GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum men's soccer team is coming off a memorable 2016 season in which it captured its second South Atlantic Conference Championship tournament title in the last three years, spent most of the season nationally-ranked and qualified for the NCAA Division II Tournament for the first time since 2008. Even with a roster that features 22 freshmen, head coach Allen Vital enters his seventh season at his alma mater with expectations that the 2017 season could be just as successful.
"We have high expectations for this season. I feel that we probably could have gone a little deeper in the NCAA Tournament last year. That team had a lot of seniors, and we lost some key players," said Vital, who will begin his seventh season on the sidelines at Tusculum with a 56-42-11 record with the Pioneers and 232 career victories in 20 years as a college head coach. "This year's team is a talented squad, but we have to see how the guys come together. I have hopes that this will be an even better season."
The Pioneers went 16-4-0 during the 2016 season, and were ranked as high as seventh in the United Soccer Coaches Division II Top 25 poll. After placing second in the conference regular-season standings with an 8-3-0 record, Tusculum defeated Mars Hill, Coker and Lincoln Memorial to capture the program's record sixth SAC tournament championship, with the win over Lincoln Memorial for the championship coming in double overtime.
Just four full-time starters return from last year's team, but the Pioneers will be able to lean on the defensive depth provided by returning sophomores Georgios Charkoutsakis, Pau Peiro and Ivan Andabak, along with the offensive production of seniors Andreas Kvam and Rocco Menna.
Tusculum is ranked 23rd in the United Soccer Coaches preseason poll, and will open its 2017 season at home on Saturday, Sept. 2 against Barton.
DEFENSE
Charkoutsakis was one of three Pioneers to start all 20 games last season, and was the only player to appear on the field for every second of game action. The native of Heraklion, Greece contributed three goals and three assists to rank fourth on the team in both goals and points. Charkoutsakis scored the winning goal in double overtime in the Pioneers' 3-2 win over Mars Hill in the SAC Championship tournament quarterfinals.
Peiro made 19 starts on defense for the Pioneers, playing every minute in 12 of his 19 contests. The native of Miramar, Spain helped the Pioneers earn six shutouts in 2016 while allowing one goal or less 11 times in 20 matches.
Also returning to compete for playing time is senior Vasco Monteiro (Lisbon, Portugal), who made eight starts in 2015 as a sophomore, along with redshirt freshman Sam Hall (Birmingham, England). One newcomer who could make an immediate impact for the Pioneers is junior Gustavo Gantus (Belo Horizonte, Brazil), who spent the last two seasons at Wayland Baptist University in Plainview, Texas and appeared in 17 games with six starts in that span.
Other newcomers on defense for the Pioneers are freshmen Dani Gongora (Malaga, Spain), Clément Dagorn (Saint-Brieuc, France), Loic Desrameaux (Landas City, France), Brandon Daniels (Powell, Tenn.), Blake Enis (Knoxville, Tenn.), Ayrton Redmore (Melbourne, Australia), Dalton Mullins (Powell, Tenn.) and Deonte Carter (Chattanooga, Tenn.).
MIDFIELD
The Pioneers will count on the experience of junior Shawn Foster along with sophomores Andabak and Fabian Proesch in the midfield area this season.
Foster (Knoxville, Tenn.) emerged as a key contributor in the second half of last season, starting the final four regular-season matches and all four postseason contests. Foster scored his only goal of the season in the Pioneers' 2-0 win over Coker in the SAC Championship semifinals and played six straight full matches during the run.
Proesch (Toensberg, Norway), played in all 20 matches for the Pioneers, making 18 starts, and had a goal and an assist. He ranks third behind Charkoutsakis and Peiro in minutes played among returning players with 1,303. Andabak (Solin, Croatia) made 14 starts last season for the Pioneers last season and contributed a goal and an assist.
Freshman Marten Niilop (Kurtna, Estonia) is expected to make an immediate impact in the midfield for the Pioneers, with additional depth provided by fellow freshmen Nabil Abugattis (Lima, Peru), Alex Cooper (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Edgar Cervantes (Cancun, Mexico).
FORWARDS
Kvam, a second-team All-SAC selection last season, connected for six goals and added two assists for 14 points, ranking second on the team in both goals and points despite coming off the bench in all 18 appearances. The senior from Valderoey, Norway has posted 18 goals and five assists for 41 points in 44 career matches, including six game-winning goals.
Menna came through with five assists in 19 matches last season, including a set-up of the winning goal in overtime against Lees-McRae and the tying goal in the final minute against defending national champion Pfeiffer. The senior from Hamburg, New Jersey has two goals and five assists for nine points in 34 career appearances.
Sophomore Ayuk Tambe will be a threat up top for the Pioneers, coming to Tusculum after recording 10 goals and two assists for Century (Minn.) College in 2014. Tambe, a native of Yaounde, Cameroon, was an All-State player at Blaine High School in Minnesota during his scholastic career.
Three more transfers who will factor into the offensive mix are juniors Dario Ljubic and Renato Skoko, both hailing from Siroki Brijeg, Bosnia and Herzegovina, along with Jonny Winter (Heathfield, England).
Ljubic and Skoko each played at Illinois Central College, with Skoko scoring four goals and three assists for 11 points in 2015 and Ljubic contributing three goals and eight assists last season. Winter is a transfer from the College of St. Scholastica, where he delivered 10 goals and 22 points as a sophomore in 2015 after posting four goals and seven assists for 15 points as a freshman.
Freshman Óscar Rubio Jiménez (Soria, Spain) will be a contributor for the Pioneers up front, with depth coming from fellow freshmen Connor Green (Norwich, England), Matthew Friedman (Oak Ridge, Tenn.), James Graham (Mount Juliet, Tenn.), AJ Bell (Christchurch, New Zealand) and Farid Benletaief (Saint-Etienne, France).
GOALKEEPERS
With the graduation of three-year starter Jorge Alvarez along with backup Ashley Elsey, the Pioneers entered camp with a wide-open race for the starting keeper position. Vital has been pleased with the progress of each of the three goalkeepers in preseason, and sees each of the contenders pushing hard to earn the nod when the season opens.
The keeper with the most experience is sophomore transfer Alejandro Quiriti. The native of Mar del Plata, Argentina started all 14 matches at NAIA Florida Memorial University last season, compiling a 7-6-1 record with three shutouts and a 1.20 goals against average. Two freshmen are also competing for playing time in goal: Ivan Safranić (Zagreb, Croatia) and Jackson Richards (Knoxville, Tenn.).
SCHEDULE
The Pioneers face what Vital considers to be the most difficult non-conference slate he has put together at Tusculum, with all six non-league foes having qualified for their respective conference tournaments last season. The Pioneers will also have a difficult 10-game league slate that includes defending national champion Wingate and NCAA qualifier Lenoir-Rhyne.
Tusculum's SAC opener will be Wednesday, Sept. 13 at Pioneer Field against Lincoln Memorial in a rematch of last year's SAC Championship tournament finals. The Pioneers will close out the regular season at home against Wingate on Saturday, Oct. 28.
