With the World Cup fast approaching, fans across the nation are gathering their American flags and red, white and blue body paint in preparation for of the one of the world’s most watched sporting events. However, for DePaul Men’s Soccer coach, Craig Blazer, it is not the professional players on the USA national team that he is thinking about, but the 10 young men he recruited and signed last week to National Letters of Intent.
“[The recruits] are a very talented group. They’re aware of the challenge,” said Blazer. “They’re ready and they’re excited to play in July,” he added. The new athletes will begin practicing and taking summer school July 19, helping them adjust to the team and make the transition from high school into the collegiate atmosphere.
Coming off an 8-9-3 season and their fourth consecutive qualification for the Big East Championship tournament, the team is losing a core group of nine players.
“Six guys were four-year starters. They were a tremendous group who had a tremendous amount of success,” said Blazer, adding that the group was not only skilled, but also acted as ambassadors for the program and leaders within the team.
Of the graduating group, four were defensemen, leaving an empty backfield. According to a press release, individual and team defense will be Blazer’s number one priority. Although the team will lose goalie Mike Williams, Joe Ferrari, a freshman who played 19 of the team’s 20 games and had 66 saves, will be returning.
Three players in the 2010 group, Zach Forbes, Kyle Gustafson and Mark Haas, will serve solely as defensemen, with a fourth, Jared Blincow, who will double as both midfielder and defender.
Joe Hart will take Williams’ spot as the third goalie and Ray DeLeon, Art Garza, Michael Stankiewicz and Mauricio Velasco will play midfield, along with Thiago Ganancio, who is also a forward.
“We have a good handle on the guys we’re bringing in. We try to bring in the best student athlete who is going to keep moving our program forward,” said Blazer. “These guys are top students, so they’re coming in on academic aid and they’re top players who play with the best clubs.”
Both Blincow and DeLeon played for the Dallas Texans, “one of the premier club teams in the country.”
In addition to the new recruits, three of the five players who played in all 20 of this season’s games will be returning, including Alex Mangan, who had 17 points, second to leader Steffen Vroom, a graduating senior who is now playing in Australia.
Other players, including Mangan, Antonio Aguilar, Matt Leinauer, Willy Lara, Scott Freundlich, John Jandl and Andre Gutierrez will also be returning. “All of those guys have been a part of our winning,” said Blazer.
Looking forward, Blazer and his staff, including current players and assistant coaches Adam Tinkham and Hobie Hare, will be holding the DePaul Men’s Soccer Camp on July 24 at the Lincoln Park Zoo’s South Field.
“The camp is one of our recruiting tools that we use,” said Blazer. The new recruits will participate in the camp as a way of acclimating them to the coaches and players. According to Blazer, “the challenge is bringing in a whole new class and getting them adjusted,” especially considering the team only has two weeks of preseason training.