BRADFORD, Pa. - The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford men's soccer team may have been picked to finish ninth in the preseason AMCC Coaches' Poll, but head coach, Darek Panol thinks his squad is going to shock the doubters this season.
The Panthers open their season Friday night at Keuka. Their first home contest is slated for Wednesday, Sept. 9 at 2 p.m. against Juniata.
"There is no doubt the boys will be playing with a chip on their shoulder - and they should be," said Panol, who is in his eighth year as head coach. "We had a tough season last year, but we really weren't that far off. We will be leaning on our upperclassmen to right the ship by leading both on and off the field."
The Panthers are coming off of a 4-11 season; however, eight of those 11 losses were by just one goal. Pitt-Bradford earned victories over Thiel, Franciscan, Penn State – Altoona and Hilbert, missing the AMCC tournament by just one game.
"We struggled to score goals last year," Panol said. "We had some heartbreaking results in games that we could've won. When it comes down to it, we missed the playoffs by about 10 seconds, giving up a bad goal late in the game against Pitt-Greensburg."
However, 2015 is a new season, and the Panthers have numerous returning players from a year ago, as well as a group of freshman Panol feels will make an immediate impact.
Brian Bao returns at forward and has been named a player to watch by the AMCC. He was one of just a handful of players to appear in all 18 games last season, scoring one goal and adding an assist.
Amadou Sow will join Bao up top, giving the Panthers two legitimate goal scorers.
Bryan McCoy is expected to anchor the defense and also has been named a player to watch by the AMCC. He appeared in nine games last season, making eight starts.
Goalkeeper Colin Frownfelter returns for his sophomore season between the pipes. He started all 18 games, playing every minute of every match, holding opponents to a 1.88 GAA while posting a .762 save percentage.
Bobby Sorokas returns for his senior year and is expected to lead a group of talented midfielders this season. Sorokas appeared in all 18 games last year and finished the season with two goals and one assist.
Meleki Wamulume is also expected to play a large role in the midfield and help out on defense as well.
Panol is expecting newcomers Chris Wise and Andrew Hoyt to contribute right away. Wise is a junior college transfer and will strengthen the Panthers' defense. Hoyt has had an impressive preseason and will add depth as a freshman goalkeeper.
"We have a great recruiting class coming in and have some key players returning," Panol said. "The guys we have coming in played huge roles on their high school and club teams. I think they are going to be able to push our returning players to be better, and it will only help us improve as a team."
After many players missed time due to injury last season, Panol decided try and keep his team healthy and fresh by playing 16 games this season, as opposed to the 18 games his team played one year ago.
"Staying healthy and scoring goals will be the keys to success for us this season," Panol said. "If we are able to do that, we will be in good shape."
