Men’s soccer is now focused on their regular season kick-off after their preseason ended early when the friendly match-up against Lees-McRae was canceled on Aug. 22, after being postponed the day prior.
With no major coaching changes and some returning players, the Bucs look to build on the success they found last season. The squad also added 11 new players to the roster during the off-season, and the mixture of freshman and transfers look to put their mark on a hopeful season.
The Bucs will rely on the returning players such as Tarik Pannholzer (Flensburg, Germany) who led the team in shots and shots on goal last season. Pannholzer is only the second Buc in the program’s history to record a hat trick. Ending the season with tempo as 13 of his 23 shots on the season came in the final two games of the year for the then freshman.
Not only will returning players be a key to this squad, as the explosive Christian Inchima, (Barrie, Canada) will look to help an offense that sometimes struggled to advance the ball last season. Inchima, a transfer student from Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, played two seasons at his former school, scoring 21 goals and racking up 93 shots with over half of those being on goal.
The program’s success off the field deserves recognition as well. With 19 members of the spring roster being named to the Dean’s List, the program had two players achieve a 4.0 GPA for the 2019-2020 academic year. Returning player Josh Hancock, (Torbay, England) and graduate Jordan Broadwater, (Kingsport, Tennessee) both excelled on and off the field for the Bucs; Broadwater also being named as a Third Team Academic All-American.
With the Bucs set to open their season on the road at Longwood, on Aug. 27, the hopes are high following a (3-1-2) SoCon record last season.
After the season opener, the Bucs have a three-game home stretch at Summers-Taylor Stadium, including what will be a tough match against the defending NCAA champion Marshall on Sep. 7.
