Panther men’s soccer looks for another postseason berth

By Mark Jurgena, Advocate Sports Staff

While the end of last season wasn’t perhaps the way the Greenville University men’s soccer team wanted it, a SLIAC championship and a berth in the NCAA Division III tourney certainly was a great way to finish the season.

GU went 11-8-4 last year but found themselves at the top of the heap after the SLIAC tournament to give themselves a postseason berth for the second straight season. They fell 5-0 to Calvin College in their opener at the DIII national meet.

Not surprisingly longtime Greenville University coach Chris Swift is fired up about a new soccer season.

“It has been THE best preseason in my 12 preseasons here,” he said. “We have stepped up the work. We have everybody doing 6 a.m. practices or training sessions. The practice sessions have been really good. Everything right now, the attitude within the team, is at the highest level that I’ve ever seen it at.”

Swift has plenty of reason to be optimistic about the personnel on this year’s squad as well.

“We are really excited with how recruiting went,” he said. “We brought in a strong class to complement a strong core of returning players so we are looking for a three-peat.

“Our mantra all preseason and all last spring was, ‘we can’t rest on our laurels.’ Everybody’s going to be gunning for us so we have to get better and we have to work harder than we’ve ever done because the third one is going to be the toughest.”

For More Information see the August 28, 2024 edition of The Greenville Advocate.