News Release Date:
Saturday, August 28, 2010
WALLA WALLA, Wash. – One year after falling just short of a Northwest Conference title, the Whitman College men's soccer team took a tumble down the standings last fall, dropping eight league games by a single goal.
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| Mike Washington |
"After having just graduated a big senior class, we were relying on less experienced players last year, and our depth was lacking," coach Mike Washington says.
"What was encouraging and frustrating at the same time was that we were close to winning a lot more games than we did."
With any luck, last fall's frustration has set the foundation for more victories in the coming weeks.
"We return a lot of good players who gained valuable experience a year ago," Washington says. "We also have a strong, talented and big freshman class.
"This may be the most depth I've ever had at Whitman. We can go three or four players deep all around the field."
Depth should come in handy when Whitman kicks off its season with a string of three non-conference neutral-site games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 3-5. The first game takes place in Spokane, Wash., with the second and third contests to follow in Salem, Ore.
Then, in a final weekend of non-conference action, the Missionaries host their home opener on Saturday, Sept. 11, against Warner Pacific before playing College of Idaho the next day in Nampa.
Whitman also plays its first NWC games on the road, starting on Friday, Sept. 17 against Pacific in Forest Grove, Ore.
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| Conner Bottomly |
Washington hopes to put his big roster to good use in terms of "dictating style of play to a greater extent than we did last year. Our hope is that we can run a few teams ragged.
"We think we can be much more versatile. We can rest players at times to keep everyone fresh and strong, and we definitely want to go after teams and play with more tempo."
Returning players at the offensive end of field include captain Conner Bottomly, one of just a handful of seniors on the roster.
After losing most of his sophomore season to injury, Bottomly rebounded last fall to start 18 of 19 games. He was Whitman’s second-leading scorer with three goals and two assists, and he ranked eighth in the NWC in shots taken.
Bottomly, who earned All-NWC Honorable Mention recognition last fall, also led Whitman in scoring when Washington and his returning players toured England for two weeks earlier this month. Whitman played five games against young club teams, winning four and earning a draw in a fifth contest.
"I like Conner at the front because he gives us some variety in that role," Washington says. "He's not just one dimensional. He’s quick and he’s good with the ball at his feet, and he's good in the air.
"Conner's mindset is a little different than a traditional striker. He plays well in any area of the field, and that's a nice advantage to have."
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| Sam Freedman |
Unlike last fall, when Bottomly and Todd Wallenius (now graduated) did most of the scoring, Washington hopes to generate a more balanced attack this season.
"We need to get more goals from more players, and not just those at the front,” he says. “We've changed our system a little bit to give more players a chance to come forward."
Sam Freedman, a junior midfielder, returns after picking up three goals and an assist last fall.
"Sam is very, very quick and has a sweet left foot," Washington says. "He also was in the middle of our scoring in England. We’re looking at getting him into more forward attack positions."
Sophomore Leland Matthaeus also returns after playing six games, three as a starter, last fall before injury cut short a promising freshman campaign.
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| Leland Matthaeus |
"Leland looks strong and healthy, and he also played well in England," Washington says. "He has great pace and is very good from a technical standpoint. It hurt to lose Leland so early last year because we were so short on depth already."
The chance to play early games in England benefited Matthaeus more than anyone on the squad, Washington notes.
"It got him over that psychological hump that comes with bouncing back from an injury. Tackles came at him and he weathered those, and he tackled back. From a mental standpoint he looked strong. He's a good player."
Senior Beau Morton, who started 19 games last season, and sophomore Andrew Clark, who tallied one goal and one assist in 12 starts as a freshman, also return to the Missionary midfield.
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| Beau Morton |
"Beau injured an ankle a few weeks before we left for England and he was hobbled during our games there," Washington says. "He gives us a lot of leadership and experience in the midfield, and we’re hoping he's going to be okay. He may need to stay off his ankle for a few weeks, which isn't easy for him because he's always trained hard."
"Andrew is a very good player, but he was a bit erratic as a freshman. He has the talent to be an all-conference player as he matures. He's quick and has great ball skills. He also played well in England."
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| Andrew Clark |
Senior midfielder Matt Manley is also back in the fold after losing most of the past two seasons to injury. He played in 12 games as a freshman, scoring two goals, but then was hurt early in his sophomore season.
"Matt has the potential to have a very good senior year," Washington says.
Senior captain Cooper Crosby, who was named to the All-NWC Second Team last season, leads a strong core of returning players for the Whitman defense.
"Cooper is one of the best defenders we've ever had at Whitman," Washington says. "He is strong, and if anything, he looks more fit and mobile this fall."
Crosby started 36 games over the past two seasons, after serving as a part-time starter as a freshman. He earned All-NWC Honorable Mention kudos as a sophomore.
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| Cooper Crosby |
"Cooper is very physical, and he's an incredibly gifted in the air," Washington says. "He's a great leader who has high expectations of himself and everyone around him.
"The key with Cooper is to keep him as card-free as possible. He tends to attract (yellow/red) cards because of his physical style of play. He needs to be a little more disciplined, but we don't want to change the physical nature of his game. He just needs to be a little bit smarter on the field."
Opposing offenses often make allowances for Crosby's defensive presence, Washington says.
"No one wants to play against Cooper. None of our guys want to play against him in practice. He practices the way he plays in games. He's hard on everyone."
