The 2022-2023 Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC) fall season was marked by an impressive outing displayed by the Eagles as they dominated en route to a conference championship and numerous individual awards.
Now, the focal point for the team shifts to the 2023-24 season, where the team looks to find back-to-back conference championships as they look to compete as one of the top teams in the conference.
“We want to build off and improve from our good season last year,” said Eagle goalkeeper Ty Bowden.
Bowden played an important role for the team throughout the previous season. While battling through injury, he contributed to 78 saves while allowing just 29 goals to go past him over the course of 20 contests.
His phenomenal play was recognized by the GMAC as he was named the conference’s Goalkeeper of the Year.
Fortunately for the Eagles, he will be returning for his junior season underneath Head Coach Nick Roberts.
With a class full of underclassmen, Roberts helped lead the Eagles to their impressive conference championship and 12-7-1 overall record. His contributions to the team were recognized by the conference as well as he was named the conference’s Coach of the Year.
“I think, the fact we produced the only winning record the men’s team has had since 2016, we can certainly say it was a success,” said Roberts when reflecting on the previous campaign.
Another player that the Eagles will be returning from their conference-winning squad is defender Francesco Chiappo. Outside of Bowden, Chiappo was the only other athlete to play in all 20 contests and 1800 minutes throughout the previous season.
Heading into the coming season, Chiappo stressed the team’s desire to grow and continue to find their previous excellence.
“Our focus is making sure we do better than last year by playing better and winning more,” he said. “We have great team chemistry and we all have the common goal to go as far as we can with our season.”
His freshman year was marked with a conference award as well as he was recognized with Freshman of the Year honors. He also finished the campaign with one goal.
However, while they are returning a lot of familiar faces, the Eagles did lose some key members to their lineup in forwards Jake Grove and Haruki Kimura.
Kimura and Grove combined for a stellar 16 goals and five assists, proving to be critical for the team’s offense. They also led the team in total shots on the season as Kimura recorded 51 with Grove just behind with 40.
“That’s a huge void to fill, and returning and new players will need to help us resolve that hole,” said Roberts.
He also stressed the importance of the newcomers and freshmen in hopes that they can adjust to the game in a timely matter.
“It’s hard to say who [will step up] because we are not training yet,” he said. “But, the new faces in the forward line, and how quickly they adapt to the college game, remains to be seen. We specifically recruited the forward positions because we saw that as a need. I suspect we will have some answers once the recruiting class and returners begin training.”
The Eagles are set to return to Ferguson Field in the coming weeks as the team’s report date is August 13. They will kick off non-conference play just 18 days later as they take on Charleston on Thursday, August 31, at 4:30 p.m.
“We will prepare the same as we always do, take each game one at a time, play well, be organized and love to play and win,” said Roberts. “Place one foot in front of the other mentality. The conference is very strong, and we need to understand that part, it will be very hard to repeat.”
