Men’s soccer heads into the new season striving for success as they go for their first winning season since 2016. The Marlins were bounced out of the ODAC tournament last season in the quarterfinals against Washington and Lee.
Head Coach Chris Mills talked about the expectations for this team as he enters his eighth season at the helm. “It’s a young group. We only have three seniors on our team. Obviously, we haven’t played in almost a year and a half, so it’s interesting. I feel like we have a pretty good group, but you never know until you get out there and play,” said Mills.
It has been a long time since the Marlins were in action, but they did finish the last season by winning three of their last six matches. Ending the season on a good note is always something to build off of. “Towards the end, we started to piece some things together. Obviously, we got a big result against Washington and Lee. It kind of showed we can play with the top teams. We just lacked a little bit of depth due to all the injuries we had,” said Mills.
Even though the Marlins are playing with a young roster, Mills is returning a few talented upperclassmen. Scott Signorelli finished fifth in ODAC goals for last season. Signorelli earned All-ODAC Second Team honors during his sophomore year.
As the Marlins finished with a losing record last season, there were a few bright spots. They finished 4-4 in the ODAC play. Among goal scorers for the Marlins, senior Kevin Prophet was tied for second in assists. Prophet talked about some of his personal goals aligning with the team this season: “I want to see the team win for a long time, especially after my time at Wesleyan concludes. I would want to help create that foundation for a winning mentality to be set and passed down.”
“We have a bunch of young guys that are ready to step up and succeed and play, and I think that dynamic will help us in the long run,” said Prophet.
As there will be no fans in attendance for events and games this spring, teams are going to have to take on a new environment. “ I would say it’s going to be weird and an adjustment, especially because we are a team that thrives off energy from the crowd. We will take care of the energy as a team and on the sidelines for sure.”
They won their exhibition matchup against Methodist University. Their game against Randolph-Macon on February 12 was cancelled. The Marlins’ next matchup on Feb. 21 will be versus Washington and Lee, who knocked them out of the ODAC tournament last season.
Nicholas Mundy
namundy@vwu.edu
