VT Men's Soccer Preview

If the Women's Soccer program is analogous to the football team's sustained success since moving to the ACC, the Men's Soccer program more resembles men's basketball. As in basketball (and women's soccer), the ACC is clearly the class of college soccer, landing five teams in the preseason Top 25. The competition spurred the Hokies to a period of success in the mid 2000s, culminating with an appearance in the College Cup (college soccer's Final Four) in 2007. Unfortunately, things went downhill quickly after some talented players and head coach Oliver Weiss left the program.

Patrick Nyarko ain't walking through that door.

The Hokies have only managed to win more than five games once since 2008, in 2012, a year they also happened to go winless in conference. So things have been a bit grim on the pitch. Recently, the Hokies have been able to hang their hats on an extremely good defense, but with huge losses across the squad, who knows if they are going to be able to replicate that defensive stoutness while questions abound on the offensive side of the field as well. The roster underwent almost wholesale changes in the last two years, particularly this past offseason. Two thirds of the players are new to the program, with only six of the returning players seeing any real time last year and OVER HALF of the 27 man roster comprised of true freshmen. With that much change, nobody really has any idea of what to expect from the team, other than lots of German (more on that in a bit).

2013 in Review

The defense, led by Devante Dubose and goalkeeper Kyle Renfro, were a force for much of the season. They allowed only 23 goals over the 17 game season, including shutouts of No. 1 North Carolina and No. 16 Clemson. Unfortunately, the Hokies were not so great on other end of the field, mustering only 18 goals, none of which came in those two games. A 5-2 victory over High Point in mid-September was the high point (see what I did there?) of the season, with the Hokies sitting at 3-1-1 after that game including a 2-1 win over No. 17 Syracuse. Unfortunately, they would only win one more game the rest of the season, which was highlighted by three draws with ranked teams.

Key Losses

The Hokies lost six seniors from last years squad, but I also count nine other players from last year's roster that are no longer listed with the team. This includes four guys who started at least seven games.

Kyle Renfro The All-ACC goalkeeper was a force last year, leading the conference in saves with 88 and posting five shutouts. He's now moved on to the Charlotte Eagles of the USL, the third division of American professional soccer, where he's trying to earn his way onto the field.

David Clemens The central midfielder was a key offensive contributor two years ago before assuming a more defensive role for the 2013 season. He has also moved on to the USL, signing for the Dayton Dutch Lions FC.

Devante Dubose Lightning quick Dubose was a key piece of the defensive unit over his four year career. He was drafted by the San Jose Earthquakes of MLS after the season and is currently part of their Professional Development League (PDL) squad.

Meet the Coach

Michael Brizendine is entering his sixth season in Blacksburg, still looking for a breakthrough. He's won about a third of his games at Tech, less than half of that in ACC games and will essentially be starting from scratch again this year. He served as an assistant, originally to Oliver Weiss, for five years for the Hokies before AD Jim Weaver followed his preferred policy of promoting from within in 2009. Brizendine was an award winning assistant coach but has yet to really replicate the success the Hokies found during that time. A roster overhaul could potentially excuse subpar results this year. I'm hopeful that these new players can gel quickly and that we don't have to see how new AD Whit Babcock reacts to another season of poor results.

Players You Should Be Excited About

In no particular order:

Andre Thomas A transfer from a German school who spent his youth in the academy at Mainz 05, a club in the German Bundesliga, he slotted straight into the starting lineup as a freshman. He figures to lead a midfield and was named second team All-ACC by one publication.

Daniel Lauretano The junior will lead the line this year for the Hokies, hoping to improve on the two goals he scored last year. He has chipped in an assist in one of the preseason scrimmages and will need to be one of the old heads in the locker room to bring a new roster together.

Niels Kirch Another key cog in the midfield, Kirch was also recruited out of Germany and immediately earned a central midfield starting spot last year. He's been slotted into an attacking mid spot in the preseason matches so far and will have to provide some spark to jump start some Hokie attacks this year.

Morten Lamps, Merlin Baus, Diego Menendez de Miguel, Som Essome With such a huge squad overhaul, new players are going to have to contribute to see any sort of positive progression on the field. Taking a page out of Jurgen Klinsmann's book, Brizendine has been recruiting the academies of Germany, with three of the players starting their life in America as freshmen while Essome is a sophomore. The Hokies are going to have to rely on at least some of these Geramericans to make an impact right away.

Schedule

The Hokies will certainly be challenged this year, starting off on the road to a good SIU-Edwardsville team this Friday before traveling to face a St. Louis that will likely be ranked by the end of the season. The rest of the out of conference schedule is less daunting, but in the ACC they will face five preseason top 25 squads, including No. 4 UVA and No. 1 Notre Dame. With the Hokies revamped squad, those aren't the games that will dictate how successful the season will be. The games against the mid and lower tier teams will determine if this team can start a rise up the ACC standings to build on next year, and luckily most of those games will be at Thompson Field.

NC State 26 Sep, Blacksburg, VA - A mid-tier ACC team that beat the Hokies 3-2 last year in Raleigh. This is the first conference game the Hokies have a decent shot at winning.

Syracuse 4 Oct, Blacksburg, VA - The Hokies knocked off a ranked Orange team last year and hope that they can repeat that performance at home this year.

Pittsburgh 17 Oct, Blacksburg, VA - The worst team in the ACC last year. The Hokies need to win this one to ensure they don't earn that distinction this season.

If you can't make it Thompson Field in person, and I encourage you to do so, the Hokies will be on on ESPN3 three times this year, For those traveling in for football games, the Hokies take on Wake Forest the Friday evening before Georgia Tech (19 Sep, a doubleheader with the women's team) and Duke the Friday evening before Boston College (31 Oct).

Season Outlook

I remember watching the men's team run all the way to the College Cup with Patrick Nyarko and have tried to keep up with them since. They haven't been able to reach those heights again, and I don't see any evidence that they will do so this year. However, this is a very young squad that present plenty of unknowns, and the hope is that the talent coming in from overseas is able to find their feet quickly and compete with the nation's best in the ACC. The optimist in me is hoping to see some improvement on the field, a few more wins and a foundation to build on in 2015.

That being said, here are the things I'll be watching this upcoming season:

• Who steps into goal and if they can do their best impersonation of Kyle Renfro, Save Machine.
• If the midfield can hold together the relative inexperience behind and in front of them.
• How well the Hokies perform against the teams hanging around them in the ACC standings.
• Talent that can be harnessed next year when coupled with some experience.