WEBSTER GROVES – Webster University is set to open its 35th season of men's soccer competition on Friday, Aug. 31 as the Gorloks travel to Monmouth, Ill., for a 5 p.m. match against Monmouth College.

The Gorloks, who were picked to win the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship in the league's Preseason Coaches' Poll, return 22 lettermen, six All-SLIAC performers and 12 players that started at least 10 matches from last season's 12-4-4 squad that finished second in the SLIAC and fell to Principia on penalty kicks in the semifinals of the SLIAC Tournament.

"We have 31 guys and all 31 guys could probably start and play for us. Maybe they all won't start, but they definitely will play for us," Webster head men's soccer coach Mike Siener said. "We have a very deep roster this year, but very similar in the depth of our talent. We have a lot of guys that can contribute and help us out, which means we'll be playing a lot of guys and guys will have to share duties, share time, be good teammates and stay together as a group and if they do that, we should be fine this year."
 
Among the key returners for Webster in 2018 is junior defender Justin Schmidt (St. Louis, Mo./Metro), who was named the SLIAC Defensive Player of the Year and a First-Team All-SLIAC selection, along with earning Second-Team All-Central Region honors from the United Soccer Coaches. Schmidt was the anchor of a Webster defensive unit that allowed just 21 goals in 20 matches, including allowing just five goals in nine SLIAC matches a season ago.

In addition to Schmidt, the other returning All-SLIAC honorees from a season ago include sophomore goalkeeper Matt Amick (St. Louis, Mo./Lindbergh), sophomore defender Ryan Gonzalez (Sugar Land, Texas/Clements), senior defender/midfielder Tucker Hively (St. Louis, Mo./Priory), sophomore midfielder Hunter Olaso (Kailua-Kona, Hawaii/Kealakehe) and junior midfielder Edin Mehmedovic (St. Louis, Mo./Mehlville). Hively and Amick were second team selections, while Gonzalez, Olaso and Mehmedovic earned third team honors.
 
"We feel pretty excited about what we have this year. We return almost everyone that we had from last year, minus a couple of guys," said Siener. "We are familiar with what we have coming back, what the returners can provide us and the newcomers we are very, very excited about, as well. This is my largest group of returners since I've been here, so it is nice to have so many quality players that are back to start the season."
 
While the team returns a majority of their roster from a season ago, Siener is excited about his group of 10 newcomers that were added through the recruiting process. The nevcomers include nine freshmen and a junior transfer from Millikin University.
 
"All 10 of them good and all 10 of them are ready to play. They all do different things well and could help us in different areas," said the Webster coach when asked about his newcomers. "With us having a lot of returners, it will be very competitive for those new players and maybe more difficult for some of them to get immediate playing time or a lot of it. In the recruiting process, we did a good job of identifying good kids, good students, good student-athletes, kids with character and kids that are all going to be able to step in and play when asked."
 
Siener says he is excited about this year's team because of the talent and depth of the roster and also the character of the players in the program.
 
"This is the most excited I've been to start a season since I've been here. We have a great group of players in terms of talent and depth and also character," said Siener, who enters his sixth season at Webster in 2018. "I know this team will work hard and focus on the process and get better each and every day we step on the field."
 
Once again this season, Webster will look to hang its hat on its ability to play defense and also its ability to have a balanced offensive attack.
 
Last season, 14 different Gorloks scored a goal, including eight of those 14 players recording at least three goals. 12 of those 14 players that scored a goal last season return for the Gorloks in 2018. The only major loss on offense was Dino Music, who led the way with four goals, 11 points, 42 shots and 18 shots on goal. Music, who is now an assistant coach this season for the Gorloks, was one of two seniors last season.
 
"Our strength last year was just the collective group of everyone pitching in and doing their part. We have some really good players, but I always tell the guys, we don't have one guy that is going to score 20 goals, I mean, hopefully we do, but we are very balanced and disciplined in our approach," Siener added. "Defensively, I am probably a conservative coach, as I like to start from the back and make sure we are really good in the back first, very disciplined back there. I think it will be a similar style we'll play this year as we should be really good in the back and we're pushing different pieces forward to try and help us offensively and maybe create a spark and give us more scoring chances."
 
Webster tuned up for the regular season by playing an exhibition game last Tuesday at Pensacola Christian College in Pensacola, Fla. In that match, the Gorloks picked up a 3-1 win as they got goals from sophomore midfielder/forward Joacquin Soto (Flagstaff, Ariz./Flagstaff), freshman defender Henok Moges (St. Louis, Mo./Parkway North) and sophomore forward Matt Ceriotti (St. Louis, Mo./St. Louis University High) and outshot PCC, 20-8, including a 13-5 edge in shots on goal.
 
"I thought for the first game we possessed the ball well and I thought we defended strong as well. The one thing that we did was we probably created more chances than we've had in the past as we were capable of putting 5, 6 or 7 goals in that game pretty easily," Siener said when asked to evaluate his team's play in the exhibition match. "We got to play all 31 players and our freshmen got some playing time and were able to shake off some nervousness and get their feet wet a little. There were a lot of positives from that game and I was especially impressed with our team's overall depth."
 
In the exhibition match, Siener said he tried several different things in the middle of the field with Music being gone and he moved sophomore Ryan Gonzalez (Sugar Land, Texas/Clements), who was the team's starting right center back last year, forward as an attacker.
 
"With Dino (Music) being gone, we have some pieces in there as Hunter (Olaso), Joacquin (Soto), Logan (Takizawa), Juan (Garcia) and Justin (Kohler) all are getting some run in there in the middle of the field and that looks good, while Ryan has some creativity and right away in the exhibition match he showed that creativity as he helped us get some more scoring chances," Siener commented.
 
Siener said that for his team to be successful this season they are going to have to stay disciplined, defend well and play together as a group.
 
"We have to remain disciplined, stay true to what we do and we have to defend well and play together as a group really, really well," added Siener about his team's keys to the season. "We can't get overly excited or stretch ourselves, we have to make sure we keep that team component in our minds in everything we do. We need to keep things simple and we have to really pay attention to the things we do well, which is defend well as a group, be patient offensively, be very, very disciplined and hopefully, this year we have more chances to score in certain games and put a few more in the net, which will really help us and help our defenders a lot."
 
Friday's match at Monmouth is the first of back-to-back road matches for the Gorloks to open the season as following the match at Monmouth, Webster will travel to Morris, Minn., for a 12 p.m. match on Sunday, Sept. 2 at the University of Minnesota-Morris. Minnesota-Morris is a member of the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference.
 
"Monmouth was very young last year, but played us well in a match that we won, 1-0 that could've gone either way. They have everyone back, added a few pieces and will be good this year. Anytime you open the season on the road at someone else's place, it is always going to be a tough game and I expect the same on Friday," added the Webster coach about this season's first two matches. "And then on Sunday, we will play someone different, someone from a league the SLIAC doesn't play much, a league that is very competitive and a league that is deeper and better than ours, so that will challenge our guys.
 
"We'll be challenged in our first two matches right out of the gate and we'll get an opportunity to see where we are at as a team."
 
Webster's first home match of the 2018 season is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 6 as they host Harris-Stowe in a 7 p.m. match at World Wide Technology Soccer Park in Fenton.