Sun Belt Conference Preview - 2024

This Sun Belt Conference Preview focuses on Marshall University, West Virginia University, University of Central Florida, University of Kentucky and James Madison University as they prepare for the upcoming 2024 NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer season. Who’s in? Who’s out? What will the teams look like in 2024? The potential starting elevens can be found at the conclusion of this article.

Recent Background

Much of the focus within the Sun Belt Conference last season was on the state of West Virginia. In one of the best rivalries in the country dubbed the Mountain State Derby, it came down to Marshall University and West Virginia University in the Sun Belt Conference Championship final, with the Thundering Herd winning 3-2 on their home field.

Both schools joined the conference in 2022 with Marshall leaving Conference USA and West Virginia leaving the MAC.

There were significant events for each program two years prior. Notably, Marshall University won the NCAA Division I National Championship in 2020. They were led by goalkeeper Oliver Semmle who only allowed 7 goals in his 18 appearances for a 0.38 goals against average. After an impressive 13-2-3 record and a National Championship title, Semmle stuck around for another two seasons before getting drafted by the Colorado Rapids. Soon after, he spent a year in the USL Championship and is now with the Philadelphia Union. Their leading points getter that season was Brazilian attacking midfielder Vitor Dias with 6 goals and 7 assists in a well-distributed team attack. He signed for HFX Wanderers in the Canadian Premier League back in February after departing the Sporting Kansas City organization.

…one of the two teams that were able to defeat Marshall during that season? West Virginia.

The Mountaineers did it with a new Head Coach as well. Marlon LeBlanc left the team after 2019 to take the Philadelphia Union II job, and during his 14 seasons with West Virginia, he only had two with a record below a .500 winning percentage. From then on, it has been the Dan Stratford era of the program, and he has already taken his alma mater from good to great.

After graduating from West Virginia in 2007, Stratford had a short professional career between the MLS and opportunities in Scotland and England before pursuing a career in coaching. It’s weird to say that the Mountaineers appear to have gotten an upgrade after seeing their long serving coach make a move to the professional ranks, but the Englishman entered the role after having recently won two NCAA Division II National Championship titles with the University of Charleston (WV). In his three seasons two hours down the road from Morgantown, his Golden Eagles only lost 4 games to end his tenure at 61-4-5 (2017-2019).

It's not just the West Virginia schools that have been top contenders in the new look Sun Belt Conference. After a season hiatus in 2021, the conference decided to sponsor men’s soccer programs again and it has already become a good producer of talent.

In 2022, the conference final included two different teams that have remained contenders to this day. The University of Kentucky ended up winning the title over underdog James Madison University 2-0. It was a great season for the Wildcats as they went undefeated throughout the regular season and conference tournament, but it all came to an end in the NCAA tournament against Pittsburgh. Kentucky struck first in that match with a goal from Casper Grening, who interestingly enough, recently transferred to Pitt ahead of this 2024 season. With that loss, they concluded with a 15-1-5 record.

Over the past two seasons alone, you can see that half the table are capable of having impressive records which shows the strength of the conference.

Marshall University

Marshall has made an NCAA tournament appearance every season since 2019 and Chris Grassie and his staff continue to reload as they continue to pursue another National Championship. As they’re expected to make the national tournament yet again in 2024, the Thundering Herd have added an All-American to their roster. As their most notable signing, Lineker Rodrigues dos Santos joins Marshall after a 14 goal and 5 assist season with Memphis. If dos Santos can replicate those numbers, he’ll more than cover for the gap that Matthew Bell has left after his departure. Bell is now a professional within the Real Salt Lake organization, but led the team with back-to-back 10 goal seasons. New addition Tarik Pannholzer looks to help in the goal contribution category as well. The former SoCon All-Freshman and All-Conference First Team selection from ETSU had 5 goals and assists each in 2023.

Another top player from last season who will need to be replaced is Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Year Morris Duggan. He is now in the MLS with Minnesota United. There’s an incoming transfer that might be the man for the job though. Aleksandar Vukovic has made the move from UC Riverside after an All-Conference First Team selection in the Big West. The Serbian center back had started nearly every game for the Highlanders over the 2022 and 2023 seasons.

