After a historic 2023 season, the Case Western Reserve University’s men’s soccer team looks to continue its momentum.
They ended the season matching the 2022 season with an overall record of 10-3-4. In conference play, they placed third with a 3-2-2 record. During the postseason, the Spartans made their second consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history, marking its fifth total appearance. They won against Hobart and William Smith Colleges 3-2 in the first round but fell to No. 6-ranked State University of New York at Cortland in the penalty shootout (5-3) after a 1-1 draw. During the season, they scored a total of 26 goals with an average of 1.53 goals per game and a percentage of 0.404 shots on goal.
With the 2024 season, Head Coach Carter Poe will be entering his fifth season with the team since he joined in 2021.
Third-year goalkeeper and one of the captains Bradley Winter expresses his anticipation for the upcoming season.
“It’s gonna be an exciting year. We’ve got a good balance of older guys who are really experienced, a lot of talented seniors and juniors, and then we’ve got a lot of young guys who are ready to step up, and also a very good freshman class. So I’m really excited for what the season holds. And I think we’re looking to have a really good year.” Winter says.
With a squad of 33 players, the team welcomes 10 new athletes including two graduate students, one third-year, one second-year and six first-years. First-year midfielders Joseph Jung, Ashton McNally, Christian Tan and Owen Guffey, as well as forward Amir Awais and defender Drew Rosenthal will begin their collegiate careers this fall. In addition to the four first-year midfielders, graduate student Quinn Flaspohler and third-year Hayden Fischer join center, while second-year transfer student from Ohio Northern University Philip Vlastaris and graduate student Eshwar Challa joins the backline.
With the graduation of fifth-year and two-time All-American midfielder Matt Vatne, this year’s team will definitely see some changes in its offensive play.
However, as Winter mentioned, the returning players have a wealth of experience, including fourth-year midfielder Lukas Dalakis and fourth-year forwards Kysen Kroeger and Brandon Kim who made appearances in all 17 games last season.
In the backline, 2023 All-UAA defender Josh Cook returns for his fifth season after starting in all matches last season. Alongside Cook aiding in defense, Winter returns in front of the net. Last season, Winter only allowed 10 goals and recorded eight individual shutouts to tie with the program record during his 1645:30 minutes of play.
Winter reiterates his confidence in this year’s team.
“I think we’ve got really good guys with a lot of energy out here, and I think that’s going to be huge going into the season. So I think it’s a really good group, and it’s gonna be really exciting.” Winter says.
The Spartans will face some tough opponents in the upcoming season, including No. 7-ranked University of Chicago and No. 20-ranked Emory University in the UAA conference matches. The soccer team will also face two additional opponents adding to this season’s difficulty.
“[There’s] a lot of good teams we’re going to play against, and a lot of games on the schedule in a short amount of time. But I think it should be exciting, and I’m optimistic for it as a whole.” Winter comments.
The men’s soccer team will officially begin their season on Aug. 30 with a home match against Otterbein University at 5 p.m. This will be followed by two away games against The College of Wooster and Lycoming College on Sept. 1 and Sept. 7, respectively.