Men's Soccer: Previewing the 2008 Forwards
August 11, 2008 03:56 PM | General
By Ira Green for MSNsportsNET.com
August 11, 2008
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| Paul Paradise finished his freshman campaign in 2007 with three goals and two assists.
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Peaking just around the corner is the 2008 season for the West Virginia University men’s soccer team. With the success from last season in the rearview mirror, Head Coach Marlon LeBlanc has spent the past few months gearing up for the present.
From Monday to Wednesday, MSNsportsNET.com will preview the Mountaineers, position-by-position.
Forwards
With leading goal-scorers Dan Stratford and Andy Wright graduated and moving on to play professionally, one is to ponder where the scores for this season’s squad will come from.
Looking down the statistics sheet, the next name on the list in order of goals scored is Paul Paradise, a returning starter who tallied three goals in 2007.
Paradise, now a sophomore, had a stellar freshman season and certainly showcased his abilities. Not only was Paradise the only freshman to start all 22 matches, but he also finished third on the team with three goals, including two game-winners, and added two assists to his season totals. Although extremely pleased with Paradise’s development and maturity, Coach LeBlanc feels Paradise will have to make an even greater contribution to this year’s offense in order to continue last year’s success.
“We will need more goals, more assists and more production from him,” LeBlanc said. “From a performance standpoint, he was very good. He has to shoulder a lot of that burden. If he can get us 10-15 goals this year, it’s going to be right around what we’re looking for from him. He knows that. He has worked very hard this offseason. I think Paul is an important person for us to have and to have scoring goals this year.”
Also returning to the front line for WVU are junior Tony Lindroos and sophomore Dan Hagey. Lindroos’ lone goal last season came against DePaul, but proved it to be a significant one as it would be the lone goal of the game, giving the Mountaineers the 1-0 victory.
Joining the three this year is Stanley “Mo” Travis, a junior transfer from Creighton.
Travis continually improved during his time with the Bluejays and could be coming to Morgantown at just the right time to add experience to the Mountaineers’ offense. In his freshman season, Travis played in 18 matches and found the back of the net against three different teams. His following season with Creighton, he played in 19 contests, starting five, and tallied three goals, one coming as a game-winner.
With such a young team, LeBlanc knows having experienced players will make it a little bit easier to breathe in tight situations.
“I think those four guys are important because they have all played and contributed significantly. We have some good young prospects, but at the end of the day, you need your experience in tight games to win, and certainly those four guys will help.”
The young prospects LeBlanc is referring to are five freshmen: Devin Colon, Brandon Fischetti, Kurt Freemyer, Adam Mills and Michael Pitrolo.
Colon comes to Morgantown from the Lone Star State and was discovered in the WVU soccer summer camps. LeBlanc deemed him as a feisty, hasty kid who gets after the ball and someone who can provide scoring opportunities. Colon led his school district in assists his junior and senior campaigns, and also led his club team, Texas FC, in goals his last two seasons with them.
Another out-of-state freshman, Fischetti comes to WVU from Monroeville, Pa., where he recorded 51 goals and 40 assists in his four-year high school career. Seen as someone who can break an opponent down in a one-on-one situation, LeBlanc believes Fischetti is a perfect fit for the winger system. Fischetti also helped lead his club soccer team to three Pennsylvania West state championships.
Also expected to aid immediately is Freemyer. The Arlington, Va., native earned numerous awards in high school, including all-Met, all-region and all-district honors. Even with his soccer success, it was his four years of track and running capabilities that ultimately impressed the WVU coaching staff.
“He is most likely going to be one of the fastest, if not the fastest player in the BIG EAST this year,” LeBlanc said. “The kid is a winner. I think whenever you get a kid with that kind of pace, you can’t coach that. I think that is going to be his biggest asset at this level.”
Freemyer finished his summer with a stint at the 2008 US Youth Soccer Boys Under-18 National Championships.
A product from Indianapolis, Ind., Mills is considered to be one of the top forward recruits in the 2008 class. Named to the Indiana All-State team and Super Team, Mills was also a seven-time selection to the Indiana State ODP team and also was a seven-time Indiana State Cup Champion (2002-08). He is described as ‘one of the most dangerous players on the field’ and someone who ‘will cause havoc for other players’ because of his speed and powerful leg.
A tall, 6-foot-2 forward, Pitrolo is a local-product from Parkersburg, W.Va. In high school, he earned all-state honors and led Parkersburg High to the state championship in 2005 and 2006.
“Mike is a big target, center forward who a lot of people don’t know about, but he’s going to play some minutes for us,” LeBlanc said. “He’s going to be a very powerful center forward that can go by people and he shoots the ball very well.”
After comparing this year’s attacking line to the one from last year, LeBlanc noticed the physical difference, but feels the adjusted style fits the current offense perfectly.
“This group is going to be a little more dynamic and a little bit more explosive in terms of pace, sharpness and technical ability,” LeBlanc commented. “We are going to be a bit more dynamic with what we can do because we have the personnel to play a different way and that’s the reasoning for a potential change in formations. I think we have some real great attacking components that we can get more out of with three forwards.”