Showing up on the All-Conference First Team with Bell and Duggan was goalkeeper Gabriel Perrotta, who is now a Pittsburgh Riverhound in the USL Championship. He started in all 21 games, only allowing 17 goals. Grassie appears to have replaced him with another Serbian, former Wingate shot stopper Aleksa Janjic. He was also an All-Conference first teamer in the South Atlantic Conference, earning the award in consecutive seasons.

The most impressive departure in terms of the destination is Alvaro Garcia Pascual and his recent move to La Liga side Sevilla.

That’s enough about who is coming in. The Herd have a combined record of 29-7-4 over the past two seasons, so the real question is, “Who is coming back?”

Japanese midfielder Taimu Okiyoshi is back as a graduate student in Huntington. Okiyoshi has been a starter since joining the team in 2022. After leading the team in minutes for outfield players last year, he was chosen by United Soccer Coaches as a Third Team All-American, where dos Santos was named. Before Marshall, he was an All-American at the NJCAA level when he won the Division I National Championship with Salt Lake Community College. Two of the other players that started every match along with Okiyoshi were Rai Pinto and Theo Godard. All three of them saw over 1,600 minutes each. Alexander Stjernegaard was a consistent choice for Grassie as well. This international cohort will likely continue to form the core of the team in 2024.

With three of the top five points getters leaving for the professional world, the two that remain are Pablo Simon and Marco Silva. Simon is an Elche CF product who ended up second to Bell with 7 goals and 7 assists while Silva matched his 7 goals but contributed 5 assists in comparison. The winger has spent his summer at the Beach House with Ocean City Nor’easters. He attended YSC Academy and played for the Philadelphia Union Academy leading up to his time with the Herd.

The biggest question for Marshall this season will be how the replacements do, and can they match or exceed the level of production from last season? There are some big shoes to fill, but based on the early schedule, the Herd will have some time to develop cohesion with the new additions. The expectation is that they will match their 18-3-0 record from a season ago, but they’ll certainly want to do better in the NCAA tournament this time around. They’ll also have an opportunity to learn a lot about themselves as they open their season in an exhibition match against College Cup finalist Notre Dame on August 10th in South Bend.

In — Thiago Apolinario (Cowley), Aleksander Vukovic (UC Riverside), Lineker Rodrigues dos Santos (Memphis), Tarik Pannholzer (East Tennessee State), Haruhi Taneda (Omiya Ardija), Adrian Mahoney (Toronto FC), Aleksa Janjic (Wingate), Eddie DeMarco (Delaware), Robin Kapila (Wisconsin Green Bay)

Out — Matthew Bell (Real Salt Lake), Morris Duggan (Minnesota United), Gabriel Perrotta (Pittsburgh Riverhounds), Alvaro Garcia-Pascual (Sevilla), Adam Aoumaich (Union Omaha), Guga Veiga (--), Gabe Sitler (--), Paul Wiencierz (Union Titus Petange)

Transferred — Augustin Iusem (Palm Beach Atlantic), Nikola Sljivic (Oral Roberts), Mohammed Seidu (High Point)

West Virginia University

The biggest news in the off-season for me was what West Virginia did in the transfer portal. As Marshall lost three Sun Belt Conference First Team players from last season, West Virginia will have three reigning first teamers in 2024. Both Ethan Dekel Daks and Simon Carlson have made the move north after earning All-Conference First Team designations for their play at the University of South Carolina and Georgia State University, respectively. 2024 MLS SuperDraft selection Marcus Caldeira is returning to Morgantown as the third. Many of the players who won conference awards have either graduated or left for opportunities in the pros, so overall, new stars will emerge in the conference.

The midfield has picked up another transfer reinforcement on top of Dekel Daks and Carlson in Felix Ewald. The former 1.FC Union Berlin player has joined from Temple University after leading the Owls with 6 goals and 5 assists. He was named to the AAC All-Conference Second Team. Speaking of second team selections, Danish defender Frederick Jorgensen was a Sun Belt Second Team as well as a United Soccer Coaches Regional Second Team choice. Since joining Stratford’s side, he’s been a consistent feature of the defense and that’ll continue now that he’s in his senior season.

