2018 Season Preview

Photo by: Brian Persinger / WVU Photograph

August 22, 2018 08:17 PM | Men's Soccer

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By: Charlie Healy

As the West Virginia University men's soccer team begins its 2018 season on Friday, it's coming off a strong preseason and brings back several key pieces from last year's team.

Sixteen lettermen return to the pitch this year, including nine who played in at least 15 matches. Coach Marlon LeBlanc, who enters his 13th season in Morgantown, likes this year's squad and is pleased with the progress shown in training.

However, the team is taking a blue-collar approach and staying humble. The Mountaineers have been ranked inside the top 15 after hot starts in 2016 and '17, but they struggled down the stretch and missed the NCAA Tournament each year.

Learning from the past, this team's approach is geared towards avoiding a late-season cold spell.

"There has been a great amount of humility in this team," LeBlanc said. "We use the word 'blue collar' to describe this group. We have been really, really good this preseason. However, we haven't stopped working. That's going to be the key. We've had two very good starts the last two years, where we've jumped out and gotten ahead, and maybe in some ways mentally checked out. I'm hoping this group has the leadership in it and has the added benefit of perspective, seeing two years of being in the top 15 early on and then taking the foot off the gas, how that has hurt us. That mistake won't happen again."

West Virginia opened preseason practice on Aug. 7, and had a productive two weeks of training with exhibition matches at Virginia Tech and against Mount St. Mary's.

The Mountaineers have played well in the preseason and continued to get better, incorporating a group of eight newcomers to a strong returning group. Despite the positives, the team hasn't stopped working hard and continuing to get better.

"We're working very hard as a staff to keep us humble, even right now, when things are going well," LeBlanc added. "Preseason has gone very well, and heading into the early stages of the season, you never can get too high or too low. You always continue to work. Regardless of whether we win or lose opening day, we continue to be a working team. This group has had that perspective every day of preseason."

The 25-man roster features four seniors – goalkeeper Stephen Banick, forward Rushawn Larmond and midfielders Joey Piatczyc and Jorge Quintanilla – along with six juniors, seven sophomores and eight newcomers – five freshmen and three transfers.

The team hails from nine states and four countries outside of the United States.

Seventy percent of last year's starts return, including every start in goal and nine of the 11 players who started at least 10 matches. The wealth of returners does not include Piatczyc, a two-time All-MAC Team honoree, who is back on the pitch after missing the 2017 season with an injury.

"It's a very good team," LeBlanc said. "I think our first 15 or 16 guys are as good as any. We have some young players who are going to supplement and be complementing pieces to that group. We're still a young team, believe it or not, with four seniors. However, there's so much experience in this team."

Along with the four seniors, the returners include juniors Ryan Kellogg, a 2017 CoSIDA Academic All-District First Team honoree and Pascal Derwaritsch, who was named to the Mid-American Conference All-Tournament Team a year ago, and junior Sebastian Garcia-Herreros, a MAC Distinguished Scholar-Athlete last season.

"We're ahead of where I thought we'd be at this point in the preseason in terms of the way we're playing, the way we're moving the ball and the way we're defending," LeBlanc said. "I want this team to stay hungry, and I think they are. The infusion of leadership and quality from Joey Piatczyc makes us a better team right now than we were a year ago. We were 9-6-4 last year, so we were a good team, but now we're a better team."

WVU's 18-match schedule is highlighted by home matchups against Pitt and Cincinnati, as well as MAC foes SIU Edwardsville and Bowling Green, while the road slate features contests at perennial national-championship contenders Akron and Maryland.

"The goals are quite simple, we're not going to look too far ahead, but we want to win each game, day-by-day. A conference championship is a priority, and making a run at it, especially with the new format and the potential to host. In the Mid-American Conference, being the fourth-best conference in America last year, we take care of business and the NCAA Tournament will take care of itself. The goal is to win the conference, be the best team that we can be in the conference. Being in one of the better conferences in the country will take care of the postseason for sure."

