MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (August 11, 2008) – Peaking just around the corner
is the 2008 season for the West Virginia University men’s soccer team.
With the success from last season in the rearview mirror, Head Coach
Marlon LeBlanc has spent the past few months gearing up for the
present.
From Monday to Wednesday, MSNsportsNET.com will preview the
Mountaineers, position-by-position.
Forwards
With leading goal-scorers Dan Stratford and Andy Wright graduated and
moving on to play professionally, one is to ponder where the scores for
this season’s squad will come from.
Looking down the statistics sheet, the next name on the list in order
of goals scored is Paul Paradise, a returning starter who tallied three
goals in 2007.
Paradise, now a sophomore, had a stellar freshman season and certainly
showcased his abilities. Not only was Paradise the only freshman to
start all 22 matches, but he also finished third on the team with three
goals, including two game-winners, and added two assists to his season
totals. Although extremely pleased with Paradise’s development and
maturity, Coach LeBlanc feels Paradise will have to make an even greater
contribution to this year’s offense in order to continue last year’s
success.
“We will need more goals, more assists and more production from
him,” LeBlanc said. “From a performance standpoint, he was very
good. He has to shoulder a lot of that burden. If he can get us 10-15
goals this year, it’s going to be right around what we’re looking
for from him. He knows that. He has worked very hard this offseason. I
think Paul is an important person for us to have and to have scoring
goals this year.”
Also returning to the front line for WVU are junior Tony Lindroos and
sophomore Dan Hagey. Lindroos’ lone goal last season came against
DePaul, but proved it to be a significant one as it would be the lone
goal of the game, giving the Mountaineers the 1-0 victory.
Joining the three this year is Stanley “Mo” Travis, a junior
transfer from Creighton.
Travis continually improved during his time with the Bluejays and could
be coming to Morgantown at just the right time to add experience to the
Mountaineers’ offense. In his freshman season, Travis played in 18
matches and found the back of the net against three different teams. His
following season with Creighton, he played in 19 contests, starting
five, and tallied three goals, one coming as a game-winner.
With such a young team, LeBlanc knows having experienced players will
make it a little bit easier to breathe in tight situations.
“I think those four guys are important because they have all played
and contributed significantly. We have some good young prospects, but at
the end of the day, you need your experience in tight games to win, and
certainly those four guys will help.”
The young prospects LeBlanc is referring to are five freshmen: Devin
Colon, Brandon Fischetti, Kurt Freemyer, Adam Mills and Michael
Pitrolo.
Colon comes to Morgantown from the Lone Star State and was discovered
in the WVU soccer summer camps. LeBlanc deemed him as a feisty, hasty
kid who gets after the ball and someone who can provide scoring
opportunities. Colon led his school district in assists his junior and
senior campaigns, and also led his club team, Texas FC, in goals his
last two seasons with them.
Another out-of-state freshman, Fischetti comes to WVU from Monroeville,
Pa., where he recorded 51 goals and 40 assists in his four-year high
school career. Seen as someone who can break an opponent down in a
one-on-one situation, LeBlanc believes Fischetti is a perfect fit for
the winger system. Fischetti also helped lead his club soccer team to
three Pennsylvania West state championships.
Also expected to aid immediately is Freemyer. The Arlington, Va.,
native earned numerous awards in high school, including all-Met,
all-region and all-district honors. Even with his soccer success, it was
his four years of track and running capabilities that ultimately
impressed the WVU coaching staff.
“He is most likely going to be one of the fastest, if not the fastest
player in the BIG EAST this year,” LeBlanc said. “The kid is a
winner. I think whenever you get a kid with that kind of pace, you
can’t coach that. I think that is going to be his biggest asset at
this level.”
Freemyer finished his summer with a stint at the 2008 US Youth Soccer
Boys Under-18 National Championships.
A product from Indianapolis, Ind., Mills is considered to be one of the
top forward recruits in the 2008 class. Named to the Indiana All-State
team and Super Team, Mills was also a seven-time selection to the
Indiana State ODP team and also was a seven-time Indiana State Cup
Champion (2002-08). He is described as ‘one of the most dangerous
players on the field’ and someone who ‘will cause havoc for other
players’ because of his speed and powerful leg.
A tall, 6-foot-2 forward, Pitrolo is a local-product from Parkersburg,
W.Va. In high school, he earned all-state honors and led Parkersburg
High to the state championship in 2005 and 2006.
“Mike is a big target, center forward who a lot of people don’t
know about, but he’s going to play some minutes for us,” LeBlanc
said. “He’s going to be a very powerful center forward that can go
by people and he shoots the ball very well.”
After comparing this year’s attacking line to the one from last year,
LeBlanc noticed the physical difference, but feels the adjusted style
fits the current offense perfectly.
“This group is going to be a little more dynamic and a little bit
more explosive in terms of pace, sharpness and technical ability,”
LeBlanc commented. “We are going to be a bit more dynamic with what we
can do because we have the personnel to play a different way and
that’s the reasoning for a potential change in formations. I think
we have some real great attacking components that we can get more out of
with three forwards.”
