Entering the 2014 campaign, the Eagles hope to continue their success of the previous season. The motivation for eighth year head coach Dan Dubois is simple; make the conference postseason.  “Last year was great and we all enjoyed a great season but that was a different team,” Dubois stated. “The goal is to make the program stronger as a whole and the only way to do that is to put ourselves in a position to make a run at a conference championship every year.”

 

The Eagles return their top five scorers from last season in seniors Robby Higgins (Middletown, PA/Lower Dauphin), Nick Stone-Weiss (North Olmstead, OH/North Olmstead), and Nick Weit (Litiz, PA/Warwick)  and sophomores Aaron Kulig (Green Lane, PA/Boyerstown) and Dani Meyer-Arrivillaga (Durham, NC/Carolina Friends). All five players had five goals each last year.

 

Defense is the team’s strength. The Eagles gave up 20 goals over 22 games and averaged under a goal surrendered a contest  “While we do return many great offensive weapons, our success in recent years has come from being a solid defensive unit,” DuBois noted.

 

The Eagles return both of their goalies from a year ago in sophomores Jonathan Phillips (Bangor, PA/Bangor) and Blaine Barsch (Englewood, CO/Cherry Creek). Phillips started all 13 games he saw action in and surrendered just 11 goals while turning away 45 shots. Barsch started 9 of 13 games and totaled 38 saves while giving up nine. Both players were 1-2 in the Landmark Conference in fewest goals surrendered.

 

This year’s newcomers include five freshman and six upperclassmen. Dubois looks forward to seeing them all on the field this season.

 

Besides the always challenging Landmark slate of games, the Eagles will also have contests against three teams that participated in the NCAA Tournament a year ago in King’s College (Sept. 13), Lycoming (9/17), and Misericordia (9/30).

 

Three of the team’s final four games take place at the friendly confines of Winton Hill Field. The last game of the year will be a much anticipated rematch of last year’s Landmark Conference semifinals which Juniata won 3-1 when the Eagles and Cardinals clash in the nation’s capital (11/1).

 

The 2014 season gets going on Friday when Juniata travels to Frostburg, MD for the FSU Tournament. The Eagles play the host Bobcats at 4:30 p.m. Juniata then plays either Manhattanville or Alfred University on Saturday.