Men's Soccer Looks to Defend Conference Title in 2022

HARTSVILLE, S.C. - The Coker University Men's Soccer team looks to defend its 2021 South Atlantic Conference title this season, under Michael Antoniewicz going into his fourth season. 

The Cobras are coming off of a South Atlantic Conference tournament championship and a trip to the NCAA tournament in 2021, and Antoniewicz wants to ride that wave into this season. 

"After coming off a great year last year, we want to continue to get better as a program, on and off the field," said Antoniewicz. "We have a very good group of returners and some exciting additions, which puts us in a great place. We are not looking further than the next game, which is a mentality we had last year and will continue to have. We want to go into every game knowing that if we are at our best, we are going to be a really hard team to get a result off of."

Coker returns 24 men from a season ago, including four 2022 Preseason All-Conference selections in sophomore goalkeeper Jasper Rump, senior defender Gustavo Palmieri, senior forward Gabin Guillou and sophomore defender Matty Tricker. Antoniewicz expects a lot from his returning group to lead in a big way. 

"We have a very good group of returners that come in with a wealth of experience and quality," said Antoniewicz. "Most returners have experienced a poor season and an exceptional season. With those experiences they have faced they will be very good for the newcomers to guide them through the season. Coming off a championship year has made the returning group even more hungry for success and I have seen that all pre-season which is very pleasing to see. We had 4 players recognized for pre-season all conference which is fully deserved after the season they had last year. Jasper, Gustavo, Gabin and Matty will be very eager to make sure they are All-Conference at the end of the season and I have full belief in them that they will. We have Colin Serredszum returning who suffered a terrible injury last season that forced him to miss the majority of the season and I know he will have a big impact on this team on and off the field. Luca Leonini, Mitchel Starrs, Justin Watkins, Jonathan Burr, Carson Onoszko, Felix Stoeffler, Lukas Berntsson, Che Richards, and Jacobi Garrett all played a massive part in our success last year too and have impressed this pre season and I fully believe they will have big impacts again!" 

The Cobras also bring 28 new players into the mix, that Coach Antoniewicz has high expectations and hopes for. 

"We are very excited about our newcomers," said Antoniewicz. "We have a good group of transfers and true freshmen. They have settled in very quickly on and off the field. We have a very specific kind of student athlete that we want to bring and all of them tick all the boxes that we look for. They have all bought into the environment we create here within the program and I have been very happy with their impact so far on and off the field. Souleymane Barry from Young Harris and freshman, Rafael Reno and Celestin Blondel will add good firepower going forward. We have 3 new midfielders after graduating the majority of our midfield. Nikola Sotra from Georgia Southern will be a big defensive force in the middle of the park and freshmen Frederic Benedix and Youri Keijser will bring a creative flow to our team. At the back we have been able to bring in two talented freshmen in Myles Jackson and Ludde Brander who have impressed so far. Overall, the incoming class has made the roster deeper than last year and created a-lot of healthy competition within."

Coach Antoniewicz has been pleased with how the two groups have come together. 

"The returners have done a fantastic job of welcoming our new players to the squad," said Antoniewicz. "They have helped them all adapt very quickly to life at Coker. Everyone now has a full understanding and knows the expectations we have for our players. Our leadership within our team has been brilliant so far and is key to our newcomers settling in so quickly." 

Men's Soccer begins its conference title defense against Nova Southeastern at Anderson (S.C.) on Aug. 27, before traveling to North Greenville on Aug. 31. The Cobras will take the field at home on Sept. 3 against Converse, before hosting Francis Marion on Sept. 7. South Atlantic Conference play begins on Sept. 10 at Mars Hill, before the Cobras step out of conference to travel to Chowan on Sept. 14. The Cobras host Tusculum on Sept. 17, before traveling to Carson-Newman on Sept. 24 and Catawba on Sept. 28. October begins with the Cobras hosting Lincoln Memorial on Oct. 1, before the Cobras hit the road for Newberry (Oct. 5) and Anderson (S.C.) (Oct. 8). Coker then returns home to host Lenoir-Rhyne on Oct. 12 and Limestone (Senior Night) on Oct. 15. Coker's final regular-season road trip is to conference newcomer Emory & Henry on Oct. 22, before the regular season concludes at home hosting Wingate on Oct. 26.

"In terms of our schedule, I believe this is the toughest schedule we have had in my time here," said Antoniewicz. "We play in what I believe as the top two conferences in the country in Division II soccer where there are no easy games. In our non-conference games, everyone we will face had a record above .500 last season. We want to compete against the best and I believe we are doing that. I have full belief that with our team and am very excited about the season ahead. We play in the best region for Division II soccer and I want us to be competing at the top end of that region all year round. I am really excited about the season ahead to go against top teams, top coaches and for us to keep taking this program up another level."

The Cobras open up the season against No. 3 Nova Southeastern on Saturday (Aug. 27) at Anderson University (S.C.). Kick-off is set for 4:30 p.m. from Anderson, S.C., with video and live stats available at www.cokercobras.com.