The Spring Hill College men's soccer team will enter a new era this fall as head coach Steve Wieczorek takes the reins for his first season. Wieczorek knows that the 2015 season will be a test for his staff and his players as they adjust to new personnel, a new system and a new culture. "It will be a challenge on many levels," he says. "We have so many new players this year with incoming freshman and transfers plus all the players are still developing their team chemistry and learning a new process. Overall, however, we have a team that is hard-working and disciplined."

Wieczorek's first edition of Badgers will feature defense as he views that aspect of play as the current strength of the squad. "We focused almost exclusively on defense in the spring and that's our best trait right now," he says. "If the defending is there then the rest will come."

Defense begins in goal and the Badgers will see junior transfer Will Carpenter of Spanish Fort, Ala., battle senior Jacob Files of Clinton, Miss., for the starting role while freshmen Otto Candies of River Ridge, La., and Seydina Ndaw from St. Paul's Episcopal High School in Mobile will be available in reserve. In front of the goal, junior Luis Ortiz of Tampa, Fla., and freshman Sivert Siem from Lorenskog, Norway, look to fill the role at left back while at center back junior college transfer Frederik Bladt of Odense, Denmark, and freshman Joakim Aakerlund of Oesterbybruk, Sweden, will take charge. The position of right back appears to be in the hands of freshman Jordan Simon of Missouri City, Texas, but Wieczorek stresses that the competition is high at all positions. "We've been working on our defensive shape and getting numbers behind the ball," he says. "The competition at practice only makes us better and we are defending very, very hard. We should be in some very low-scoring games this year."

In the critical midfield positions, Wieczorek sees a deep line-up of talent with senior Jose Scheuren of Miami, providing leadership at defensive midfield for freshmen Jack LaForge of New Orleans, La., Ahmet Demirkan from Vasteras, Sweden, and Walker Smith of Fairhope. Freshmen Haukur Bjornsson of Hafnarfjordur, Iceland, and Haavard Oeyna of Kristiansand, Norway, will accept the role of the attacking midfield.

In the offensive third of the pitch, freshman Tilman Schober of Schriesheim, Germany, moves out wide and graduate student transfer Martin Fiemawhle of Houston, Texas, will handle the up top duties. "On offense, we want to feed off our defense," says Wieczorek. "We need to force mistakes and then get dynamic and go forward as fast as we can. We are just now letting the players get a look at our attack and they have some new things to get accustomed to, especially the returning players."

In reserve, redshirt sophomore Juan Sicco from Miami will be ready to step into the defense while sophomore Casper Malmgren of Stockholm, Sweden, can handle midfield responsibilities. Senior team captain Andrew McInnis of Mandeville, La., will see valuable offensive minutes in a forward role as will senior Nicolas Olvera of Miami, junior Dinard Garrett of Kalmar, Sweden, redshirt sophomore Ibrahima Ndaw out of St. Paul's Episcopal, and redshirt freshman Viktor Kvarnlof of Norrtalje, Sweden.

One of the few advantages that the Badgers will have going into the 2015 campaign is the inordinate number of home games for such a young NCAA Division II program. "We have 11 home matches this year and it's not the tradition to have that many homes games if you aren't one of the powerhouses," Wieczorek says. "All those home games will be beneficial to us because in college athletics there is a definite advantage to the home field with not traveling and fewer variables."

Nevertheless, the schedule does offer challenges with two-game series versus Mississippi College and West Florida as well as tough road matches at Christian Brothers, West Alabama and UAH. "Playing anyone twice in a season is tough," says Wieczorek. "But that's the way it was in the PAC-12, so hopefully my experience with that will help us. Also, tough road games are just a fact of life in the Gulf South Conference, so we have to have realistic expectations on the road, but the season is set up nicely from a coach's prospective."

The Badgers face a psychological challenge this season in that under NCAA transition rules they will not be eligible for the postseason, but Wieczorek has moved the annual Classic on the Hill to the end of the year to provide his players with a tournament atmosphere. "We've already told the players that we will treat that weekend like we would a regional tournament, so we will have already had that experience when the time comes."

"Spring Hill is a phenomenal place to play," Wieczorek says in conclusion. "This season we are laying the groundwork for the pride, commitment and focus we will need going forward. As a team, we have to be grateful for what we have here and be proud to be a part of such a great school community."

The Badgers open the 2015 season at home on Thursday versus the University of Tampa (UT) Spartans at 5 p.m. on Library Field. Last season, Spring Hill took a hard-fought 1-0 loss at Tampa in the first NCAA Division II contest in SHC athletic history. Tampa closed the 2014 season with 9-6-2 overall record and returns several key players including Chris Campbell (4 goals, 2 assists) and Nikolai Hammer (5 goals, 2 assists). Other key returners include midfielders Keith Francisco, Theo Brown and Garett Garcia.