2009 SEASON PREVIEW

The 2009 season for the Lancers Men’s soccer team could be the most exciting in Coach Hendricks’ tenure at Mount Marty.  The Lancers return nine letter-winners from a year ago, with eight of them starting a year ago. Although being a young team with, only four seniors, no juniors, six sophomores and eight freshman, the Lancers look to build off of the 2008 season where they were only a game outside of the conference tournament. The coaching staff feels that if the team works hard and avoid injuries that this could be the break through year that the Lancer soccer program.

Two players graduated from last year’s team, Angel and Rogelio Duran. These brothers accumulated over 80 career starts between them in their four year careers at Mount Marty. Angel tied for team lead with goals last year scoring four goals and also tied for second in total points. Rogelio also known as “Chili” was the team’s inspirational leader with his hard work and constant determination.

The eight returning starters for the Lancers have a good balance of offense and defense. Senior Co-Captain Derek Otton returning as one of the elite goalies in the conference adds a lot of confidence to the defensive side to the ball. Otton skills will be combined with senior Moy Vasquez and sophomores Brandon Frey and Zach Walsh who all return as starters in the Lancer back four. The experience and skill of the Lancer back four has the ability to make it a tough defense to be scored upon this year.

In the Midfield the Lancers have their two top point getters from the 2008 season. Center Mid, Chandler Olmo will help lock down the middle and be the pacesetter for the offense. Chandler has improved his shot in the off-season, meaning more goals could be in the future for this sophomore. Angel De Lao will be playing both as a center mid and as an outside mid. Angel brings a great work rate and plenty of flair to make this midfield dangerous.

Senior Co-Caption Josh Christensen is our lone returning forward. Josh is currently tied for 10 th all time in career goals at Mount Marty College and is looking to climb the ladder this season. Josh is in line to be a three time All American Scholar Athlete and is also expected to be the vocal leader of the Lancers.

This freshman class has the talent to make an immediate impact for the Lancers. This class has eight total kids headlined by several that could push for a starting role on the 2009 team. Aaron Manahan could make a push to start in the back four, Jonathan Curiel-Lopez and Jose Luis Campos look to add something to the Lancer offensive attack. Midfielders Danny Lucero and Alex “Mo” Keller are going to get playing time right away at the outside mid position.