Season Preview and Schedule Release: Men’s Soccer Ready for a Resurgence
A strong core of players return from last year's Faith Eagles men's soccer squad, and Coach Gary Backous is excited to see what a year of experience and the addition of some impressive freshmen talent can do for his team.
The Eagles were young in 2020, and the inexperience showed in the early part of the season as the team lost six of its first seven games. The last half of the season showed marked improvement and promise for the 2021 team which returns all but four starters from a year ago.
Coach Backous was pleased with a large turnout at tryouts and has molded a roster of 22 players that he describes as a good, experienced, athletic group of guys. He believes the 2021 Eagles squad will provide a fun style of soccer to watch. He's most excited about the team's ability to maintain possession of the ball and play as a unit. The coaching emphasis so far this preseason has been focused on individual and team defending.
"We want to take what we learned last year in terms of possessing, and this year, be much more solid defensively," said Backous.
The captain for this year's team is fifth-year senior Jacob Stilwell, who took advantage of the NCCAA's extra year of COVID eligibility. Caleb Love, Joseph Conable, and Noah Zollinger are the other seniors.
Backous is excited about the skill and understanding of soccer that the newcomers have brought to the team. Some freshmen to watch, according to Backous, include Moses Amani, Soelaweh "Solo" Sein, Grant Brower, and Seth Elliott.
The Eagles have 14 regular-season games on the schedule, beginning with a home match on Saturday, September 4 against Lincoln Christian at 4 p.m. Three of the next four are on the road. The toughest stretch of the season, perhaps, is a four-game stretch from September 18 to October 2 that includes road matches at Manhattan Christian College and Maranatha Baptist University, and home matches against Maranatha and Viterbo University. The conference tournament begins Thursday, October 28, and is hosted by Faith. Regional play begins Thursday, November 4, and is also hosted by Faith.
