By Adeshola Adigun
SCAD men’s soccer wrapped up regular season play with a 14-4-0 record and a 14th place rank in the NAIA Top 25 poll.
They claimed a share of their first-ever The Sun Conference title with their 2-1 victory over Webber International University on October 24.
At 7pm on Nov. 10 SCAD’s men’s soccer team hosted a semifinal conference tournament match against the Northwood (Fla.) Seahawks at the SCAD Athletics Complex. The
“The team we have this year is probably one of the best teams we’ve had in the program since I’ve been here,” said assistant coach Rob Weissel.
“This year’s been good,” said defensive player Richard Langthorne, second year advertising student from Durham, England. “We won our first seven games; winning always creates good spirits. We have players from different places, too, which creates a good atmosphere.”
The Bees have some international players who grew up playing in the academy system of professional clubs overseas – players that SCAD was able to bring over because they weren’t offered pro contracts.
Goalkeeper Ross Faulds, third-year writing student from Loughton, England, was selected as The Sun Conference Defensive Player of the Week in men’s soccer several times this season.
Faulds stopped all five shots that he faced on Oct. 16 against Embry-Riddle (Fla.) University, which his seventh shutout of the season and set a new university record.
Coach Weissel said that they hurdled some difficulties – including injured key players early in the season – but the diversity of the team’s roster this year has a lot to do with their making it this far.
“This year we have some younger guys that were able to contribute earlier than we expected,” Weissel said. “It makes training go much more smoothly when we have 18-20 guys that can contribute at any given time”
“We missed out on going to the national tournament [last year],” Weissel said. “I think that motivated a lot of guys this year to get over that hump.”
As far as moral support goes, Coach Weissel said, “We’d love to see more people.”
The SCAD Athletics Complex is located at 3650 Speedway Blvd. (U.S. Highway 17) in Hardeeville, S.C.
Sports fans can visit SCAD Radio for a live broadcast of events.
