Following the graduation of around a dozen players, and the addition of a new coach, the Texas A&M men’s soccer club has been rebuilding in preparation for its upcoming spring season.
Similar to many club sports, A&M men’s soccer has had its season moved from fall to spring due to safety concerns related to COVID-19.
President and right back Patrick Wood said the club is expecting to play and has a projected start date of Jan. 27 for the spring season.
“Obviously with COVID, things are changing basically every single day,” Wood said. “Our most up-to-date updates have been around Jan. 7 that we’re supposed to start back up.”
Vice president and goalkeeper Jacob Manley said the team has been rebuilding in preparation for its spring season following the graduation of many senior players.
“Last season we had a core group of seniors, and now those seniors are gone so we’re in a spot where leaders are stepping up,” Manley said. “There’s a lot of open spots, but there’s a lot of great talent that we already had on the team. People that might not have gotten a lot of playing time because there was a core group of seniors last year will be looked up to now as some of the leaders just because we’re rebuilding.”
The club also has a new coach, Adriano Versari, who Wood hired over the summer as part of his presidential responsibilities.
“A large part of what I do and what I’ve done the last nine months of me being president has mostly been run[ning] day-to-day operations of the club,” Wood said. “Over the summer it was hiring a new coach, he’s very experienced and has coached all over, we are all very excited to start working under Adriano.”
The Texas Collegiate Soccer League participating club has A and B teams and a practice squad.
Due to the graduation of seniors, some players from various teams could be moved around, said returning junior and center back Luke Altnether.
“We’re going to see a lot of guys who maybe hadn’t made the team before or played on the B-team or reserves [who] are going to be able to step up and catch all these positions,” Altnether said. “A lot of them worked pretty hard in the offseason, because they knew there were going to be a lot of open spots.”
Manley said even though the club is having a rebuilding year, it is still looking out to accomplish a lot.
“We have a good group right now that can fill the shoes of the team last year,” Manley said. “By no means does a rebuilding year mean we can’t do anything good.”
This season, Wood said the club is highly anticipating its matchup against Texas.
“Usually we do play Texas, they are in our conference,” Wood said. “Obviously there is a bond between those two schools and a rivalry that goes very far beyond just soccer. Even for club sports it’s a very, very competitive game. Always has been, always will be, and everybody is very excited to play in those games, whether it’s in College Station or in Austin.
Altnether said moving forward, they will be putting an emphasis on chemistry.
“One of our big things is going to be having that chemistry, because we lost most of the guys who have been playing with each other for like four or five years,” Altnether said. “Chemistry on the offense is going to be the biggest thing moving forward.”
The entire club is excited to get back out on the field, Manley said.
“I’m extremely excited,” Manley said. “Everybody is on the same page on the aspect of ‘let’s get back out there, let’s start playing again.’”