Every team, every season, some players will inevitably leave for one reason or another, and two of the biggest contributors to the success of the 2023 season, Yutaro Tsukada and Jackson Lee, are now professionals in the MLS and USL Championship. Four players finished their college degrees and graduated this spring, but only two will return as graduate students. Stratford loses Luke McCormick’s 1,514 minutes and 7 goals along with defender Kyle Lehnert. Sergio Ors Navarro was a big part of the attack in 2023 and will be called upon again to contribute to the goal scoring efforts. Who knows for sure which goalkeeper will take over for Jackson Lee since no other goalkeeper appeared last season. As of right now, it’s probably Marc Bonnaire as the prospective starter, but newcomers Chase Collins and Toby Mawer, and graduate returner Lorenzo Nunez will likely have an open competition for the role. With such a sturdy back line, it’ll be crucial for the Mountaineers title chances to ensure they also have the right shot stopper in place. Jackson Lee had 9 clean sheets to finish 7th in the nation.

Contributing to Lee’s statistical success was a defensive group that contained, and will return, starters like outfield minutes leader Max Broughton, Carlos Hernando, and Frederick Jorgensen. Dante Huckaby and Dyon Dromers will be in the fold again as well. Dromers missed all last season due to injury.

One of the other key components to the Mountaineer operation in my opinion has been captain center midfielder Ryan Baer. Scott Wells, his coach at Asheville City SC, told me heading into the summer season how many people probably don’t realize how important Baer has been to the recent success of the Mountaineers. He really is an under-the-radar kind of player because in his four years with West Virginia, he’s started all but 4 matches despite never being named to an All-Conference Team but has always been recognized academically at least. As many of the upperclassmen who made the 2024 College Cup last season, I assume the Huntersville, North Carolina native felt as though he and his team have unfinished business after losing 1-0 to Clemson in the Semifinal. I’ve been told by one of the Clemson players that the West Virginia match was probably the most difficult for them throughout the tournament.

Otto Ollikainen was also a team captain alongside Baer. The two have been through the battles together as Ollikainen has been just as much of a consistent component of the midfield. Before moving to the United States, he played with FC Honka in 2020 with now AIK Stockholm midfielder Rui Modesto and Guangzhou FC forward Juan Alegria.

The biggest question will be at the goalkeeping position. Bonnaire spent his summer with Ocean City Nor’easters, so he’ll come into preseason ready to compete, but time will tell who ends up getting the job. As far as I’m concerned, this year’s team will be even stronger than the last. Yutaro Tsukada will be another big role to replace, but I feel as though Stratford and his staff have made appropriate moves.

The team has all the talent, experience and leadership, and the overall team environment seems very strong, and the belief is certainly there as well, so all of the championship components exist. As discussed, Stratford knows what it takes to win national championships, and after last season, his West Virginia team now also have a better idea of what they’ll need to do in 2024. I don’t need to belabor it anymore, but I’m high on the Mountaineers as national contenders.

In — Ethan Dekel Daks (South Carolina), Simon Carlson (Georgia State), Isaac Scheer (Charlotte Independence), Felix Ewald (Temple), Chase Collins (PA Classics), Toby Mawer (Reading FC), Akseli Ekqvist (Houston Dynamo 2), Tristan Puszahegyi (Toronto FC), Braden Stevanovic (--), Sam Tinoco (PDA), Weston Jonke (FC Cincinnati)

Out — Yutaro Tsukada (Orlando City), Jackson Lee (Rhode Island), Luke McCormick (--), Brayden Borutskie (--), Ryan Crooks (--), Kasimir Lauber (TSV Heimerdingen), Kyle Lehnert (--)

Transferred — Luke Lenz (Stetson), Noah Gold (Charleston)

University of Central Florida

In the background, I mentioned the University of Kentucky and James Madison University, but in 2023, it was another Sun Belt school that caused some problems for the contenders as the University of Central Florida ended up finishing 2nd in the conference regular season ahead of West Virginia. Ultimately, the NCAA invited five of the Sun Belt teams to the Division I National Championship tournament. UCF was able to secure a first round bye, but lost in their tournament opener against the University of Vermont in the second period of extra time 3-2.

