Fixing Offensive Woes

State Hornet Staff

After a dismal 2013 campaign, Sacramento State men’s soccer is eager to hit the ground running this season having gained a year of experience and expanding the depth on their roster.

Last year the Hornets were not able to collect a win at home and finished in last place in the Big West Conference, ending the year with a 3-11-4 overall record.

Returning senior forward Chimdum Mez is prepared to take on more with his role this season as he and sophomore defender Andrew Gosselin are the only returning goal scorers (combining for four goals).

“I want to score plenty of goals this season,” Mez said. “This whole summer I worked hard on my movement on and off the ball as well as finishing in and around the box, so I want to make sure that I get plenty of goals this year.”

Mez had a total of 27 shots, placing 10 of them on frame.

Despite the team’s losing record, the player’s stayed optimistic according to head coach Michael Linenberger. The opportunities were there for the men to create more chances on goal, but ultimately the squad collapsed on the follow through.

“We struggled to score goals last year and that’s an area we tried to address through recruiting as well as our training in the spring,” Linenberger said. “We’re trying to improve our final action in front of the goal.”

There have been eight new additions to the team this season and a total of seven starting returners that will be able to help the Hornets with capitalizing on scoring opportunities.

“We have a lot of depth this year, so the coaches can throw anything at us,” Mez said. “A lot of the guys we brought in are really good players; I wouldn’t be surprised seeing a couple of freshmen in the starting lineup.”

Some of the notable freshmen include Devante Raynor and Cylus Sandoval. Each had a good showing in the exhibition match against the University of the Pacific, where both combined for a total of five shots.

Sophomore Gosselin is impressed so far from what he has seen from his new teammates and has credited the team with making big adjustments from last season in their passing game.

“We trust each other a lot more this year and you can see in our one and two touch passing,” Gosselin said. “Instead of us trying to dribble through we can move the ball a lot quicker now and I think we can continue to improve by putting the ball into the net.”

Statistically the squad struggled with offense and netted only 11 goals in 18 games with an average of 11.4 shots per game in 2013. On the defensive side of the ball the Hornets did suffer an important loss as all-Big West second team goalkeeper Cesar Castillo graduated this past academic year.

There are three men vying for the position this season. Redshirt freshman James Del Curto was given the start in the team’s season opener against Temple University, Linenberger does not expect to name a permanent starter until he sees what each player has to offer.

“We feel we have three good goalkeepers,” Linenberger said. “They’re all three young and none of them have much Division I game experience. We don’t think much separates them.”

In the men’s first regular match of the season, the Hornets were shutout by Temple 3-0.

The team will return home to start a seven game homestand on Friday, Sept. 5 and will open up against the University of San Diego at Hornet Field at 5 p.m.