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| John Fleming |
Senior John Fleming, junior Brian Percival and sophomore Jed Jacobson give Whitman three more returning starters on defense.
"John gives us more size and he played really well in England," Washington says. "Brian slotted from outside mid to the back last season and did a good job. Jed, who started on the right side of defense as a freshman, adds more quickness and does a great job moving forward from the back.
"The returning back four deserve a lot of credit for keeping us in games last year. With the new players we have this year we’re going to have some incredible depth on the defensive side – more than we've ever had before."
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| Brian Percival |
Other returning field players include sophomore defender Dhavan Vengadasalam and juniors Nathan Ord and Jordan Thomas, both of whom bounced between defense and the midfield last year.
"Dhavan didn’t make the trip to England so he's a little bit behind the others, but he can give us more quality depth in the back," Washington says.
"We played Nathan in a couple of different positions in England, and he's one of the most intense, hard-working players we have. He's strong, fit and versatile.
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| Sam Freedman |
"We played Jordan in more of a defensive-minded midfield position while he were in England, and he looked fantastic. He's a tough-nosed player. We like what he's been doing. He plays like Cooper Crosby; he's just smaller in stature."
Whitman has three goalkeepers – senior Tim Shu, sophomore Devin Kuh and first-year sophomore Michael Bathurst -- competing for the starter's role as the season looms.
"Because we had just graduated an all-conference goalkeeper the year before, our goal-keeping crew last fall was very inexperienced," Washington says. "This fall our keeper situation is much better, and we as a team can play with more confidence in front of them."
Shu and Kuh gained experience last season while splitting time with a third keeper. Bathurst, who played his prep soccer for Lincoln High School in Portland, Ore., transferred to Whitman last spring after one semester at Occidental.
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| Jordan Thomas |
"Bathurst has great size in that he's 6-foot-4, which is a huge advantage," Washington says. "He's probably the tallest keeper I've had here at Whitman. His hands are quite good, but he needs to work at being more dominant in the air, and at being more vocal with his team around him.
"Tim also has some size, and both he and Devin have areas where they can improve. Each of our three keepers will start and play one of our first three games. We'll do some assessment after that."
The freshman class includes three defenders – Jack Morgan (Bellingham, Wash.), Chris Perkins (Seattle, Wash.) and Cooper Schumacher (Seattle, Wash.) – with the size and skills to anchor the center of a defense.
"If we lost Crosby or Fleming for a game or two last season, we didn't have the depth or size to cover those kind of losses," Washington says. "Now we have three freshmen, all of them over six feet tall, who know how to play in that part of the field.
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| Nathan Ord |
"And Morgan and Chris are big six-footers; they're not small kids. Cooper is a bit more on the slender side, but he still has great skills."
Morgan has been slowed by injury in early workouts, but Washington still hopes to get him onto the field during the non-conference season. “Perkins also could play more of a defensive midfield for us. He's quite skillful and holds the ball well.”
Riley Hernandez, a freshman from California's Claremont High School, is competing for time at right defensive back.
"Riley is very much like Jed Jacobson," Washington says. "He's not a big kid but he's incredibly fast, and he loves to go forward with the ball. That's one of the things we want to do this year, is create more pressure from the back to the front. It's amazing how much quickness those two players have."
Reid Shaw, a freshman who played with Perkins at Seattle's Garfield High School, might see playing time at multiple positions, Washington says. "He might be a good candidate for the left back position. He's a bigger body than both Jacobson and Hernandez, but he's very gifted and quick and moves forward easily."
Freshmen Junpei Tsuji and Michael Axelson, who were teammates at Issaquah (Wash.) High School, also have the skills that could translate into immediate impacts in the midfield.
Tsuji, off to a slow start because of illness, is "very gifted and quick, a center-midfielder who is very attack minded. He's also been a good leader at every level he's played," Washington says. "He could be one of the most talented players we've had at Whitman. We just need to give him time to develop and learn our system."
Axelson, a strong, physical player, enjoyed a "great training camp," Washington says. "He has played a lot as an outside midfielder, and he has the skills to take the ball forward for us. He has good pace and uses both feet."
Other freshmen with the potential to earn playing time are midfielders Forrest Epstein (Port Angeles, Wash.), Danny Smith (Portland, Ore.) and Jesse Mirman (Northridge, Calif.).
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| Tim Shu |
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| Devin Kuh |
"All four have talent and need to keep working," Washington says. "I couldn't be more happy with the big group of freshmen we have this year."
Given the experience gained a year ago and the influx of talented freshmen, Washington will be disappointed if the Missionaries fail to rack up more victories this fall.
"We will feel like underachievers if we don't have a much better season," he says.
"Having said that, we still have a lot of young players and a roster that overall is very young. It's always an unknown with younger players. You don't know how they are going to respond to playing at this level."
The hope for the season, Washington says, is to parlay roster gains in size, speed and numbers into a more aggressive, and ultimately successful, style of play.
"If we get things right, we won' be substituting with younger players this fall because things aren't going well on the field. We will be making changes to keep players fresh, keep the tempo high and maintain a strong level of play.”
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CONTACT: Dave
Holden,
Sports Information Director
Whitman College, Walla Walla,
Wash.
holden@whitman.edu; (509) 527-5902
