Sitting in an air-conditioned office Wednesday that is equally cozy and busy, soccer director Lance Thompson doesn’t need a roster as he goes position by position and player by player to talk UH-Hilo men’s soccer.
In fact, he never pauses to think for a moment when discussing Vulcans personnel.
“I know this team,” Thompson said.
Just as important, they know him and what he believes in, giving the third-year coach every reason to think this will be his best Vulcans men’s team.
Thompson isn’t guaranteeing any victories when he he says “this is the year.”
That’s in reference to the competition. UH-Hilo opens the season Thursday night on Oahu against Northwest Nazarene, which is coming off its first trip to the NCAA tournament and plays Cal State Monterey Bay on Saturday. No. 6 Cal State Los Angeles visits Oct. 6 after the Pacific West Conference season fires up.
“Our nonconference schedule is as good at it can get,” he said.
Scheduling, of course, is the easy part.
The Vulcans still need to handle there business in the 14-team PacWest, but if they do their strength of schedule will give them more than a fighting shot at a regional berth that would be historic.
“That’s the tough part,” Thompson said, “we’re trying to do something we’ve never done before.”
The majority of a roster that finished 7-9-2 (5-6-1 PacWest) returns. UH-Hilo started the season 2-5-1, but somewhere along the way, Thompson said, the Vulcans bought into the never-beat-yourself philosophy he preaches.
The final seven-match stretch was encouraging, UH-Hilo went 4-2-1, and even more encouraging was the Vulcans picked up where they left off in preseason training.
“‘I’m expecting them to be extremely competitive, and that’s just based on facts,” Thompson said. “We’re veteran and experienced and more dialed in with what we want to do. We’re in better shape and much more savvy.”
The hope is all those attributes will lead to more scoring.
UH-Hilo allowed 23 goals last season, and while cutting down that number is a focus, improving on the 22 it scored is an even bigger one.
Mike Reckmeyer and his eight goals scored as a senior last season will be hard to replace, but Thompson likes his depth at striker with seniors Jamie Sporcic, Alejandro Patino and Oswel Mariles. Sporcic saw full-time duty last season and is the leading returning scorer with three goals, while Patino, who was injured in the opener, and Mariles played in just one match each last season.
“Alejandro has an educated left foot, Jamie is extremely quick and Oswel is of a combo of both,” Thompson said. “Alejandro is an explosive attacking-type player. Oswel has a nose for the goal. I can tell he’s hungry.”
Thompson has seen a similar commitment from four of the homegrown players on the roster, seniors Max Darris (Hilo High), and James Yamane (Waiakea), junior Cassidy Dixon (Honokaa) and sophomore Andrew Dawrs (Hilo).
He credits all four with adapting to the leap in play from the BIIF to Division II. Dawrs, a midfielder, came on strong in training camp and earned a spot on this weekend’s 18-man travel roster when George Wakefield suffered an injury.
“I went to my captains and coaching staff after the injury, and asked them who should we take on the trip,” Thompson said. “All I heard was Andrew Dawrs, Andrew Dawrs.”
Yamane is in the mix at midfield along with seniors Adam Colton, Juan David Diaz Casallas, Asa Goldmsith, Zachary Solarte and Cristian Ruelas, a veteran group that Thompson sees as the strength of the team. He’s equally as confident in fullbacks Anton Lund, Jacob LaPorte, Scott Hill and Anthony Novella.
Dixon has improved enough to make the three-man goalkeeping race too close to call. Junior Tyler Hoffman allowed 10 goals in 16 matches last season, and he and Dixon will make the trip to Oahu. Senior Joshua Jasper also could see the balance of playing time.
“Cassidy has done really well for himself, you can tell he’s been training,” Thompson said.
He says the same of Darris, who earned playing time last season and provided a spark with two goals.
“He’s athletic and fast and can create some space for himself,” Thompson said.
The veteran coach compares the makeup of this team favorably to the Notre Dame de Namur squad he led to a PacWest title in 2008. While that team was young and only had to deal with a six-team conference, the Vulcans are senior-laden.
“There is a sense of urgency to it,” said Thompson, who is happy the first test of the season will also provide one of the biggest tests of the season. “I’ll know a lot more at 10 p.m. Thursday.”