Men’s Soccer Gears Up For Season Under New Leadership
(PITTSBURGH, Pa.) – The 2014 season is ready to begin and the Carnegie Mellon University men's soccer team, led by first-year Tartan head coach Brandon Bowman, opens at home on Saturday, August 30 against 14th-ranked Kenyon College at 2:30 p.m. in the second match of the Carnegie Mellon DoubleTree Invitational.
Bowman enters his 14th year on the sideline and brings with him the seventh-highest winning percentage (.760) amongst active coaches. He'll have five returning starters to work with along with 12 others who saw time throughout last season.
"As a coaching staff we are very excited to start implementing our style of attacking and defending," Bowman said. "Although it took the first few days of pre-season to sort out which players fit in where, we are starting to understand each player's individual skill set and how it fits into our overall team concepts. It has been fun to see the team respond to our coaching style and pick up on the tactics we are trying to implement."
The Tartans return five starters from last season's NCAA Division III playoff team, including three on defense. Also returning to the field this year is graduate student Scott Gerfen (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) who has 28 starts for his career including all 17 matches played during the Tartans' 2012 NCAA playoff run. Gerfen returns to the midfield with senior Colin Shaffer (Huntington Beach, Calif./St. Margaret's Episcopal School) and sophomore Tristan Lockwood (Victor, N.Y./Victor), who replaced Gerfen in the 2013 starting lineup after the midfielder suffered a season-ending injury in the opening minutes of the first game.
Senior outside back Brandon Peck (Pittsburgh, Pa./Pittsburgh Central Catholic) along with senior center back Jakob Rohwer (Southborough, Mass./Phillips Academy Andover) and junior center back Greg Allen (Newport Beach, Calif./Corona del Mar) will bring consistency and leadership to the defense in front of senior Jacob Rice (Gahanna, Ohio/Gahanna Lincoln) who made two starts last year in goal.
The Tartans don't have an easy start to the season as they open with an opponent ranked in the NSCAA/Continental Tire NCAA Division III Men's Preseason Top 25. The Tartans enter with their own ranking of 18th which is based off last year's finish. Additionally, there are currently four other teams on the schedule who are ranked in the preseason top 25.
The Tartans start University Athletic Association (UAA) play on the road against the University of Chicago on Saturday, October 4 before hosting 24th-ranked Washington University on Saturday, October 11.
"As a new coaching staff entering our first season, we are hoping to see a team that consistently improves," Bowman said. "As we enter the non-conference portion of the season, we want to observe our strengths and weaknesses so that we can make adjustments heading into such a competitive UAA conference."