Men’s Soccer Coming Into New Season With Big Expectations

The Co-Lin Men's Soccer team got off to a hot start in the 2021-22 season winning their first three matches. However, the team then won just two of their final 12 matches including five one-goal losses and a 0-0 tie to finish the season 5-9-1. The team is not letting the struggles of last season dampen their expectations for the upcoming year and head coach Tom Cosgrave said they are ready to get things started.

"We are really excited about what we have seen out of our guys and where that can take this team," stated Cosgrave. "The number of intense scrimmages along with the sharpness and intensity of practices throughout our preseason camp have shown us that we have a lot of tough decisions to make about the guys who will be starters and others are pushing for valuable playing time."

"We had a lot of guys who came into preseason camp ready to go and it has shown throughout that time," added Cosgrave. "We are expecting our team to make a push to be towards the top of the conference and not tail off at the end of this season like we did last year."

The men's soccer team features 21 players including eight sophomores (seven returners and one transfer) along with 13 incoming freshmen. "We are looking to build our depth in order to avoid that season ending fall off, and this year the guys look really strong from the first player to the last player," added Cosgrave. "Our roster is full of players who can step in and contribute at multiple positions, which helps with building that depth for our squad."

"We have done really well with our international recruiting for this upcoming year," Cosgrave said. "Diogo Silvestre and Dylan Ngamaleu (both of Vallorbe, Switzerland) have both had a good preseason camp for us. Dylan is looking really strong on the back line for us along with returning sophomore Eli Harrist (Brandon) and those two have developed a strong partnership as our central defenders, which we hope continues and builds throughout the season."

"Diogo has built a strong partnership in the attacking front with returning sophomores Hardy Lewis (Brandon) and Zach Sorey (Flowood) and we are excited and expecting some big things from those groups," added Cosgrave. "John Hrivnak and Daniel Stack (both of Madison) are two other freshmen we think will be pushing for lots of playing time this season."

Lewis led the Wolves in goal and total points last season with seven and 18 respectively and shared the team lead in assist with Sorey at four, while Sorey was third on team in goals with three and second in total points with ten. Harrist also finished third on the team in goals with three while adding one assist and had seven total points. Midfielders Will Ballenger (Brandon) and Carson Smith (Madison) played in all 15 games for the Wolves last season with Ballenger starting in 14 of those games and had two assists on the year, while defender Lawson Pearson (Wiggins) also returns to add multi-game experience to the Wolves backline.

The Wolves will feature a new goalie this season as two-year starter Ben Parkinson graduated after the 2021-22 season, but Coach Cosgrave likes what he has seen from the two players battling for that position. "We went with an international approach to address the goalkeeper situation and brought in a huge six-foot four monster from England in Leo Summers (Cornwall, England) who has done excellent in camp and has been putting in good work with our goalkeeping coach," stated Cosgrave. "Josh Patton (Jackson) has been doing a good job at pushing Leo too and we are excited to see who claims that starting spot to help us keep as many clean sheets as possible and allow us to score some goals and be on the right side of the results."

"Our approach to the season is very similar to how we are approaching it with the girls in the one game at a time mindset," added Cosgrave. "Keeping that mentality throughout the season is an important first step, but making the playoffs is our first goal and once we reach that we hope that we can make a run to the conference title."

"Another big boost for our guys this season is that we have more experienced and seasoned leaders with sophomores who have been through a full season of playing," Cosgrave added. "We have been big on a team-first mentality as well and staying united as a team when things get tough, and I believe our sophomore leaders will help us keep that mindset."

Cosgrave begins his third years as the Wolves head coach and he is assisted by Patrick Ross also in his third year. The Wolves kick off their season with a road match against Millsaps College on Tuesday, August 23, at Harper Davis Field at 5 p.m. The Wolves begin conference with a home contest on Tuesday, September 20, against Hinds at 7 p.m., at H.L. Stone Stadium.