WILKES-BARRE, PA (August 24, 2018) – The King's College men's soccer team is looking to have another banner season in 2018. The Monarchs return six of their top 10 scorers from a team that finished tied atop the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC Freedom) Freedom regular season standings in 2017.

The Monarchs have a lot of their roster back but also added 16 new faces to the program along with welcoming back a few that missed last season but were on the team two years ago. King's will be looking to erase the sting of having their season end on penalty kicks in the MAC Freedom Semifinals two years in a row.

Despite finishing tied atop the conference standings in 2017, the Monarchs were seeded second in the Conference Tournament where they played third-seeded DeSales to a scoreless draw. The Bulldogs ended the Monarch season 4-3 in penalty kicks to advance to the MAC Freedom Championship game against top-seeded Eastern, the team that eliminated the Monarchs on penalty kicks in 2016.

This year's team is looking to put that all behind them and win the program's first conference championship since winning back-to-back titles in 2013 and 2014. King's has qualified for the postseason tournament for six consecutive years and has played in three Conference Championship games in that time frame.

The Monarchs will look to continue a tradition of strong defense this year as well as using their size as an advantage. Last season the King's defense allowed just 17 goals in 19 games including 10 shutouts while giving up just 7.2 shots allowed per game. Offensively, they scored 35 goals and earned 123 corner kicks compared to just 58 for their opponents.

Forwards
Liam McLoughlin is back for his sophomore season after leading the Monarchs with 11 goals and two assists last year to earn First Team All-MAC Freedom honors. McLoughlin was a threat to score in every game he played in as a freshman drawing. He drew defenders towards him which opened up opportunities for other Monarchs to score. One of those Monarchs who took advantage of those opportunities was junior Alastair Dinnan who was third on the team with three goals and two assists.

Aidan DeCamillo will look to aide the Monarch attack after scoring two goals and two assists last year. Senior Zach Wolcott moves from a midfielder as a junior to a forward after adding a goal and four assists to King's scoring.

Ayrton Omoigui will look to have an expanded role after appearing in 11 games last year including one start. The Monarchs will also look to use Fabio Massa as a weapon. Massa returns to the team after sitting out 2017. The six-foot-five junior scored three goals for the Monarchs in 2016 as a freshman.

Coach Bassett will also look for a couple of freshmen to contribute. Jacob Hopfenspirger played at Souhegan High School and for GPS New Hampshire last year while Alexander Showalter was a midfielder for the Eagles of Mountain View High School.
 
Midfielders
The Monarchs have been really strong in the midfield in recent years but have lost a few players to graduation over the past couple years. Junior Will Brack along with sophomores Sam Pipicelli and Nik Verma will look to lead a young group this year. Brack started 13 of the 17 games he played a season ago and scored two goals. Pipicelli appeared in 17 games and made three starts while recording two assists. Verma played in 11 of the team's 19 games.

There will be seven new faces to the Monarch midfield this year as Kyle Shalvey, Aidan Oyler, Sean Murray, Kevin Kolaski, Ryan Casola, Mitchell Kuehner, and Chris Bonilla will all look to compete for time. Shalvey comes to King's after a successful career for Tappan Zee High School in New York and Ramapo Valley Soccer Club. Oyler is also a New York native, playing for Tabernacle Christian Academy and Cedar Stars-Hudson Valley. Murray is a sophomore from Delaware who played at Archmere Academy and club for South Jersey Elite Barons. Kolaski is a Barrington, New Jersey native and played for Haddon Heights High School and SJEB Rush.

Casola played club soccer for Contiental FC ECNL and is a graduate of Upper Perkiomen. Kuehner is from Poughkeepsie, New York and played for Roy C. Ketcham High School and Quickstrike FC. Bonilla is a Ramsey, New Jersey native and played for the Ramapo Valley Tornados SC.
 
Defense
The defense is one of the Monarchs strongest and deepest position groups. 2017 All-Region and All-Conference selection August Axtman will lead the backline after finishing second on the team in scoring last year with eight goals including three game-winning goals. Seniors Steven Grebe and Matt Giangiulio also bring back valuable experience. Grebe contributed one goal and one assist for the Monarchs a year ago while Giangiulio came on strong late in the year to aide the Monarchs in conference play.

The Monarchs also have juniors Matthew Hesse and John Waring back. Hesse started all 18 games he appeared in while Waring started six of the 18 games he appeared in and scored a goal. Junior Ryan Romeo is back on the team after missing the 2017 season. Romeo started 11 of the 15 games he played in two years ago. Jason Hoops also returns to the team after missing the 2017 campaign. Sophomore Michael Scardelletti is also back after starting 14 games for the Monarchs last year as a freshman.

King's also added seven new faces to the roster to make the defense even stronger and deeper. Zach Ivanovs comes to King's from Millville, New Jersey and the SJEB Rush. Abdullah Alsubaie is from Saudia Arabia and will look to earn time for the Monarchs. Quentin Szeker-Cortes is another New York native on the team and played for Clarkstown High School South and World Class FC.

Thomas Roberts is a local product from nearby Mountain Top and Crestwood High School while Pat Holton played for Wayne Hills High School in New Jersey and the Pasco Fire. Andrew Pizarro is from Goshen, New York and played for Quickstrike FC.

If the opposition were to get by the strong King's defense they would they also have to score on the King's goalkeeper, where King's has been also strong the past couple years with Owen Geedey. Geedey holds the school record with 22 career shutouts and will look to take the team back to the NCAA Tournament. The senior has an amazing 0.64 GAA and .776 save percentage in his career.

Sophomores Pat Hughes and Connor McKeown both saw time last year and each recorded a save and didn't allow a goal.
 
The Schedule
The Monarchs will begin the season at home this weekend against a pair of strong MAC Commonwealth opponents in Alvernia and Arcadia. King's will play Friday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. against the Golden Wolves of Alvernia before facing Arcadia on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. at McCarthy Stadium. The rest of the non-conference slates features Scranton, Juniata, Berkeley College (NJ), Wells, SUNY New Paltz, Cabrini, Frostburg State, Centenary, and Penn College. King's will open conference play on Saturday September 29 at 1:30 p.m. when they host FDU-Florham.