TEDDY COBO
Special to The Leader
The Fredonia men’s soccer team had quite the season last year, finishing with a record of 4-9-3 and with a conference record of 2-5-2.
Missing the playoffs by one point was devastating for the team to move on from as they finished their season relatively strong in hopes of clinching a playoff spot.
The season came to a close this past October. However, junior defenders Nick Aufiero and Markus Johansson are already excited to see what is to come for the team next season.
Nick Aufiero #15 has been on the team for three years and is going into his senior year. He currently plays center back and has had the opportunity to play in games on a weekly basis.
Markus Johansson #23 has been on the Blue Devils team for two years and will be coming back this upcoming fall semester for another year of college soccer.
With the record of 4-9-3, there were still many positives that the team had taken from last season that stood out to members of the team.
“With 1-2 wins in the conference six games in, it was looking like a struggle pretty early but [we] stepped it up towards the end. A couple of comeback wins, and we really started to clock toward the end of the season. Now, we are very hungry for the upcoming season.”
— Markus Johansson, #23 Blue Devils Men’s soccer
The team is currently in preparation for the upcoming season. When it came to specific thoughts about the upcoming season, Aufiero raised a quick smile and said, “Oh we’re hungry.”
Aufiero added, “It was tough to see that we missed the playoffs by one point last year, [but] we were all [eager] at this point, and have taken action from day one of the offseason. Going from workouts to personal training, to even indoor practices when it gets cold out. Nothing will stop us.”
The preparation for the upcoming season is definitely impressive, and it is something to acknowledge knowing how quickly the team adjusted to having essentially no break after the season.
The team has not let the cold weather get in between their practice sessions as they have found new alternatives to train in order to start preparing and get in shape for the upcoming season.
Aufiero believes that preparation is key when it comes to going into a new season.
“When the season ended, the following week we were all working out,” Aufiero said. “Now we go twice a week and have indoor practices at night throughout the week to keep our legs in preparation for the upcoming season.”
Johansson added, “We are feeling ready for the upcoming season knowing the rhythm that we have been building throughout the months, which can lead us to better results this upcoming season.”
The players learned lessons from last season, which they are using to approach their play style this upcoming season.
“One of our main strengths is that we now have taller guys [who] are physical,” Johansson said. “Finding a way to play the ball in spots where we can win 50/50 balls is an efficient way to create goal-scoring opportunities as the season progresses.”
The team has faced some difficulties in the last year but they have a positive mindset for the future. They will start competing in scrimmage and exhibition games after spring break before the new season officially starts in the fall.