In 2001, the men’s soccer team earned its first NCAA Tournament berth since 1969, and this year’s team looks just as promising.
With the addition of four new recruits and return of its top four scorers, the Spartan kickers look to improve last season’s 13-6-1 record, the best numbers the men have collected since the 1986 season when the squad went 13-7-1.
Greg and Steve Doster of New Lenox, Ill., are members of the Chicago Magic Soccer Club and head coach Joe Baum says both are able to play multiple positions - Greg Doster plays in the backfield and his brother Steve plays in the midfield and on defense.
“Greg is a very athletic, hard-nosed defender,” Baum said in a statement. “And Steve reads the game extremely well.”
John Kaczmarek joins the recruiting squad from Canton High in Plymouth.
The midfielder is expected to provide depth in the field and was second runner-up in voting for Michigan’s Mr. Soccer award in 2001.
Michael Zaegel rounds out the 2002 recruiting roster. Zaegel hails from St. Louis, Mo., and was named Missouri’s Defensive Player of the Year for efforts in his senior campaign in high school.
Four returning letter-winners - midfielder Jeff Krass and forwards Brett Konley, Ryan McMahen and Thomas Trivelloni - make up the team’s top offense. Krass led the team with seven goals and five assists, followed by Konley (7,4), McMahen (6,5) and Trivelloni (8,0).
Senior defenseman Colin Hamilton said he and the other seniors have to be role models for the younger, less-experienced players in order to have a successful season.
“In any situation leadership is the role of the senior,” Hamilton said. “New players will look up to us for guidance, we have to be ready to show them the ropes.”
Between a strong recruiting class and a group of consistent upperclassmen, the Spartans should be able to fill the void left by central midfielder Anders Kelto and midfielder Steve Arce, who both graduated.
Kelto transferred to MSU after playing three years at Brown University, and Arce made the first-team All-Big Ten Team twice and also was named to the first-team all-region team. Arce is only the third Spartan in soccer history to earn first-team All-Big Ten honors more than once.
The Spartans received an at-large bid to the 2001 NCAA Tournament, its first selection in more than three decades.
After defeating Baylor 1-0 in the first round of the tournament, the kickers ended the 2001 season with a heartbreaking 1-0 loss to eventual National Runner-Up Indiana in the second round.
After such a disappointing finish the team could easily focus on their faults, but Hamilton said the team will concentrate on its strengths.
“We definitely have skill and opportunity to contend for a Big Ten Championship this year,” he said.
“All of the elements are there, we just have to make it happen.”
