Most of the pieces that led the Slippery Rock University men's soccer program to an 18-win season in 2009 with a national tournament appearance are gone.
Greg Blum and Jeremy Deighton are now on the Pittsburgh Riverhounds, former head coach Matt Thompson left to coach Lees-McRae College (N.C.), and assistant coach Chris Logan took a job at the University of Pittsburgh, but that doesn't mean that second year head coach Michael Bonelli doesn't have high hopes that the team can be successful this season.
To help out Bonelli this season, he is brining an old friend on board in Chris Black, from the University of Cincinnati, to help out as assistant coach, and is confident in his abilities.
One of Bonelli's biggest challenges in the past year was getting familiar with the team around him. He believes the chemistry with the team should be much better this year because the team knows exactly what is expected of them.
"The new recruits are fitting in very well with the philosophy of the team, and our chemistry should be better this year because the veterans know what to expect," Bonelli said.
Junior goalkeeper Clayton Master also sees the new recruits fitting in well with the system.
"The new recruits haven't skipped a beat," Master said. "They compliment the veterans well. Their learning curve has been quite impressive."
Bonelli said that the guys are flexible within their positions and willing to fill whatever slot is needed in order for the team to succeed.
Sophomore midfielder Frank Maiolo said that the team was hurt last year by injuries late in the season.
"We were hurt by the injuries that occurred late last season," Maiolo said. "While injuries are bound to happen, our depth should help us to deal with them better."
The Rock was ranked fifth in the preseason Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference poll, but Bonelli and his team aren't paying much attention to the ranking.
"The great thing about preseason polls is just that, they are preseason polls," Master said. "We just have to take the season one game at a time and stay focused on doing what we need to do."
After coming off of an 11-7-1 overall record last season and going 5-4 in PSAC play, the Green and White will play its first home game on Sunday at 5 p.m. against Washington Adventist University at Thompson Stadium.
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