Millersville, Pennsylvania - The Millersville men's soccer team kicks off its season Thursday against Chowan. The Marauders had a successful 2015 season as the young squad posted a record of 14-5-1, making it all the way to the PSAC Tournament Championship.
Millersville has high expectations in 2016 after being picked first in the PSAC Preseason Coaches' Poll. Mercyhurst, which topped the Marauders in the 2015 PSAC Tournament, is ranked second.
"If you look at it, only three coaches voted us first, with Mercyhurst right behind us," said head coach
Steve Widdowson. "So I think most people expect us to be at or around the top, and that's where we expect to be as well."
Widdowson is entering his 10th season as the Millersville head coach. Under Widdowson the Marauders have made five NCAA Tournament appearances including 2015 when he was voted PSAC Coach of the Year.
Offensively, Millersville has to replace 19 goals and four assists from the PSAC Player of the Year in
Jaime Vazquez.
Jaxson Burns, who scored four goals and dished out three assists last season, enters the 2016 campaign as the team's leading scorer. The team also hopes to get a boost from the return of
Jeramey Robbins, who has 32 starts and 11 goals for the Marauders. Robbins returns to Millersville after two years away from the program.
"We don't expect one person to score nineteen goals...we didn't expect it last year," Widdowson said. "I'm looking for four to five players to pick up the slack, and I think we can easily do that."
The Marauders also have to replace Vazquez's fellow captain and goalkeeper
Kohl Orner. Junior
Coby Breen and freshman
Darian McCauley look to fill the void left by Orner. Breen competed for Paramas High School (N.J.) while McCauley attended West York High School.
Senior
Devin Rediker is the anchor of the Marauders defense, starting all 18 games as a junior. Rediker has 30 starts and 50 appearances to his name and the core of the 2015 defense remains intact, including junior
Ahmed Qaisi who figures to be a linchpin for the Millersville defense. Fellow senior and captain
Christopher Sosa commands the midfield. Sosa has appeared in 58 games while starting 48 and has six career goals.
Millersville begins its 2016 campaign against the Hawks of Chowan University. Chowan posted an 11-7-5 record last year. The Hawks went 3-0 in the NCCAA South Region Tournament, earning a spot in the NCCAA National Championship. As one of the final nine teams, Chowan tied both games and failed to advance further.
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