Soccer fans will see 33 new student-athletes among 10 returners when State Fair Community College's Roadrunners take the field against Neosho County Community College at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 25 on a neutral field at Clover Dell Park, 5300 W. 32nd Street, Sedalia. Last season, the Roadrunners were able to double the wins from the first year since the program resumed in 2016.
Second-year Head Coach Jaime Beltran likes what he sees from his team so far in the preseason.
"Practices have been very intense," said Beltran. "They all know that if someone slacks off, somebody will take his position. There's been a lot of good competition. Everyone has embraced the competition and the talent that has been added to our team. They realize that the only way we get better as a team is if we all improve."
The Roadrunners' style of play will be very similar to last season. Coach Beltran hopes that another year in the system will allow his team to continue to improve.
"We want to be an organized team," said Beltran. "We want to be difficult to break down defensively. Once we win the ball, we are going to take care of it until we can break down our opponent and create attacking chances."
Leadership for this year's team will come from returning defender Nathan Hess from Columbia and Vasbert Ledger from Lafayette, Louisiana. Hess started in all 18 games and made one assist as a freshman. Ledger scored eight goals and dished out six assists.
Hess and Ledger are joined by returners Alois Buchillet of France; Reece Gabbert and George Gomez all of Sedalia; Tyler Gillespie of Lone Jack; Alex Haag of Stover; Buhirwa Issa of Fort Worth, Texas; Turner McGlasson of Winfield; and Jaydan Messina of Australia. Vaughan Audrain and Samuel Sumo, both of Australia, joined the team last spring.
Beltran is excited about the new local and Missouri-grown student-athletes who have joined the team. Sebastin Aguero, who played at Sacred Heart High School before transferring to St. Paul's Lutheran High School in Concordia, is on the roster. Rounding out the Missouri newcomers are Colton Johannes and Ruben Rubio both of Stover, Lucas McEwen of Lee's Summit, Zenas Foster and Carlos Galindo both of Marshall, Justin Gerke of Jefferson City, Weston Barker of Cape Girardeau, Fernando Rivera of Brookfield, Jayson Ross of Rolla, J.T. Sherman of Warrensburg and Caleb Christensen of Osage.
Student-athletes who will call Sedalia home this season are Aaron Latimer of Amarillo, Texas; Eduardo Autunes, Rafael Dragon, Marcos Loppes, Pedro Martins, and Leonardo Reis all of Brazil; Jackson Ralph of New Zealand; Joshua Chassan of Barbados; Cameron Eccles, Angelo Salomone and Mani Hondroudakis all of Australia; Biganiro Espoir, Bosco Irankunda, Samson Jalloh, Joseph Kapyamba, John Mlondoni, and Carlos Montoya all of Houston, Texas. Two players from Bolivia are Sebastin Castro and Juan Jurkevicius who is a transfer from Jefferson College.
Coach Beltran said the Roadrunners are facing another tough schedule this season, but he likes the way the schedule sets up recovery and training opportunities, which should allow the team to perform at its best.
"Our first official game is against Barton Community College," said Beltran. "We beat them in a double-overtime game last season. The game will be a battle. However, every game is important. We have region games scattered throughout the season. So, we have to be on point and perform at all times."
The soccer team has set high goals and expectations for this season.
"One of our goals is to compete for our region championship," said Beltran. "Our next goal is to win the region championship and advance further in postseason play. We also want to advance to the national tournament. I told the players that getting to the national tournament is not an easy thing to do. Our season is not a failure if we don't make it to the national tournament. That is a lofty goal, but if you don't shoot for the highest goal, what's the point in competing?"
A key factor needed for a successful season revolves around relationship building.
"The primary key is our team's cohesiveness," said Beltran. "That is something that we've diligently been working on during the preseason. We are working to get students to feel like a family. That is something that goes a long way in building trust and confidence. We have the talent to be competitive at this level everywhere on the field."
David Rohrbach
SFCC Athletics