New season, new teammates. Find out what men’s soccer has in store for the season.

Men’s soccer trains early to prepare young recruits for season
By Alex Russell

After a season of 3-12 in 2010, the men’s soccer team hopes to condition their young team into conference champs and make it to the NCAA tournament. With fifteen recruits, they are working hard to reach their goals.

The recruits of the men’s soccer team started training during summer B. While the newbies gained muscle, they began their college careers.

“The new recruits’ GPA averaged out to be a 3.4, which is pretty high,” said coach Derek Marinatos.

Recruits always bring something new to the table. In this case, the team is young but ready to go.

“They bring a fresh start to putting UNF on the map soccer-wise,” said senior Julian Botella. “It’s a group of great talent, and with the existing players we have a solid team.”

With a young team, there is a lot of excitement and high expectations for the year.

“Some team goals this year are to turn heads by winning the Atlantic Sun, and put UNF on the map,” says Julian Botella.

The new recruits may be ready to compete, but there are still some adjustments to make.

“The hardest transition from high school to college sports is time management during the season,” says freshman Nick May.

“We are extremely busy and have to manage school, soccer and social time.”

This year’s schedule includes some intense competition.

“The most challenging games are going to be UCF, Greensboro and Elon. They are all away and in a short period of time,” said coach.

Furthermore, Stetson and Florida Gulf Coast did well in the conference, he said. The players said the game against Florida Gulf Coast will be the most challenging of the season.

“They went undefeated last year and continue to improve,” says Nick May.

The young team will continue their fight to the top of the conference, opening up at home Aug. 27 with Georgia Southern.