HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The Crusaders reestablished themselves as an elite force in the NAIA last season as they narrowly fell in overtime in the NAIA National Tournament semifinal. The William Carey Men's Soccer team will be looking to go a couple of steps further this season and build on the momentum they finished with last year. They open their season on the road in Alexandria, La. as they travel to face LSU Alexandria on August 21^st, kick off is scheduled for 11 AM CST.
 
Despite losing 18 players, Coach Farrell is confident with the squad he has brought in and expects them to make a charge late into the postseason.

"Expectations are high for this year's team. We graduated a lot of players, but I feel we have reloaded instead of it being a rebuilding year." said Coach Farrell. "Preseason has gone well. With a lot of new faces, it might take a bit of time to gel, but this team should get stronger as the year progresses."
 
The Crusaders take on the Generals of LSUA in their season opener. The two teams have faced each other in 9 of the last 11 seasons with Carey picking up the win all 9 times. The Crusaders have averaged 3 goals a game against them in that time span and have only conceded four times. Their last meeting was a year to the date of this season's opener in which Carey ran out 2-0 winners at Danny Owens Field.
 
LSUA are coming off a 12-5-3 season that included a regular-season conference record of 9-1-3. The Generals season came up short in the semifinal of the Red River Athletic Conference Tournament as they fell to Xavier (La.) 1-0 in overtime. They return their top goal scorer from last season, Pablo Dominguez de León, who finished with 9 goals.  LSUA will however be without their playmaker from last year, Joshua Angel Craven, who led the team with 11 assists.
 
Carey will be looking for sophomore captain, Rico Duggan, to be a key instrument in the team's success this year.

"It's good to be back with the team." Said Duggan. "It's been a good preseason; we've put in a lot of hard work and enjoyment on the field. We have high aspirations as a group and high standards to meet those aspirations. I'm excited to see what we can do this year."

Duggan was in and out of the team last year as a freshman but grew in the latter stages of the season. He established himself as a key figure in this Crusader team at the national tournament, earning himself a spot on the NAIA National Tournament All-Tournament Team.
 
Carey will also be looking to newcomer, junior transfer Daniel Mulero, to play a big part this year. A transfer from Indian Hills Community College, Mulero has the ability to both create and score goals for fun. Mulero had an outstanding season in his sophomore year at Indian Hills in which he recorded 15 goals and 19 assists, en route to helping the Warriors reach the NJCAA National semifinal.
 
After LSUA, the Crusaders will host 9 straight home games at Danny Owens field in the remainder of the pre-conference schedule. The first of which will be Tuesday, August 26^th as they welcome LSU Shreveport for a 7:30 PM kick off. The team will then begin their SSAC regular season schedule with two home games against U.T. Southern and Blue Mountain University on September 25^th & 27^th.