State College boys' soccer preview

Vinny Pezzimenti

Head coach: John Marsden (13th year)

Photo submitted

Returning letterwinners for the State College boys’ soccer team are, from left, front row: Michael Gaetano, David Trunzo, Nika Krane, Clay Barkman, Robbie Edwards; Back row: Dylan Sogor, Andy Blunk, Kerem Demirci, Kevin DiSanto, Josh Stine.

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Assistant coaches: Tom Gazda, Casey Marsden (JV), Scott Gershman

Last season: 13-8, beat Altoona 2-1 for the District 6 Class AAAA title before falling 3-0 to District 3 Lam-peter-Strasburg in the PIAA first round.

Key losses: Shawn Ganow, Jake Gazda, Ryan Hilliard, Matt Yoder, Randy Marsden.

Returning letterwinners: Clay Barkman (Jr.); Kerem Demirci (Sr.); Nika Krane (Sr.); Andy Blunk (Sr.), Josh Stine (Sr.), Michael Gaetano (Sr.), David Trunzo (Sr.), Robbie Edwards (Sr.); Kevin Disanto (Sr.), Dylan Sogor (Sr.).

Key newcomers: Kelton Cheney (So.), Bernard Avoulou (So.), Aron Griffin (Jr.), Gabe Harms (Jr.), Jake Langton (Jr.), Matt Lee (Jr.), Colin Nelson (Jr.), Greg Payne (Jr.), Jonathan Reap-some (Jr.), Jeff Reggio (Jr.), Mackenzie Sabia (Jr.), Gus Sommer (Jr.), Corey Schroeder (Jr.).

The skinny: Barkman (goalie), Blunk (stopper), Demirci (sweeper), Edwards (forward), Trunzo (midfielder), Crane (defense) and Gaetano (midfielder) return as the most experienced players. ... Edwards is the leading point-getter (12 goals, 4 assists last season) among returners. ... Four players from last year’s team — Ganow (Marshall), Gazda (California), Hilliard (PSUAltoona) and Yoder (Millersville) — are expected to play in college. ... Team plays Altoona and Hollidaysburg and will travel throughout the state for the rest of its 14 games. ... Program has advanced to PIAA tournament seven times under Marsden and has won 11 or more games in every season of his tenure.

Coach Marsden says: “Every year I kind of have to start over with an all new starting lineup because I graduate so many seniors who usually wait their turn to be starters. We have a lot of good kids who got a lot of great training experience last year against a good squad that was senior laden. That made all of them better every day. The kids are usually ready to step up, espeically by the time they’re seniors, and challenge anybody in the state. We usually can.”

“We certainly set winning districts as our first goal because you have to win it to advance to states. Our second goal is to get into states and see how far we can go there. Winning districts means an awful lot to their season. We’re certainly hoping we can retain that title and move on this year.”