HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College men's soccer team has won back-to-back Centennial Conference Championships and three of the past five conference titles. That run of success also includes a trip to the Elite Eight in 2015 and a Round of 32 appearance last fall. Many of those familiar faces have moved on as Haverford graduated 10 players from last year's team. Nevertheless, plenty of experience will be held over as eight of the team's starting XI from the postseason return to this year's roster.
In the midfield is where the Fords have the most experience coming back despite the graduation of 2015 first-team All-American and Varsity Cup recipient Will Corkery '17. Dorian Wirz earned first-team All-Centennial Conference honors last fall. A second-team All-Mid-Atlantic Region pick and one of two Centennial Conference Rookie of the Years on the roster, Wirz started 10 of his 18 appearances in 2016 and tied for the team lead with four assists. He has 30 career starts to his credit. Fellow co-captain Russell Nicholson has started all 57 games he has played in his collegiate career. A second-team All-CC pick, Nicholson has seven goals and five assists during his career.
Junior Michael Carr has been a starter in each of his first two seasons with the Fords. With 43 appearances and 37 starts to his credit, Carr has four career goals to go along with seven assists. Senior John Halifax and junior Max Krieg have been stable options for the Fords in year's past. Both have over 40 appearances to their credit. Aditya Dias adds 12 career appearances to this unit which will be bolstered by first-year players Kevin Kaufman and Ryan Sholes.
Defensively, the Fords graduate Kannerstein Award recipient Maclyn Willigan '17, but have a combined 105 returning starts from their defenders. Juniors Nick John (36 starts), Reiss Berger (26 starts), and Ben Clark (23 starts) make up the bulk of that unit with time in the starting XI during each of their first two years. Junior Alex Clark (28 games played) and senior Chris Richards (34 games played) each have eight starts to their credit. William Edwards, also a senior, has 43 career games played and seven starts. Additionally, sophomore Mac Lyle began last season in the starting lineup while Nicholas Montgomery played in 20 games last season, including one appearance as a starter. Junior Aaron Sterngass joins this unit as do first-year players Zach Brown, Sykes Cargile, Will Klein, Matthieu Maciejewski, and Brett Mozarsky.
In goal, Haverford lost four-year starter and all-conference performer Sam Miller '17 who tied the school record with 39 career victories. Junior Jeremy Astesano has appeared in 12 games with eight starts during the past two years. He has yet to be beaten with a 7-0-3 career record as he boasts a 0.73 GAA in 863:05 of career playing time. Sophomore Michael Iacono is the second goalie on the roster. He saw his first career action during the NCAA Tournament win against Merchant Marine and went untested during that time.
Up top, another all-conference loss to graduation will be Tejan Walcott '17. However, the Fords have third-team All-Mid-Atlantic Region forward and co-captain Ben Field, along with reigning Centennial Conference Rookie of the Year Nick Jannelli helping to fill that void. Both second-team All-Centennial Conference selections in 2016, Jannelli led the team with eight goals and 19 points during his breakout rookie campaign as he started 21 games. Field became a full-time starter last fall and finished second on the team with six goals and tied for the team lead with four assists. He has 12 career goals and 11 assists heading into his senior season. Sophomore Peter Baroff scored three goals in his first year at Haverford during 16 games played, including game-winners against Johns Hopkins and Alvernia. Junior Julian Bright has one goal and two assists with 33 appearances in his first two years. Sophomore Rodrigo Zuniga will look for playing time this fall as first years Robert Bramble and Kiran Singh will also look to add to the offensive unit this year.
Haverford has played for the Centennial Conference Championship in five of head coach Shane Rineer's first six seasons as head coach. The Fords have hosted the conference tournament by virtue of the best regular season record in three of the past four years. The Fords have gone a combined 26-4-2 at home during the past three seasons and will have showdowns with preseason No. 6 Franklin & Marshall and No. 11 Messiah on Walton Field to highlight the home slate in 2017.
Men' soccer finished the 2016 season with a 14-3-4 overall record, including an 8-1 mark in Centennial Conference action. Haverford avenged its only conference loss during the past two seasons with a 2-1 victory over Franklin & Marshall in the Centennial Conference Championship on Walton Field. Haverford was a 5-1 winner over Merchant Marine in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last fall before falling in penalty kicks to UMass-Boston. The Fords enter the 2017 season ranked No. 18 in the United Soccer Coaches poll.