West Virginia enters its seventh year in the MAC and was voted to finish third in the 2018 preseason poll. In a vote by the league's head coaches, the Mountaineers received 24 points, two points behind second-place Western Michigan, who earned 26 points and one first-place vote. Akron was picked to win the league with 35 total points and five first-place votes.

The conference's RPI was ranked No. 4 in the country in 2017. Akron finished 16-3-1 in 2017 and reached the NCAA College Cup. Western Michigan, the reigning MAC regular-season champions, also is coming off an NCAA Tournament appearance after advancing to the third round.

With a blue-collar work ethic and a strong core of returners, the Mountaineers' one game at a time approach begins with the season opener on Friday, Aug. 24, at 7:30 p.m. ET, at the College of Charleston.

POSITION-BY-POSITION BREAKDOWN

Goalkeepers
Senior Stephen Banick and sophomore Steven Tekesky return in goal after the duo combined to play all but 50 minutes last season. They combined for nine shutouts, tied for the fifth-most in a single season in program history.

A CoSIDA Academic All-District First Team honoree in 2017, Banick led the team with 11 starts and 924:32 minutes played while compiling a record of 6-3-2. He had a team-best 28 saves, a .718 save percentage and six shutouts with a 1.07 goals-against average.

Tekesky played in 10 matches with eight starts and 830:01 minutes as a freshman. He posted a 3-3-2 record and led the team with a 0.98 goals against average while making 18 saves with a .667 save percentage and three shutouts.

"We are really secure in goal," LeBlanc said. "We are not a team that has conceded very many goals, and a lot of that has to do with the quality of guys we have on defense and protecting the goal in Steven Tekesky and Stephen Banick. Tekesky had a good second half of the season last year when he had an opportunity to play, and again in the spring. Banick is a sixth-year senior with a lot of experience as well. We have a very challenging system that we ask our goalkeepers to play. That includes them using their feet more than their hands, but both of them are certainly quality enough and capable enough to be able to do what we ask of them, and I think we feel really secure as we normally do in the goal."

Defenders
Several key defenders are back in 2018 after helping WVU to its nine shutouts in 2017. Among them are juniors Albert Andres-Llop, Sebastian Garcia-Herreros and Logan Lucas and sophomore Kevin Morris.

Andres-Llop played in 18 matches with 14 starts in 2017, leading the team with five goals, two game-winners, and 12 points. The Coaches' Award recipient a year ago, Garcia-Herreros started 18 of 19 matches as a sophomore and logged 1,688 minutes. He was fourth on the team with eight points and scored two goals.

Lucas started 18 matches and totaled 1,620 minutes in 2017, while Morris' freshman season included 10 starts in 19 matches with 1,368 minutes played.

"The back line stabilizes the tactics that we use defensively," LeBlanc said. "We don't concede much and we transition very well defensively, but it all starts with the back line. We'll have Albert Andres-Llop, who played in the midfield and on the back line last year, and Sebastian Garcia-Herreros, who played midfield last year, moves into the back line. Kevin Morris and Logan Lucas anchor a very, very experienced team.

"When I say very experienced, none of them are seniors, but they all have played a lot of games for us. When you have a system and a tactical way that you want to approach it, and the guys have so much experience having already done it, I think that you hope that you're not going to skip a beat in terms of the consistency that you show on that side of the ball. Our motto has always been if the other team doesn't score, then they can't win.

"First and foremost defensively, we want to be stout, and Albert, Sebastian, Kevin and Logan in particular gives us the opportunity to do that. Then we have a number of other guys who are capable of contributing and have been in our system for quite some time, such as redshirt sophomores Tyler Schafer and Jake Cole. We have some freshmen who have come in and have done really well, in particular Josh DiMatteo. I think they all have gotten a bit of playing time in the spring and preseason. We have enough in the back that we can mix and match some people and change shape and do all sorts of different things that allow us to be secure but also make sure that they are our starting point in terms of our attack and building out of the back. They all are very comfortable on the ball, and because of that, we can play a specific way and we can also adapt."

