BENNINGTON, Vt. – After two weeks of intensive preseason training, the Southern Vermont College men's soccer team is ready to hit the pitch for regular season action starting this weekend.
The Mountaineers will be led by first-year head coach Joe Baia who looks to have a highly competitive team that has its sights set on the New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) playoffs.
"I have been very pleased with the change that the boys have made in their mentality in beginning what will be a bright future for SVC Men's Soccer," commented Baia between training sessions. "We are hungry and determined to be successful as a team and as a program."
Southern Vermont looks to rebound from a 2013 season that saw the team go 3-13-1 overall and just 1-5-1 in NECC play, missing the playoffs for the first time since 2008. "We are looking forward to pursing the challenge of competing for the playoffs this year, and tirelessly working toward being a conference champion," Baia continued.
10 players are returning to the Mountaineers this season with four newcomers joining the squad. Half of those coming back to the team are seniors including Erik Argueta (Pico Rivera, Calif.) who has been named an All-NECC Honorable Mention each of the last two years after being selected the conference Rookie of the Year in 2011. Argueta is joined by classmates Sean Wright (Blairstown, N.J.), Matthew Snow (Centerville, Mass.), Brenden Shea (North Providence, R.I.), and Tommy Youngblood (Leonardtown, Md.) who comes back to SVC after playing in 2011 and 2012.
Also returning to don a Mountaineer uniform are sophomores Marc Massena (Port-au-Prince, Haiti) and Taylor Baker (Petersburg, N.Y.); Massena had two goals and an assist in his freshman year while Baker played strong defensively, rejoining a seasoned backfield unit that expects to stifle the opposition.
Additionally, the Mountaineers will be the first SVC team to utilize the newly-formed athletics consortium between Southern Vermont and Bennington College. BC senior Chernoh Jalloh (Freetown, Sierra Leone) will likely see time in both of the team's games this weekend, marking the first time a Bennington student will participate in an NCAA sanctioned event.
Southern Vermont opens up the regular season this weekend at the Lyndon State Kick-off Tournament, playing the hosting Hornets at 1 p.m. on Saturday and then taking on Vermont Technical College at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday. The Mountaineers return to campus for their home opener on Saturday, September 6 when the University of Maine at Fort Kent visits for a 12 p.m. match on Everett Field. They open the NECC schedule during SVC's Homecoming Weekend, playing host to Lesley University on September 27 with game time slated for 3 p.m.
As of Friday, the NECC had not yet released the results of its preseason coaches poll.