Roadrunners Soccer Season Preview

The State Fair Community College (SFCC) Roadrunners soccer coaching staff and student-athletes are eager to meet the challenges that await them in the upcoming season that has been compacted into a little more than one month, due to the COVID-19 outbreak and changes from the NJCAA.

For Head Coach Jaime Beltran, last fall was the first time he did not have a soccer season since 2002.

"It was difficult for everyone to figure out how to schedule a whole season into a limited amount of time," said Beltran. "We're going to have more three-game weeks than we ever have. We had to change the way that we prepare for the season, so we must lay an even stronger foundation to be physically prepared. It is challenging, but fortunately on the men's team we have good depth.

Roadrunner fans can expect to see a similar style of play as they have seen from teams in the past.

"We want to be a strong defensive team," said Beltran "Our entire team plays defense and not just our back four. Defense is a team effort that must be coordinated, and everyone must be on the same page. When we win the ball, if the counterattack is there, we will take advantage, if not we will possess the ball."

Coach Beltran sees leadership coming from a few different places on this year's team. He believes that it is important for everyone to provide leadership in one way or another.

"We are hoping for Gaston Espinosa (of Peru) to add some power, but yet calmness to our back line," said Beltran. "We are really counting on the return of John Mlondani (of Houston, Texas) to our midfield. He did not play the last time we had a season. We are looking for a lot from him in terms of being vocal and providing a physical presence in the midfield. We brought in Francisco Zubia (of El Paso, Texas) to help us score more goals. We are also looking for good things from Zakariya Abdi (of Houston, Texas) and Tebello Ntene (of Lesotho) at our outside midfield positions."

Coach Beltran has also seen improvement from goalkeeper Breno Prado (of Brazil) coming off a redshirt season.

The Roadrunners, a Division II program, are scheduled to open the season on April 3 at St. Charles Community College. SFCC is scheduled to open the home portion of their schedule against Jefferson College on Wednesday, April 7. Kickoff is 4 p.m.

Coach Beltran has some goals that he would like to see his team accomplish in the spring.

"Our first goal is to have a winning season," said Beltran. "You always want to have your student-athletes injury free throughout the season. We would also like to finish at the top of our region. I think we have a chance to do that, but it is so hard to know what the other teams have or don't have. We would love to have a chance to go to Nationals."

David Rohrbach

 SFCC Athletics