Mariners are Poised and Ready for the 09 Season

The Maine Maritime Academy Men’s Soccer program is anxiously awaiting the beginning of the 09 season. The 2008 campaign saw the Mariners continue to improve from the previous two seasons. Two first year players in Nate Tipton (West Chester, PA) and Nick El-Hajj (Winterport, ME) were honored by the North Atlantic Conference with All- Conference honors at the conclusion of the season. In addition the Mariners conceded the fewest goals of any NAC team for the season, and were second in goals against average. The Mariners look to continue this trend of improvement in the 09 campaign. 

Defensively the Mariners return a very strong core.  In goal, junior Jeff Butland (Cumberland, ME), returns after a breakout season in 2008. In the back five players return who played significant minutes for the Mariners last year. Seniors Isaiah Roberts (Machias, ME) and Derrek Belanger (Presque Isle, ME) have been steady contributors for three seasons. They are joined by junior Travis Jones (Kittery, ME), and sophomores Tyler Tenney (Windham, ME) and Dylan Burr (Bar Harbor, ME).  Several returning and first year players will be pushing this group for playing time, giving the Mariners a lot of depth at these positions.

At midfield the Mariners return several veterans and add a talented group of incoming players. All Conference selection  Nick El-Hajj (Winterport, ME) will anchor the midfield along with juniors Dan Hassett (Falmouth, ME), Pat Somma (Windham, ME), Mike Syler (West Palm Beach, FL), Greg Smith (North Yarmouth, ME), and sophomore Jakub Rucinski (Portland, ME). Freshmen Abdullah Alkhayyat (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia), Jesse Rongo (Clarkdale, AZ), and Alex Pedersen (Hermon, ME) will compete for playing time immediately.

Up top the Mariners will be led by All Conference selection Nate Tipton (Westchester, PA), who was the teams leading goal scorer in 2008. He will be joined by seniors Jeff Normand (Orono, ME) and Omar Chaar (Searsport, ME). Several incoming players will look to impact this group immediately led by Ben Russell (Farmington, ME) and Richie Munster (Greenville, ME).

Third year coach Travers Evans is very excited about the upcoming season. “We return a very good group of players and people to this years’ team. The returning players made a real commitment in the off season to improve themselves both individually and collectively.  In addition we have several talented players that will be coming in this fall who will compete with the returning players for playing time immediately. We will have good depth at virtually every position and if we can continue to get better and improve on a daily basis, we have the potential to be a pretty good team.“

The Mariners open their 2009 season on Saturday, September 5 @ home vs the University of New England.