In this previous campaign, they opened the season with a 2-1 win over eventual National Champion Clemson. A personal favorite from last season, Saku Heiskanen announced himself with a goal and an assist in that game. The former TSG 1899 Hoffenheim youth player also scored a goal in the last game of the season against Vermont. He played his freshman season with the Knights before going back to his native Finland for a professional opportunity at IF Gnistan in the Veikkausliiga, but he took the conference Freshman of the Year award back home with him.

Their first loss came a month into the season as they visited Marshall. It was a match up between the 3rd and 1st ranked teams in the country that resulted in a 1-0 loss for UCF. After that loss though, they went on another run of 6 wins which saw themselves continue to move up the rankings to 1st in the nation. Unfortunately, things derailed from there. They lost on senior night leading up to the Sun Belt Conference tournament and then they lost both of their conference and national tournament openers to end their season on a three game losing streak and a 10-4-2 record with nothing to show for it.

But what will happen going forward into 2024?

Like I said, Saku Heiskanen departed the team at the end of the season, but that wasn’t the only key figure to leave. Experienced center back Zane Bubb graduated and ended up signing with the Tampa Bay Rowdies. A pair of veteran starters in Robbie Soronellas and AJ Seals have also graduated.

Fortunately though, Brazilian talisman Lucca Dourado will continue to lead the line. He’s scored 37 goals in his 52 starts and not only won a First Team award. 2024 MLS SuperDraft pick Anderson Rosa is also back after postponing his opportunity with the Colorado Rapids. Two international sophomores that appeared in all 16 matches while both providing 4 goals and 4 assists each are Clarence Awoudor and Emmanuel Bam. Awoudar garnered the conference Newcomer of the Year award after transferring from Oregon State where he was named to the Pac-12 All-Conference First Team as a freshman in 2022. Starting full back Timothy Arias and goalkeeper Juanvi Muñoz have also returned. Arias is originally from Costa Rica and after having represented the national team at the youth levels, I’m sure he’ll be a professional player one day if he ends up returning to play in the Primera División.  

With 5 starters needing replacements and the reigning conference Coach of the Year at the helm, there should still be optimism around Orlando. There’s no real reason to doubt them, but this time around, Scott Calabrese won’t have an element of surprise, if there was one in 2023. In 2022, the Knights had a modest 6-7-0 record, so opponents might’ve overlooked their potential.

The departing center back pairing of Zane Bubb and Raphaël Crivello will give way for whoever emerges from the center back competition that’ll inevitably happen during preseason. Fifth year Jonas Fritschi and sophomore Arne Michaelis both only played around 500 minutes each last season for the Knights, but they could be relied on a lot more in 2024. Fritschi is a 24 year old from SC Freiburg and TSG Balingen, while Michaelis came to Orlando from Borussia Mönchengladbach. There are a few additional center back options that have joined this summer though. Jacksonville local Alex Smith has made the transfer back to his home state after captaining Georgia Southern’s defense in 2,491 minutes of Sun Belt experience over the past two seasons. He spent the summer training with new MLS NEXT Pro side Jacksonville Armada, and will want to make a claim for one of those open spots in the starting eleven. Frenchman Gwendal Degorce also brings a lot of experience in this position from the Olympique Lyonnais youth levels, most recently spending time with the B team, making 50 appearances across the National 2, 3 and U19 divisions.

Joey Mueller and Drew Hansen are coming off good summer seasons. Mueller scored 5 goals in 10 starts with Florida Elite Soccer Academy in USL League Two while Hansen ended up being an important piece of the Charlottetowne Hops attack in the NPSL.

Phew… I was worried about the summer recruitment because there weren’t any announcements, but luckily, UCF started announcing a bunch of the incoming additions on the morning of this article. The staff has brought in several pieces, including some added depth in defense in the form of full back Gabi Velez and center backs Alex Smith, Gwendal Degorce and Daisuke Shinko.

