HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College men's soccer program has established itself as a perennial contender for the Centennial Conference Championship and the 2015 season appears poised to replicate and improve on the feats of year's past.
The oldest organized soccer program in the nation has won at least 11 matches in each of the past four seasons, the first time in the storied program's history this feat has been accomplished. With just one player lost to graduation from last year's team, the Fords look to continue their recent run of success that has seen them play for the Centennial Conference Championship three times in the past four seasons, including the 2012 Centennial Conference Championship squad.
Providing leadership is a senior class that features three All-Centennial Conference performers and two NSCAA All-Region picks. Brady Seitz highlights the returners on offense after leading the conference in scoring during the 2014 regular season with 12 goals to go along with three assists that earned him first-team All-CC and third-team all-region honors. Senior Sam Yarosh will fill the captainship for the second straight year with Colin Seitz joining him as co-captain.
Yarosh earned first-team All-CC honors in 2013 to go along with third-team all-region accolades. He has scored 16 goals and set up six more in his career. Colin Seitz earned honorable mention All-CC honors last season. Like Yarosh and twin brother Brady, he enters his fourth season as a starter on the Haverford squad. The fourth member of the senior class, Ian Alers, missed the 2014 season due to injury but has seen time in the starting XI during his freshman and sophomore seasons.
The junior class also features a pair of All-Centennial Conference performers from last year's Centennial Conference runner-up team in honorable mention picks Will Corkery and Tejan Walcott. In the midfield, Corkery put the Fords' offense in motion with a Centennial Conference-leading eight assists during the 2014 season. Perhaps none were more memorable than his helpers that set up the goal with less than two seconds to play in regulation and forced overtime against Swarthmore before connecting on game-winning assists in both of Haverford's playoff victories. Walcott earned his first recognition on the all-conference team with seven goals and 15 points last season.
Bringing a balance to the team, the Class of 2017 also returns multiple starters from last year's defense. Sam Miller enters the season after starting during each of the past two seasons. He posted a 1.22 GAA with six clean sheets and one other combined shutout. The Fords were 10-3-1 with Miller as the last line of defense in 2014. On the backline, Maclyn Willigan has two years of starting experience under his belt while Jaimon Olmstead emerged as defensive starter a year ago.
Juniors Chris Gibson and John Kerber have provided depth to the goalkeeping position during each of the past two seasons with Gibson seeing increased time in goal last season that included a shutout win against Johns Hopkins during the regular season. Gabe Oppler and Mason Bracker both joined the team as sophomores. Oppler appeared on defense in nine games last season for the Fords, while Bracker played in eight games during his initial season with the Fords.
Sophomore Russell Nicholson started all 19 games a freshman last year. He scored three goals, including two game-winners, and assisted on another in his rookie season. Ben Field also scored three goals, all three of which were game-winners, during his first season at Haverford. John Halifax appeared in all 19 games last year, while Chris Richards saw some starting action for Haverford on defense. William Edwards also appeared in 10 games a season ago.
Bolstering a team that returns the vast majority of its statistical output from 2014, the Fords will see 11 freshmen join the team and make up the Class of 2019. The class includes players from seven different states, Washington, D.C. and the country of India.
After returning from preseason training in Costa Rica, the Fords will open the 2015 season at home against Scranton on the newly renovated Walton Field. Home field has certainly been an advantage for the Fords recently as they have won six straight home matches dating back to last year, the seventh-longest stretch in program history. The Fords have won six straight Centennial Conference games at home dating back to the 2013 season. Those streaks will be put to the test in 2015 with nine home dates that include Centennial Conference matches on Walton Field against each of the other three teams in the Centennial Conference semifinals last year.