MAYFIELD, Ky. - Coach David Oesch took over the reins of Mid-Continent University's men's soccer program in February, 2010, and hit the recruiting trail hard. With pre-season practices underway and the first matches looming in late August, there remains numerous questions about blending the few returning players from last season with the youthful group entering the program into a united side.

    Oesch, formerly head coach at Bacone College (OK), welcomes back 9 returning field players who accounted for 11 goals and 14 assists, or less than half of MCU's offensive production, from last season's 6-8-5 squad. MCU fields 15 freshmen and sophomores this season, nearly 75% of its roster, as it faces off against three teams that were ranked in the top 25 in the final NAIA national coaches' poll - number one Bethel University from the TranSouth and ninth-ranked William Carey and 15th-ranked Texas-Brownsville for the first two matches of the season, Sept. 27-28 - and an always competitive conference schedule highlighted by home matches from defending TSAC Tournament champion Martin Methodist and regular-season champion Bethel.

     "I will be asking a lot of our new players to be able to contribute immediately," acknowledges Oesch as he spends considerable pre-season time working on soccer fundamentals with his youthful charges. "I also look for our returning senior captains to be major contributors who step up and lead our younger players."

     Oesch counts on senior co-captains Dan Chilton (Leyburn, England) and Marcio das Neves (Porto Alegre, Brazil) to continue to establish themselves as leaders on and off the field. "Dan has the ability to rally our team in important moments during a match," says Oesch. Chilton contributed one very important goal last season, a match-tying score with 22 seconds left in regulation time at Bethel in a 2-2 overtime tie.

     "Marcio has the ability to change a match during key moments and set the tempo," comments Oesch. Das Neves contributed 2 goals and 4 assists last season.

     Seniors Keane Bennett (Jamaica) and Algeon Sappleton (Jamaica) enter their fourth seasons at MCU, and sophomore Gilles Nziengui (Lansing, MI/New Covenant Christian School) returns for his second. Bennett scored 3 goals and 4 assists last season, including a match-winner at Oakland City.

     Freshman forwards Jamison Imhoff (Lansing, MI/New Covenant Christian School), with 159 goals and 63 assists in his high school career, and Matt Kreutzer (Paducah, KY/Heath HS), with 72 goals and 65 assists in his prep career, and freshman midfielder Mario Black (Barranquilla, Colombia) give the Cougars a youthful triple threat in the offensive zone.