In — Gabi Velez (NC State), Alex Smith (Georgia Southern), Carlos Rojas (--), Sora Funakoshi (Cowley), Daisuke Shinko (Coffeyville), Timo Haböck (FSV Frankfurt), Gwendal Degorce (Olympique Lyonnais)

Out — Zane Bubb (Tampa Bay Rowdies), Saku Heiskanen (IF Gnistan), AJ Seals (--), Robbie Soronellas (--), Raphaël Crivello (--)

Transferred — Beto Ydrach (Akron), Oscar Hough (Belmont), Brandon Calderon (Liberty)

University of Kentucky

The odds of West Virginia and Marshall finishing outside the top two spots in the conference are looking slim, but as anybody knows in the world of college soccer, anything can happen. It’s hard not seeing the rest of the teams being in a race for third though. The University of Kentucky has a real shot at being that team.

The Wildcats finished mid-table with a 3-3-3 conference record last season. Interestingly enough, they started the season nationally ranked and after opening the season with two shutout wins over Florida Gulf Coast and East Tennessee State in late August, they went into September ranked 2nd in the nation. The Sun Belt Conference itself isn’t easy to find wins and their out-of-conference schedule wasn’t much easier as they faced a few Big Ten and ACC teams. For those games specifically, they went winless in a 0-3-1 run. Overall, things went okay though. Johan Cedergren’s men went on a 5-week unbeaten streak through October which restored their resume heading into the national tournament selection weekend. During that run, they blanked both Marshall and West Virginia in consecutive weeks, 2-0 and 1-0.

Of their 20 games, they had allowed only one goal or less in 12 of them. The sore spot… Kentucky failed to outscore their opponents in the end-of-season totals and they lost over half of their 53 goals scored from 2022. With only 21 goals in 2023, they’re certainly hoping target forward Isaiah Chisholm sees a boost after a summer season with Lionsbridge FC in USL League Two as well as bringing him supporting attackers in Nick Zielonka, Iker Carew and Lewis Johnson.

Zielonka is the most notable addition as he finished in the top ten in the nation for assists with 10 last season. Over the past two seasons at UMass, he’s averaged a goal contribution every 82 minutes as a result of his 12 goals and 13 assists. Having transferred over the winter break, Zielonka already appears to be integrating well in his new environment of Lexington. He suited up over the spring to develop chemistry with his new teammates. Over the summer with Hudson Valley Hammers, Zielonka had 6 goals from the wing, leading the team. When I saw him during my visit to Long Island, I caught up with former USL League Two Player of the Year Samory Powder and I asked him who he’s been impressed with the most in training and around the team. He said, Nick Zielonka and Israel Neto were the guys to look out for. Both of whom scored that evening against a tough Rough Riders side. He looks to be a key figure in the Wildcat attack that is in need of more production in 2024.

Iker Carew joins from the College of Charleston with sights set on taking his play to the next level. The former CAA All-Rookie selection is a part of a footballing family and his father made nearly 30 appearances for the Ecuadorian National Team. Lewis Johnson has been quickly getting acclimated with the U.S. game as he joined the Wildcats during the spring season and has now been wrapping up his summer with Asheville City SC. If you haven’t been following along, Asheville had gone undefeated throughout the season leading up to the Southern Conference Semifinal against Brave SC. He contributed 4 goals in his 7 starts.

The strength of the defense was largely responsible for the success of the blue and white. It was a unit that has been anchored by Danish goalkeeper Casper Mols. As a freshman, he earned one of the top individual awards with United Soccer Coaches naming him as a First Team All-American in 2022. Needless to say, it doesn’t happen often that a freshman gets chosen to be on that list. This past season, the level of success wasn’t as high from a bird’s eye view, but with big performances against UCF, Indiana, JMU, Marshall and West Virginia, allowing only 2 goals in that stretch, Mols and his defense kept the Wildcats in those games. They’ll just need the offense to support them in 2024. Despite going from 1 loss to 6, these factors didn’t affect the assessment of his ability, and he was one of four goalkeepers to be invited to the MLS College Showcase in early December 2023.

