Smart. But Coach Noonan has certainly backfilled those losses with talent via freshmen and transfers. Two-time National PoY Ransford Gyan, Kansas and National PoY Vitor Geromel, SC PoY Duncan Wilson (out for a bit with collarbone) join internationals from Iceland, Ghana, and Bolivia. Also have an Austin FC Academy keeper Charlie Reed in the freshman class.
Antonio Illuminato comes in from Drexel where he had five goals and eight assists; Misei Yoshizawa was a freshman All-ACC member in 2022 at VT; Galen Glynn started 14 games for St. Louis; Mason Lamb was second team All-Big West last year at Cal State-Fullerton.
Questions that I have today:
1) who is our centerback? @JTJohnston and I have contended that Papa Mar Boye might be the bigger of the losses between him and Sylla. Certainly have talent, but I am guessing it's either one of the transfers (Lamb) or our new Ice King - Lukas Magnason, freshman from Iceland.
2) it appears that the Ghanian Messi (Gyan) has scored two game-winners for Clemson in the preseason (just going off of social media pictures), but how does he hold up? He is listed at 5-4 and will be going up against grown men.
3) is it going to be a goals by committee approach, or will we have someone step up to replace Sylla (13 goals, 10 assists)? I don't know if Meinhard, Trimnal or Richmond can do it - although they will be All-conference caliber. Does a freshman or transfer take the load?
4) not so much a question, but we will drop some games this year (just like last year). While we are preseason No. 1, I think it's impossible we are there at the end of the regular season. We play No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 5 Stanford, No. 6 UNC, No. 15 Wake Forest, No. 24 Louisville and No. 25 Syracuse. We just won't win all of those and a team like WVU will have a much easier schedule. This doesn't mean I think we can't win it all - we absolutely can. We just won't win all of our games.
OK, I'm done typing now. But looking forward to a great season!
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