ETSU soccer optimistic heading into season

East Tennessee State men's soccer coach Allen Vital believes the Bucs are in a better spot than a season ago. The Bucs struggled to a 2-9-4 record last season with the first win not coming until October. ETSU was picked sixth out of seven teams in Monday's Southern Conference coaches' poll, but Vital remains optimistic. If Saturday's 3-2 exhibition victory over the University of the Cumberlands is any indication, Vital believes his team has more firepower than a season ago. Jaime Carrillo, Noah Franks and Elliot Edwards scored goals, but Vital liked the whole team's camaraderie. He gave praise to his squad from the front to the back. "It was a good team effort. I don't know if we had necessarily guys who stand out besides the guys who scored the goals. But, we had some good defensive play," Vital said after the exhibition match. The match was played at Science Hill's Kermit Tipton Stadium with the field at Summers-Taylor Stadium holding water. While the Bucs gave up a late goal to make the final result closer, it gave Vital and his assistants a chance to look at several players in a true game situation. A trio of freshmen particularly stood out with their play. "Micah (Kwende) is a freshman this year, the youngest player on the team," Vital said. "He's a young guy who's 17 years old, and he did very well. Junyoung Bae in the midfield did a good job. Joseph Gonzalez, a freshman from Dalton, Georgia came in and was really good. Those young guys, it was their first time playing with the older players. That shows they can go out, handle the game and play well." Vital was glad to see such a strong effort from Franks. The senior forward appeared in nine games and played 210 minutes last season. But, he struggled to stay on the field with injuries. He appeared to be in great shape in Saturday's exhibition. "He played the first 30 minutes, scored a good goal and played great," Vital said. "He battled injuries a bit the last couple of years. It's nice to see that he's a little bit healthier and playing well. We need him because it's a group with a lot of young players." The Bucs have graduate students Will Bowers and Koke Gracia, and six seniors — Sam McGee, Caleb Powell, George Chunuwe, Shewit Worton, Carrillo and Franks — but they are outnumbered by freshmen and sophomores. Carillo is the top offensive threat. He took a team-high 25 shots last season (10 on goal) and was one of two ETSU players to score three goals on the year. There are the usual challenges that soccer coaches face early in the season. It takes time to get the fitness level where they're looking for. It's something that Vital, in his third year as ETSU head coach, feels they need to work on. "They have to be a little bit more explosive, but we're getting there," he said. "I mean, can we sustain the pressure, the intensity for longer periods of time? At times, we need some quality in finishing. We were behind them three times and we don't manage to score in the end." The Bucs definitely look to improve offensively. The scored just 18 goals in 15 matches last season, had 9.7 shots per game, and just 67 shots on goal. Still, there were some positives coming out of the exhibition which Vital believed could turn around those numbers. He thought it was good how his team moved with and without the ball. "Those were good movements, good runs, good recognitions and good passes," he said. We won with the keeper three times. I'm sure if we keep going this way, we're going to finish more of those chances. I'm excited with this group. It's a young team so let's see when the games count." The season starts officially Thursday 6 p.m. when the Bucs travel to Charlotte to face Queens University. ETSU heads to Clemson on Sunday before a home opener on Sept. 1 against USC Upstate.