Men's Soccer | 8/27/2024 12:22:00 PM
AMHERST, N.Y. -- The Daemen University men's soccer team begins the 2024 campaign on Wednesday, Sept. 4 as they play host to Malone. Prior to the start of the season, Wildcat senior defender
Alfie Hyett (Epsom, England) and graduate forward
Dennis Montero Guerrero (Weingarten, Germany) discussed the team and the expectations for the year.
"So I've been here for four years now going into my fifth season, and I think this team is potentially, when it comes to depth, the best team we've had so far, so I'm very excited going into this season. Very energetic team, I think the biggest thing that I got to see is that they're very willing to learn and accept if someone speaks to them about how to play or what options we have. It's a team that's very willing to learn and very energetic, and I think in a college setting it's very important to have those characteristics so I'm very excited about that," Montero Guerrero said.
"I think we're very hard working, the training sessions have been intense. Everyone's been working hard and we have a good group. The team chemistry has been good so far, and I think going forward we can really use that to our advantage," Hyett said.
Entering the 2024 campaign, the Wildcats return four of their top five scorers from last season and 19 players overall, including Montero Guerrero and senior Ryan Baitche (Thionville, France) who each found the back of the net three times last season to each rank second on the team. On the defensive half of the ball, Daemen welcomes back
Sujan Rajamohan (Spencerport, N.Y.),
Juan Tejeda-Moreno (Chico, Calif.) and Bahamas National Team selection
Jean Tilo (Port-au-Prince, Haiti). In net, senior
Arturo Bustamante (South Gate, Calif.) is back between the sticks after making five starts and earning two wins last season.
"I think really in college you have a lot of turnover so there's a lot of players coming in and a lot of players coming out, but having the big group that came in last year to now this year, we've played together for a year now and we understand each other better and better every day. Having played together for a year, me myself being one of those players that came in last year, we've really come together over the year. You can see the improvements on the pitch but also off the pitch as well," Hyett said.
"You have 20 people coming in, sometimes 20 people going out, so there's a lot of turnover. So not having that turnover this year is great because we had the opportunity to work with each other for a year and kind of know what's going good, what's going wrong, work off that. We have a great foundation now, 19 players coming back is great and having those additional players helping out and filling those gaps that need to be filled is great and gives us a better overall stability," Montero Guerrero said.
Along with their 19 returners, the Wildcats welcome 11 new players to the fold with six freshmen and five transfers. Back on the touchline for the Blue and White is sixth year head coach
Bediako Swan who helped guide Daemen to three wins last season, including a 3-2 win against crosstown rival D'Youville on the road. While with Daemen, Swan also helped lead the Wildcats to a 7-7-1 record during the 2022 campaign, tying the program record for most wins in a season.
"They're good, we have a lot of transfers so they have experience in the game as well. We have a good group, a good mix of players, technically hard working, we have tall players, small players, they all offer different things. Set pieces are going to be really big as well so having a taller team this year helps with that. They're a good group, I think they've come to the team and they've really gelled, we've all come together and they've settled in really quickly," Hyett said.
Daemen begins the year with three of their first four games at home, starting with a 4 p.m. tilt against Malone on Sept. 5 at Karrer Field. East Coast Conference play begins on Sept. 21 for Daemen with a road contest against Staten Island at 1:30 p.m.
Daemen University features the premier NCAA Division II athletics program in the Buffalo-Niagara region, sponsoring 17 intercollegiate teams. For the latest information on Daemen Athletics, follow the Wildcats via social media on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, or sign up to receive customizable news alerts, e-mail newsletters and weekly schedule alerts.
Follow the Daemen men's soccer program on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @DaemenMSOC.
