SEASON PREVIEW: MEN'S SOCCER FOCUSES ON BALANCED ATTACK

PETERSBURG, Va., (August 20, 2015) -- A year ago, first-year Richard Bland College men's soccer coach Eduardo de Souza inherited a team that featured 24 freshman and two sophomores. It wasn't the type of roster balance de Souza planned to build his program around.

This year, de Souza's roster is getting closer to this season's buzzword: balance. 

The 2015 Statesmen men's soccer team boasts 18 freshman and seven sophomores, providing de Souza with the foundation necessary to improve on last year's 5-13-1, 3-12-1 season. 

Following Wednesday night's 2-0 scrimmage victory over Division III Averett University, there is an abundance optimism heading into this Saturday and Sunday's season opening games, both of which will be played at home on Statesmen Field, against Region X Conference member USC Lancaster at 1:00 p.m. and Union County College at 2:00 p.m.

"This year we will compete stronger than last year," de Souza says. "We still have some gaps in our roster, but the difference this year is we have more recruited players than walk-ons and those players have good soccer pedigrees. 

The focal point for the Statesmen will be finding a playing balance to compliment a mix of seasoned players and newcomers. "I am looking for a balanced team both offensively and defensively," says de Souza. "We want to play a possession style, but it's a game-by-game and step-by-step process. Our approach depends on our opponent."

The 2015 season wastes little time heating up, as the Statesmen open with a Region X Conference game on Saturday against USC Lancaster, a team Richard Bland defeated 6-2 last year, and Union County College, a new opponent to the schedule. "Last year we won our first two games 2-1 (Wake Technical Community College) and 4-1 (Prince George's Community College)," says de Souza. "We don't take anything for granted this year based on those results. We play 18 games in a short time frame and in soccer anything can happen." 

LEADERSHIP ROLES
de Souza expects his team to mature quickly, especially with five games played in nine days starting on August 22. In the early going he says five sophomore players will provide invaluable leadership to his youthful team: midfielder Eduardo Quintanilla, defender Isael Diaz-Sanchez, forward/midfielder Godfred Obed-Baisel, defender Adam Belkorchi, and midfielder Larry Sawyer. "These are the five players that I see as leaders on the team that will set the tone for the newcomers," de Souza says.

Obed-Baisel is coming off a tremendous freshman season that saw him score a school-record 21 goals.

AVERETT UNIVERSITY SCRIMMAGE
The 2015 season got off to a promising start with a 2-0 scrimmage win over Division III Averett University on Wednesday night. The victory was buoyed by the season's first goal collected by freshman Evan Stalker who put the Statesmen ahead 1-0 at halftime. Richard Bland tacked on a second goal when Obed-Baisel scored off a Stalker feed. In the net, freshman goalkeeper Ciro Labrada recorded 10 saves in the shutout victory. "We played a very good team in Averett," says de Souza. "We worked very hard and well with each other. I was very pleased with the outcome given we had just a few days practicing. It was a good start, but we are playing good opponents coming up and we'll have to play at that same level this weekend."

2015 SCHEDULE
Amidst an 18-game schedule, the Statesmen will play 14 of those against Region X Conference opponents. In addition to the home openers on August 22 and August 23, Richard Bland will play seven additional home games all against conference opponents except a October 4 game against Johnson & Wales.