Experienced roster leads men's soccer into 2014 opener

ORANGE, Calif. – As the Chapman University men's soccer team embarks on its season-long journey, the Panthers are hoping to shed the "underdog" label and become favorites in the SCIAC in 2014. Chapman opens the campaign at Concordia University on Monday at 3:30 p.m. in Irvine in a non-conference matchup between the cross-county rivals.

After just inching into their first-ever conference tournament last Fall as the No. 4 seed the Panthers made noise in the postseason, upsetting top-seeded Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on the road with a goal in the final 90 seconds. And then Chapman came within a heartbreaking overtime goal of earning its first automatic NCAA bid in the SCIAC finals at Cal Lutheran.

A blend of experience and youth, as well as experienced youth, gives Chapman high hopes heading into the new season, anchored by two-time All-SCIAC selection junior Boston Kimmel in the midfield. Kimmel is coming off career highs in goals (five), assists (three) and points (13) in 2012 and was amongst the team's leaders in minutes. In fact, three of the Panthers' leaders in playing time last year were freshmen (M Sam Rudich, M/D Marco Saglimbeni, and D Eric Caporaso) giving them some valuable experience despite only being sophomores this season.

Five of Chapman's top six point scorers return alongside Kimmel, including junior F/M Karam Gill (three goals, eight points) and senior D Anthony Fernandez (three goals, seven points).

And in goal, junior Nick Berardi posted a 10-7-1 record and 1.31 goals-against average in over 1600 minutes between the pipes. Another All-SCIAC selection (2012) senior D Mikey Stoddard will help anchor the Panthers' backline.

by Doug Aiken
Sports Information Director

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