Men’s soccer making strides in preseason

MONTGOMERY, Ala.  – The Huntingdon volleyball team and men's and women's soccer teams began preseason practice on Aug. 17.              

Updates for each team's preseason are being featured this week.

Men's Soccer

The men's soccer team opened the preseason with 25 players.

A week into preseason practice, head coach Matt Cooper and first-year assistant coach Christian Young are seeing progress.

Huntingdon opens the season at Hendrix College on Aug. 30 at 6 p.m.

Cooper on the preseason: "The first few days have been pretty good. The guys came in fit for the most part and ready to work. We have a very talented freshmen group that has been a great addition to our program. We definitely have some things we still need to work on, but we're happy with our progress so far. This group is eager to learn, compete, work hard and do whatever it takes for us to take the next step and have a great season."

Cooper on the priorities of the preseason: "Our priority in preseason is to get everyone on the same page with our system of play and see where players are going to fit best. With the large group of newcomers, we have been getting them up to speed on how we operate and what we expect of them. This is the longest preseason we have had in the past few years, so it is nice to not be so rushed. We have played a lot in these first few days and asked the guys to go out and compete every day. We tell them to, 'win your position every day'."

Cooper on new assistant coach Christian Young: "Christian has been a great addition to the program. He is a young and energetic coach with a passion for the game. He is very demanding and has high expectations for this group. He has been great and is really pushing the guys to become better and grow as players and they have really responded to him and his coaching. He has a great playing background and has been using those experiences and relating them to the team well. He is going to be a great leader, role model and coach for this program and we are extremely happy and lucky to have him with us."