BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. – The Concord University men's soccer team has been picked to finish eighth in the Mountain East Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll that was announced Thursday afternoon.
THE POLL
| Place |
Team (First-Place Votes) |
Points |
| 1. |
Charleston (7) |
49 |
| 2. |
Notre Dame (1) |
42 |
| 3. |
Davis & Elkins |
33 |
| 4. |
West Virginia Wesleyan |
32 |
| 5. |
Wheeling |
29 |
| 6. |
Frostburg State |
18 |
| 7. |
West Liberty |
13 |
| 8. |
Concord |
8 |
2022 REVIEW
The Mountain Lions ended last season at 4-12-2 as it finished eighth in the MEC, but was just three games out of fifth in 2022. CU finished on a high note last fall as it won consecutive games near the end of the season with road victories against Wheeling and Alderson Broaddus.
2023 SCHEDULE
Concord opens the season against Salem at home in Beckley, West Virginia September 3. A road game at West Liberty follows before back-to-back home games, including a matchup with nationally-ranked Davis & Elkins September 10. Ten days later, the Maroon and Gray welcomes 2022 national quarterfinalist Charleston to Beckley. One of two non-conference matchups come September 27 when Concord hosts Emory & Henry which is followed by a stern road test at Notre Dame to open October on the 1
st. CU plays each MEC school in a double round-robin format. The other non-conference tilt is October 25 at Tusculum. The season concludes with a home game versus Notre Dame (October 29) and a road trip to Charleston (November 1).
THE RETURNERS
The Mountain Lions welcome back two of their top three scorers from last season in senior midfielder
Ricardo Chinea-Pegler and sophomore midfielder
Tomas Kelly. Chinea-Pegler scored six goals and was just outside the top 10 in the conference in scoring. Meanwhile, Kelly netted three goals in 14 games. Sophomore goalkeeper
Keegan Grant started 10 games last season as he made 42 saves while fellow sophomore goalkeeper
Jason Lavacca appeared in two games in 2022. Freshman defender
Andrew Beohler saw significant time off the bench as he played in 11 games and notched an assist in the season opener versus King.
THE NEWCOMERS
First-year head coach
Alex Smith, who was hired from Bluefield University in January, has remade his first roster at Concord adding transfers junior forward
Fabian Amhof (Indian Hills CC), junior midfielder
Raheem Baptiste (T.A. Marryshow CC), junior defender
Mark Figueroa (Academy of Art), sophomore defender
Kai Forsyth (Rollins), junior midfielder
Elvis Gomez (Maine-Fort Kent), sophomore midfielder
Antyon Henry (Bryant & Stratton), Â junior midfielder
Andre Nicholson (Pearl River CC), junior defender
LeRhone Phoenix (St. Thomas), junior midfielder
Alessandro Raffl (Mars Hills), junior midfielder
Armando Ramirez (Hesston College), sophomore defender
Andre Sardinha (Oklahoma Panhandle State), junior defender
Dwight Savoury (Eastern Oklahoma State) and junior forward
Carlos Zuniga (Bethany College (Kan.)). Additionally, Smith brought in 27 freshmen to the 2023 roster.
Â
