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Men's Soccer 2008 Season Outlook

           “I have pretty high hopes for this fall,” says Matthew Webb, head coach of the Houghton College men’s soccer team. Who can blame him?

            The Highlanders are coming off a successful 9-4-5 season which took them all the way to the semifinal game of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics’ (NAIA) Region IX for the second straight year, just a game short of qualifying for the national tournament.

            “A strong core of our team has been younger players for the last few years,” says Webb, “and they’re now juniors. They’ll be bringing some experience and some high expectations with them into the season.” Webb was talking about players like Dan Brubaker (Shippensburg, PA/Shippensburg Area High School), Steve Grudda (Albion, ME/Lawrence High School), Bryan Gerlach (Shippensburg, PA/Shippensburg Area High School), Jonathon Brooks (Ottawa, Canada/ Redeemer Christian), Justin Farnsworth (Spencerport, NY/Henrietta Christian) and Chris Cruikshank (Forest Hill, MD/Redeemer Classical), who returns after a year off due to injury.

            “We’ve [also] got a good incoming class that I think will add to that,” says Webb, “with some new players that I know want to break into the lineup and help—and I think they will.”

            Departing seniors included three starters for the Highlanders: All-Region IX selections defender Tyler Haggerty and midfielder Josiah Snelgrove, plus two-time All-American Mideast Conference (AMC) honoree Ernie Walton, also a midfielder.

            Haggerty’s are “big shoes to fill,” Webb says, but adds, “We have some players, like Zach Wise (Hudson, OH/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy) and Luke Sanford (High Point, NC/Wesleyan Christian), who didn’t get a lot of minutes last year but have the ability to move right in. Plus we get back Cruikshank from injury and return Farnsworth and Chris Davis (Cedar Park, TX/Earl of March)—big, strong defenders who played well last year and can help in the middle.” Aaron Martin (Houghton, NY/Fillmore Central School) will be moving from an attacking role last year to a new role in the back, and Webb expects a contribution from incoming freshman Brendan Springer.

            Most reassuring, though, according to Webb, is that NAIA All-American (2006), All-Region IX (2006, ’07) and All-AMC (2005, ’06 and ’07) goalkeeper Erik Lefebvre (Ottawa, Canada/Beatrice/Desloges) is back for his senior year. “Obviously, he makes our defense excellent,” Webb says. Behind him will be sophomore Matt Thompson (Fredericksburg, VA/Fredericksburg Christian School) and recruit Steve Zacchinga (East Aurora, NY/East Aurora).

            Webb says the Highlanders’ midfield is “one of our areas of depth,” and so absorbing the loss of Snelgrove and Walton should be a little less difficult. Helping will be returning senior Josh Gottron (Hartsgrove, OH/Madison High School), who provides experience and savvy. With the loss of Rhett Kenny (High Point, NC/Wesleyan Christian) (out for the season with a torn ACL) some talented recruits—such as Springer, Zach DeBisschop (Burlington, CT/The Master’s School) and Corey Burke (West Chicago, IL/Wheaton Academy)—could find themselves in the mix.

            Up top, leading scorers Grudda (five goals, one assist) and Johnny Kimani (Nairobi, Kenya/Rosslyn Academy) (five goals) return, as does Austin Beck (High Point, NC/Wesleyan Christian) (four goals). Adding depth will be freshmen Mitch Weaver (Carthage, NY/Carthage High) and Devon Martin (Houghton, NY/Fillmore Central School) and returners Jesse Woolsey (Houghton, NY/Fillmore Central School) and Tom Luckey (Houghton, NY/Houghton Academy). Unfortunately, recruit Stephen Bower (Glendale, AZ/Westview High School) will miss the season, recovering from a torn ACL.

            Webb says that the Highlanders’ additional depth and experience this year should lead to “a more attractive style of soccer. We will continue to be a very hard working team, which is the culture that we have created in the program and which is what has given us the success we have had thus far.”

            The schedule will demand that hard work. First, the AMC has done away with its north and south divisions, so all 12 teams will play each other. As a result, the AMC has scheduled games on consecutive nights (usually Friday and Saturday) several times throughout the season and teams will have further to travel.

            Additionally, the Highlanders face a tough non-conference schedule that includes two NCAA Division II teams (Gannon and Mercyhurst) as well as a trip to Alabama to take on Auburn Montgomery and Mobile (coached by Highlander alumnus and former coach Peter Fuller). Also on the schedule is SUNY Cortland, coached by Webb’s predecessor at Houghton, Dwight Hornibrook. “That will be fun,” says Webb. “I learned a great deal about the game and how to coach from Dwight. It will be great to coach against my mentor and very good friend. That will be a very special evening for me.”  The team also travels to the University of Rochester, an NCAA Division III national tournament contender last year. “So our non-conference games will be tough, but that’s my philosophy” Webb says, “I want to play a tough schedule and I think we’ll be better for it in the end.”

            What’s the end going to be? “Well, we’ve made it to the regional semi-final two years in a row, and lost to Rio Grande both times.” Webb says, “Our goal is to get to the national tournament—that’s our goal; that’s our expectation. If we can stay injury-free this year—and we’ve been fairly fortunate with that the last few years—I think we can do some things.”