As a quick history lesson back to that 2022 season, Kentucky had 5 players over 15 points and two players with double-digit goals. Winger Nick Gutmann led the nation in assists and is now with German fourth tier side FC Teutonia Ottensen. One of the top goal scorers was Eythor Martin Bjørgolfsson, who has since headed back to Norway after a short stint within the Seattle Sounders organization. Enzo Mauriz and Ben Damge have graduated, and Casper Grening recently transferred to the Pitt Panthers.

But how about the back line?

Center back group Joel Gonzalez, Eoin Martin and Marqes Muir will join forces again for the 2024 campaign. Each of them spent their summers competing in USL League Two with Lionsbridge FC, Hudson Valley Hammers and SC United Bantams. Gonzalez won the Chesapeake Division title and advanced into the Round of 16 in the USL League Two Playoffs. Martin competed against many difficult opponents in the Metropolitan Division with a strong Hammers club, starting in nearly every match. Muir put in his work down in Columbia, South Carolina in another competitive division, finishing 2nd in the South Atlantic with SC United Bantams. The former Tottenham Hotspur defender has gotten a lot of attention this summer, and with a few seasons of experience in the U18 English Premier League and Premier League 2 prior to coming to the U.S., it’s not surprising.

Josh Gordon stepped into the starting eleven halfway through September last season against Ohio State and maintained his spot through the end of the year. He’ll be another component of the defensive unit in 2024. The only player from the University of Kentucky to collect an All-Conference award won’t be playing this season as captain full back Max Miller sustained a knee injury. There was a lot to look forward to from the FC Cincinnati product, so it’s disappointing to see things like this happen. Miller was their overall minutes leader last season.

The other big losses from a personnel standpoint are midfield stalwart Brennan Creek who has graduated and found an opportunity in MLS NEXT Pro, summertime Seacoast United attacker Alfred Baafi who transferred to High Point University for his sophomore season, and forward Aboubacar Camara who makes a move back to his home state. Mason Visconti has also left for MLS NEXT Pro.

Matty Yohannes played a fair amount of minutes in his freshman season. He’ll be a player to highlight as I expect him to be the starting deep lying midfielder from here on out since Grening, Creek, Visconti and Erickson are no longer with the team. The 20 year old has made USL Championship appearances with Loudoun United before attending Kentucky.

There’s a bit of an overhaul as the Wildcats search for goals while maintaining their defense, but if the 2022 Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year can be successful in setting up the next generation of midfield and wingers, they should end up making another NCAA tournament appearance.

In — Nick Zielonka (UMass), Iker Carew (Charleston), Lewis Johnson (MK Dons)

Out — Max Miller (Injury), Ignasi Varona (FE Grama), Finn Ballard McBride (Eastbourne Borough), Ben Damge (--), Brennan Creek (Huntsville City FC), Mason Visconti (Sporting Kansas City II)

Transferred — Aboubacar Camara (Penn State), Alfred Baafi (High Point), Casper Grening (Pittsburgh), Griffin Moore (Belmont), Sean Battistessa (Sacramento State), Andrew Erickson (Rider), Tweneboa Kodua (Oral Roberts)

James Madison University

The last of the five Sun Belt teams that appeared in the NCAA Division I National Championship tournament last season was James Madison University. The fourth place team in the conference finishing ahead of Kentucky ended up winning two games in the national tournament, passing through the ACC’s Pittsburgh, and Big East regular season champion Georgetown before fizzling out in the Round of 16. With an overall record of 10-5-5 on top of the tournament success, the Harrisonburg, Virginia based school isn’t really a surprise though as they haven’t had a losing season since 2016.

The Dukes were led by a couple of players who have since become professional after also having stints with Asheville City SC in USL League Two. Clay Obara recently signed with Charlotte Independence after captaining Asheville in the U.S. Open Cup match against One Knoxville SC earlier this year. Rodrigo Robles has also signed in the USL League One with Greenville Triumph SC after helping Asheville to an unbeaten regular season over the summer.

