Sports > August 30, 2007

By Martin Rickman | Staff writer

The Demon Deacon men’s soccer team finished its preseason 2-0 after beating Cincinnati 2-1 at Spry Stadium. The Deacs, ranked No. 2 in the nation, were able to get good work in, outshooting the Bearcats 15-5. The star of the match was junior Jamie Franks, who scored off a pass from sophomore Zach Schilawski seven minutes in.

He also recorded an assist on freshman Cody Arnoux’s game winner.

“I thought we did a good job creating good opportunities for ourselves tonight,” Franks said.

Four freshmen also played quality minutes.

Freshman Jeff Leach was able to get a shot on goal, while fellow freshman Ike Opara played the entire second half on defense and freshman Russ Coleman subbed in near the end of the game.

Head Coach Jay Vidovich was encouraged by the preseason performance, but noted that the team still has much to work on before entering regular season play.

“We still have a lot of things we need to clean up,” he said. “We had moments of very good soccer, but overall we were a little spotty.”

NSCAA Player of the Year and High School All-American freshman Corben Bone earned a start after he shined against Furman, scoring a goal and recording an assist.

Getting the highlytouted freshmen valuable game time, especially early on, will allow them to develop their skills and keep them fresh.

This team, picked second in the ACC Pre-Season Coaches Poll, has a great deal of expectations for the season with a top-5 ranking and is hoping to return to the Final Four, where they lost a shootout to eventual NCAA Champions UC-Santa Barbara.

The Deacs will be looking for scoring, as they lost Steven Curfman, Ryan Solle and Wells Thompson to graduation, but they will be bolstered on defense behind seniors Pat Phelan, goalie Brian Edwards and preseason All-American senior Julian Valentin. These three helped lead the Deacons to 12 shutouts last season. With preseason over, the Deacs have their sights set high and they have a very tough schedule ahead of them in the always impressive ACC.

“I feel pretty confident going into the season,” Franks said. “We worked hard during preseason but we have a lot to work on. We have more practices before we open and we know what we have to do to get ready.”

The club will open their season Aug. 31 in Chapel Hill for the UNC Tournament against Old Dominion.