Posted: Aug 28, 2014
HUNTINGTON, PA – The 2013 season was a year of firsts for the Juniata men’s soccer team. The Eagles set the program record for most wins (13) and clinched its first conference tournament berth along with securing its first ECAC playoff berth.
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.