UTICA, NY - The Utica University men's soccer team is set to begin its 2022 campaign at 2 p.m. on Thursday, September 1 at Cazenovia College.
 
Follow Along: Fans can watch live through https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAt5twQz19E or keep up with live stats by going to https://cazenoviawildcats.com/sidearmstats/msoc/summary.
 
Last Year: The Pioneers ended the 2021 season with an overall mark of 9-7-1 and qualified for the Empire 8 Conference Tournament as the third-seed after going 6-2 in league play. The team qualified for its first Empire 8 Tournament appearance since 2014 (Excluding 2020 when the team's first round game was ruled a no contest) while its six Empire 8 wins set a single season team record for most conference wins. Headlined by Sory Konate (Harlem, NY/Forsyth Satellite Academy) winning E8 Player of the Year, seven different members of the team were named to Empire 8 All-Conference teams (Konate - Player of the year/First Team, Colin McCarthy (Vestal, NY/Vestal) - First Team, Ramazani Juma (Utica, NY/Proctor) - Second Team, Cody Baker-Green (Warwick, NY/Warwick Valley) - Second Team, Jacob Sherline (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) - Second Team, Foti Xidias (Carteret, NJ/Carteret) - Third Team, Jahren James (River Vale, NJ/Pascack Valley) - Sportsman of the Year).
 
Schedule Breakdown: Utica's 16 game schedule will consist of eight home (five Empire 8, three non-conference) and eight away games (four Empire 8, four non-conference). The Pioneers will host non-conference opponents SUNY Delhi, Oswego State and Hobart College while Empire 8 foe's Alfred University, Medaille College, St. John Fisher, Hartwick College and Houghton University will make the trip to Utica. After starting the season with three consecutive away games at Cazenovia, Cobleskill and SUNY Poly, Utica will also travel to Hamilton College for a non-conference battle. Within the E8, the Pioneers will serve as the away team against Nazareth College, Elmira College, Keuka College and Russell Sage.
 
At the Helm: Head Coach Brian Marcantonio recently finished his eighth season as the head coach of the Utica University men's soccer team, and is set for his ninth campaign in Fall 2022. The Utica men's soccer program has won 47 matches in Marcantonio's first eight seasons as head coach, and he has led the team to the Empire 8 Conference Tournament three times during his tenure, including the Spring 2021 and Fall 2021 seasons. He has coached 29 All-Conference selections, nine first team All-Conference selections, two ECAC All-Stars, one Empire 8 Player of the Year, and one ECAC Defensive Player of the Month. Nick Calo will also return as the assistant coach as he enters his fourth season with the team.
 
On the Prowl: In all, the Pioneers will return 15 players from its 2021 Empire 8 Semifinals squad including six starters. Byamungu Mugushu (Syracuse, NY/Bishop Grimes) will be the highest-scoring returning player after finishing second on the team with 11 points, four goals and three assists in 2021. Michael Bernardo (Bayshore, NY/Bayshore) (one goal, one assist), Brady Barnard (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) (one goal, three assists), Cody Baker-Green (Warwick, NY/Warwick Valley) (one goal, three assists), Kamer Lenio (Brighton, NY/Brighton) (one goal), Gavin Baxter (Ellenville, NY/Ellenville) and Orin Williams (Mt. Vernon, NY/Sacred Heart) will also hope to add fireworks to the Utica attack.
 
The Protectors: Foti Xidias (Carteret, NJ/Carteret) returns in goal for Utica after finishing second in the E8 last season with a 1.047 goals against average, a .802 save percentage and five shutouts. His goals against average was good enough for fourth best all-time in a single season in program history while his five shutouts tied him for third most in program single season history. Behind Xidias are expected to be junior Eduardo Paez (Eastchester, NY/Eastchester) and sophomore Evan Amberger (Pavilion, NY/Pavilion Central). Senior Nick Webster (Maple Valley, WA/Tahoma) returns for his third full season as a Pioneer looking to lockdown the defensive end along with Austin McCarthy (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro), Brady Maloney (Ellisburg, NY/Bellville Henderson), Fred Holmes (Newmarket, NH/Newmarket HS) and Sean Weaver (Guilderland, NY/Guilderland).
 
Fresh Faces: The team will welcome in 14 newcomers to its roster of 29. Defenders Nicholas Theimer (Flagstaff, AZ/Flagstaff), Brandon Pender (Brooklyn, NY/Xaverian), Noah Scranton (Utica, NY/Whitesboro ) and Liam Bowden (Greenville, NY/Greenville) will look to add depth to a position group that has lost all-conference caliber players in Colin McCarthy (Vestal, NY/Vestal), Daniel Varsames (Gansevoort, NY/Saratoga Springs), Jahren James (River Vale, NJ/Pascack Valley) and Patrick Hynes (Glenmont, NY/Bethlehem). The fresh group of forwards and midfielders; Gavin Richardson (DeRuyter, NY/DeRuyter ), Nico Leonard (Long Beach Township, NJ/Southern Regional ), Noah Nassberg (Naples, FL/Gulf Coast ), Andres Jaime-Mendez (Solana Beach, CA/Pacific Ridge ), Brennyn Ordonez (Montross, NY/White Plains), Ian Winchell (Schuylerville, NY/Schuylerville), Bruce Oremus (New Paltz, NY/New Paltz), Jordan Larrabee (Cincinnatus, NY/Cincinnatus) and James Williams (Mount Sinai, NY/Mount Sinai) come in attempting to replace the scoring efforts of Sory Konate (Harlem, NY/Forsyth Satellite Academy), Ramazani Juma (Utica, NY/Proctor), Gian Rodriguez (Buenos Aires, Argentina/Northwood) and Jacob Sherline (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) who combined for 13 goals last season. Alex Arkema (Richfield Spring, NY/Mount Markham) will also join the goalkeeper group as the lone newcomer. 
 
About Cazenovia: The Wildcats are coming off of a 9-7-1 season while finishing 6-3 in North Atlantic Conference action. The team advanced to the NAC Championship game in 2021 where it fell to SUNY Poly, 4-3. Utica is 16-2 all-time against Cazenovia with the team's only two losses coming on the road in overtime in 2001 and 2012. This will be the first meeting between the programs since 2015 while the Pioneers have a two-game winning streak by a combined score of 16-1.
 
Up Next: The Pioneers will play the final two of three-straight road games to begin the season. Utica will travel crosstown to SUNY Poly at 1 p.m. on Saturday, September 10 before heading to SUNY Cobleskill at noon on Sunday, September 11.