As a freshman, Luca Nikolai was recognized as a Sun Belt First Team defender, so he’ll be one of the stars of the line up in 2024. Another star in defense is center back Davide Materazzi. If you aren’t familiar with Davide, but recognize his last name, yes, he’s the son of Italian legend Marco Materazzi. He’s not just respected by name only though. He started every match last season, which was his first with the Dukes after attending Davis and Elkins College. Midfielder Kevin Larsson was also chosen for an All-Conference award and he’ll be back again too. The Finnish junior played 1,389 minutes last time out.

Materazzi’s center back partner Enrique Garcia Barelles (Pitu) will continue to lead the defensive end after only just joining forces last season in their first year at James Madison. With a solid start to their work together, and their starting goalkeeper from last season returning again, they’ll look to improve upon their 1.20 GAA of a year ago now that they developed a year’s worth of chemistry. D.C. United product Sebastian Conlan is the man between the sticks.

One player from the summer that I’m looking forward to seeing more of in the fall is central midfielder Chay Strine. The IMG Academy graduate has been a big part of the Seacoast United core, and if you missed it… The Phantoms are headed to the Eastern Conference Semifinals (Playoff Quarterfinals) after emerging from a difficult division while securing the title.

Two Chilean youngsters are making the move up to Virginia and based on the resume, Manuel Lolas might be one of the freshmen to look out for if he gets some meaningful minutes. The winger has made several appearances for the Chilean U20 National Team back in 2022 and 2023, and even scored the winner in a 3-2 contest against Brazil on November 11, 2022 during an international friendly.

With that third spot in the conference open for grabs, James Madison will be a contender if they can overcome the losses of Obara and Robles. The good news is that three of the top five players in points are returning. Guys like Evan Southern, Kevin Larsson, Cameron Arnold and Balint Kocso will be relied upon to recreate or expand on their production of last season if the Dukes want to make another run towards the conference title and the national tournament.

In — Aidan Melville (Coastal Carolina), Milo Wray (--), Agustín Donoso Navarrete (Rangers de Talca), Manuel Lolas (Rangers de Talca), David Lee (--), Smith Halloran (Beachside SC), Jackson Carlyon (--), Justin Enamorado (Atlanta United)

Out — Clay Obara (Charlotte Independence), Rodrigo Robles (Greenville Triumph SC), Evan Paez (--)

Transferred — Alex Krakowiak (Liberty), Troy Matingou (Howard), Gavin Page (--), Dylan Walsh (--)

Coastal Carolina University

The last team I’ll slightly mention is Coastal Carolina because I like a couple of their players. My question is simple though, when will Coastal Carolina be able to compete in the new look Sun Belt Conference?

They only had one conference win last season. With only 13 goals scored over the course of the year as well, the Chanticleers couldn’t replace the goals from Alvaro Garcia Pascual after he left the team following the 2022 season. Even during that season, they only had 2 conference wins. There also seems to be a lot of rotation among the line up without many true identified starters. Luc Mikula was the only outfield player to start every game and get over 1,000 minutes for Shaun Docking, who has been at the helm for 27 seasons. Mikula has transferred to the University of Virginia though.

During my summer of scouting USL League Two, Charlotte Independence’s Christian Cook looked like he had potential. With Coastal last season, he only managed to appear 498 minutes with 3 starts, but I can’t admit I know the system or style of play.

There has been a lot of success down in Conway, South Carolina though, so that’s why I’m waiting to see them rebound. Going back to the old Big South Conference days, Coastal Carolina either won the regular season title, or conference title, or both, in 12 out of 15 seasons from 2000-2015. They made the NCAA tournament 11 times over that stretch as well. Even during their early years in the Sun Belt Conference before the conference hiatus in 2021, they won their tournament championship 4 times out of 5 attempts. But once the 2022 season began, and the conference expanded from a sad group of 4 teams to a respectable 9 and now it’s 10, they’ve been sitting in the bottom half of the table.

It's probably just an adjustment period, but I’ll be waiting for them to start showing more signs of life.

Potential Starting Elevens