UNCW Men’s soccer fueled by improvement in 2018


WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — While the UNCW Women’s soccer program has had a very eventful offseason the Seahawk men have quietly been building for 2018.

After a heart breaking defeat in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, UNCW is back and ready to take the next step.

“I think every year we’ve built and gotten better and further,” UNCW Senior David Lozano said. “My first two years we didn’t make the NCAA, last year we actually made it and made a pretty good run with a competitive game against Chapel Hill at their place. This year we build off of that. The guys have come in and we’ve all done our work to prepare and now we just have to follow coaches gameplan.”

The 2018 Seahawks Men’s soccer team has already shown they can win as a group. They have started the year with a 1-0 exhibition victory and have one more preseason game left before the games count for real.

The group returns starters like Ryan Cretens and David Lozano to a very talented team, but they also have a local flair that could pay off big in their upcoming run.

Hoggard’s Cesar Cruz and Ashley’s Dominic Toone are just freshman but will still play a role in 2018.

“We don’t want them to just be a plan for the future,” Head Coach Aidan Heaney said. “We want those guys competing every day to try and get on the pitch and if they do that, the other guys are getting better. If they do really well, we’re going to put them on. We’re not frightened to play young guys here.”

“We have a lot of players that are experienced,” Cruz said. “They’re all looking very good. I’m going to have to work really hard to find my starting spot and help out this team. We’re looking for a ring.”

The ring is the next step. UNCW won the regular season in 2014 and has made the NCAA tournament twice in the past four years, but they want more.

The team says the focus is on winning the CAA to build the UNCW soccer program.

“I think William & Mary is the team to beat,” Heaney said. “They’re very talented and they won the tournament last year. We were a close second behind them so we don’t want to go backwards. There’s one more step we want to take, but no one is going to let us take that step. We’re going to have to earn it.”

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