Midfielders
Joey Piatczyc wasn't supposed to be on the pitch for the Mountaineers in 2018, but a season-ending injury prior to the start of preseason training last year changed those plans and extended his WVU career. What was a negative in 2017 has now turned into a positive, as not only is Piatczyc back, but so are several players who had an opportunity to fill his role.

A two-time All-MAC Team honoree and the 2014 MAC Freshman of the Year, Piatczyc's 25 career assists are two shy of tying the program record. He is No. 2 in program history with 10 career game-winning assists and tied for No. 3 with three multi-assist matches.

Junior Pascal Derwaritsch will join Piatczyc in the midfield. He was a MAC All-Tournament Team honoree and started all 19 matches in his first season in the Old Gold and Blue. Derwaritsch was second on the team with 1,793 minutes played, scored two goals and was a key member on defense.

Additional contributors in the midfield this year are expected to be junior Ethan Shim, who played in six matches, and sophomores Tsubasa Takada, who played in 14 contests with two starts, and Spenser Myers, who played in 10 matches.

Junior Andres Muriel Albino joins the Mountaineers from Central Connecticut State. He was named to the All-Northeast Conference Team in 2016 and '17 and led the team with six goals, two game-winners and 16 points as a sophomore while starting all 17 matches.

"Last year was maybe a step backwards in the midfield to go forward," LeBlanc said. "Losing Joey Piatczyc, I told people it was like the football team losing Will Grier or the basketball team losing Jevon Carter, when all you've done is plan around those guys for the season. A number of guys had to step up and play big minutes without Joey in there. Now he's back, and as we saw in the spring and preseason, he's arguably better than ever. He looks great, he's our leader in the midfield. I think the midfield will be our strength this year.

"We have a lot of dynamic players in there in a very good system that suits our players. Pascal Derwaritsch, Tsubasa Takada, Ethan Shim, Spenser Myers, all those guys have gotten playing time in the midfield. You add in the likes of Andres Muriel Albino and obviously our captain, Joey Piatczyc, our midfield is going to be as good as any other in the country. I think we now have a midfield that's capable of giving us goals and assists, and Joey's pretty close to breaking the school's all-time assist record, but I don't think you can just hone in on Joey, because Tsubasa and Andres will get at you as well. We have a multi-faceted midfield who is capable of doing a lot of damage. They're all very fit, very hard workers and very technical, so there are a lot of things you can do with those guys."

Forwards
LeBlanc has several options at forward, including seniors Rushawn Larmond and Jorge Quintanilla, juniors Ryan Kellogg and Ethan Shim and sophomore Brendan Hogan.

Larmond saw action in 17 matches with 10 starts as a junior, scoring two goals with two assists. He ranked fifth on the team with six points. Quintanilla played in 18 matches with 13 starts in his first season in Morgantown after transferring from Louisburg College. He led the team with five assists, scored two goals and ranked No. 2 on the team with nine points.

Kellogg, who has been a valuable player on the back line, started all 19 matches and played 1,717 minutes, fourth-most on the team in 2017. He scored one goal and had nine shots. Hogan played in 15 matches as a freshman with two starts.

"The forward position will probably be a little bit by committee," LeBlanc said. "Whether it's Jorge Quintanilla or Rushawn Larmond, two seniors, or Brendan Hogan, he has come on strong and had a really strong spring for us. Ethan Shim could see some time up there. There are a number of different players we could utilize. Ryan Kellogg has played up in the midfield and up front a little bit for us. In the leadup to the season, he's a guy who can play anywhere on the field, all three lines in terms of up front, in the midfield and on the back line.

"We have a very healthy stable of players that, depending on the opponent, and depending on what we need on the day, can be called on to get the job done. We're looking for more goals out of the No. 9 position, without a doubt goal scoring was probably the biggest issue for us a year ago. Not even just creating chances, but missing chances. We missed a lot of chances to score goals last year, but the hope is that a year wiser, a year better and a little bit more refined, those guys now start putting balls into the back of the net. I think the guys behind them will help make it a little bit easier for them as well."