Men’s soccer counting on experience in 2016

By Chuck Tidmore

Sports Information Assistant 

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Huntingdon men's soccer program opens its season on Thursday and head coach Matt Cooper is counting on his upperclassmen to lead the program this year.

Cooper, who is in his second year as head coach, returns 11 players from last season and expects them to be the leaders of the team.

"We have a great group of returners," Cooper said. "We are relying on those guys to set the standard and be great leaders."

Cooper announced the 2016 captains will be senior Brendon Van Emelen, junior Cam Smith and junior Killian Delmore.

Van Emelen led the Hawks last season with four goals and two assists. For his career, he has 42 starts, nine goals and six assists while playing at the forward position.

"I'm hoping Van Emelen scores a lot of goals for us this season," Cooper said. "He was our leading goal scorer last year and I hope he continues that this year."

Smith has started 33 games on defense in his first two seasons as a Hawk while Delmore has made 30 career starts and has scored twice while recording two assists.

"Cam is going to be the leader on defense and will hold the back line down," Cooper said. "Killian will be at midfield and he's going to do everything we ask of him. He's an all-around player who can score goals, have assists and play defense."

Last season, the Hawks finished with a 3-12-3 record and earned a berth to the USA South Athletic Conference tournament where they fell to Greensboro in the first round. Of the 18 matches last season, 10 ended in a draw or a one-goal loss. After making the conference tournament last season, Cooper wants more out of his team during postseason play.

"The goal is to always make the conference tournament," Cooper said. "But just making the playoffs isn't the desired goal anymore. The goal now is to finish as high as possible in the standings and potentially host a first-round game."

The Hawks open their season on Thursday at Birmingham-Southern at 7 p.m.

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