With 10 players returning who started double-digit games a year ago, plus a group of 17 newcomers, head coach Dustin Fonder is excited about the start of the 2018 Campbell University men's soccer season.

Coming off a third-place finish in the 2017 Big South race and returning one of the nation's top scoring threats, the Camels will face a demanding non-conference schedule in addition to a full slate of Big South Conference games.
 
"We anticipate having a good team, so we wanted to challenge them with a rigorous non-conference schedule," said Fonder, who is in his fourth year in charge of the Camels.  "When you play a schedule of this nature, it allows us potentially to have two ways of getting to the NCAA tournament. If you win the right games, you have a chance to get an at-large bid, and if you don't you still have the fall back of winning the conference tournament."
 
The schedule includes six teams that reached the 2017 NCAA tournament – UIC, SMU, Omaha, Duke and Old Dominion, in addition to last year's Big South tournament champion Presbyterian. Also on the slate are challenging dates with Davidson, Navy and UNC Greensboro.
 
Picked to finish third in the preseason poll of Big South head coaches, Campbell will travel to last year's runner-up Radford while hosting 2017 regular season champ High Point.  The Big South schedule begins early – with a Sept. 4 date at newest league member USC Upstate.
 
"League races are always tough," Fonder said.  "Everybody knows everybody inside and out, you know every tendency of the other team. I think that the team we have assembled in our locker room has a chance to line up and can feel confident it can win every game in the league. It's going to be a tough task. There's going to be a lot of challenges and lots of adversity along the way, but if we can take it one game at a time, we've got the chance to set ourselves up for a good year."
 
Fonder and assistants Tom Pool and Jeremy Wisdo have assembled a deep and talented roster that is equally comprised of domestic and international talent.  The staff has used its preseason to determine the best mix of returning and new players, and discovered that a number of combinations could work as the team enters its season opener Aug. 24 vs. UIC at the SMU Tournament.
 
"It's been a fun preseason," said Fonder.  "We returned a good group of core players and are integrating a group of new players, so it's been good to see them starting to work together. Every day is seems that we are getting a little better at blending those two groups. The quicker they come together, the better we're going to be."
 
Regardless of which 11 Fonder decides to play at what time, expect to see a team that uses its athletic ability to affect the game.
 
"I think we're going to be known as a really industrious team that tries to outwork our opponent, a team that has good team size, strength and speed, a very athletic team," said Fonder.  "We cover tons of ground. Our fitness level's really high, so I think anyone who plays Campbell is going to have their work cut out for them."
 
Goalkeepers
With the graduation of four-year starter Matt Mozynski, who ended his career among Campbell's all-time top four goalkeeping leaders in appearances, minutes and saves, no one on this year's CU roster has played a minute in between the pipes in a collegiate game.
 
However, Fonder will be able to call on a trio that enrolled at CU last January and worked throughout the preseason to prepare for this campaign.
 
Redshirt junior Matt Karasinski, a former starting keeper for the FC Dallas Academy team, joined the program as a transfer from Tulsa.  Sophomore Samuel Lechuga arrived in Buies Creek after playing for Mexican club Pumas' U-20 Academy team.  Freshman Peter Gilder from Southern Pines, N.C., is a product of the NCFC Elite club team.
 
"It's a neck-and-neck race; we're really just begging for someone to come out of the group and put a stamp on the position," said Fonder.  "We're confident in any of them, and think they all can do it. We just want someone to come out and win the job"
 
Defenders
One of the strengths of this season's team is the depth among its defending corps.  Senior Gabe Parrish, juniors Gideon Betz and Edward Fulwood, and sophomore Dylan Sadler bring experience to the group and will be pushed for playing time by newcomers Michael Barrow, Antonio Linge and Ben Morrison.
 
While Betz, a two-year starter, 2018 first-team All-Big South Conference performer and co-captain from Germany, can play either centrally or at right back, expect Parrish, Morrison and Sadler to compete for time on the outside. Any pairing of Barrow, Fulwood or Linge – along with Betz – could anchor the central defense.
 
"We can put any combination of the four out there and do the job," said Fonder. "They just need to play some games together. When we put the best group out there, they're going to be a formidable back four in our league."
 
Midfielders
Campbell's deepest group this fall could be in the midfield, where Fonder has the luxury of moving several players between holding, attacking and wide positions.
 
The group includes last year's Big South freshman of the year in Alemu Mercer-Miko, who can play either in the attack or wing spot, plus former Big South all-freshman team members in Josh Signey (2015) and Humberto Chavez (2017). Also back is junior Ian Rees, who moved into the starting lineup last September and went on to earn Big South all-tournament honors, plus sophomore Bastien Oberli, who started 13 contests a year ago, and senior Mario Da Silva.
 
Fonder added George Bediko, Thibaut Jacquel, Jalen James, Matt Lock, Adrian Morales in the 2018 recruiting class and expects contributions from all.
 
"Our midfield five is a unit that's going to make us the team we need to be. It's our goal day-in and day-out to win the midfield battle; that's going to be the engine of the team," said Fonder.  "We're going to play at a high tempo, defensively and attack-wise. High tempo possession – then as soon as we lose it, high pressure defense. We want to use the sub rule to our advantage. This depth will enable us to sustain that pressure throughout the 20-game season."
 
Forwards
Donnelly was named the Big South preseason co-attacking player of the year after a junior campaign when he ranked 12th in the nation in goals scored (13), while tying for the league lead with 4 game winners.  In his first season after transferring from Eastern Florida State College, Donnelly notched a pair of hat tricks and led the team to a 6-0-2 record in games when he scored.
 
Alex Egeonu saw action in all 19 matches with five starts as a freshman a year ago. The product of the Dallas Texas Academy team delivered two goals – both game winners (vs. Central Arkansas and Liberty).  Also joining the front-runner group is redshirt junior Aigbekan Nosegbe, who played in 37 matches at Furman before transferring to Campbell.
 
"Goals win games, and we've got a goal scorer. Every time we line it up, we've got a chance to win because we've got JJ on our team. It's as simple as that," said Fonder.  "The beautiful part is that he's going to get a lot better service, a lot better supply, this year because the team around him is going to be better. That'll allow him to get into position to score more goals. He'll just have to work on his strike rate. The better part about it is whereas last year, we had to rely on him heavily and he saw a lot of double teams.  He won't see that this year because we have Aigbekan, Alex and a midfield corps that can pop up for a lot of goals. I think our goal total will go up and JJ doesn't have to bear the brunt of shouldering all that."