SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The men's soccer team will open up the 2015 season Friday night against Gardner-Webb University at Snyder Field after two and a half weeks of preseason practices.
 
The team practiced regularly since arriving to campus August 12 and held two home exhibition matches to prepare for the regular season. The Terriers played Appalachian State August 16 and UNC Asheville August 22, losing both contests while scoring one goal and giving up four. Wofford initially also scheduled a scrimmage at the College of Charleston, but the match was cancelled due to bad weather.
 
Head Coach Ralph Polson said having the two scrimmages were helpful for the team despite the outcomes.
 
"From that first scrimmage, from the first to second group there was not a great deal of drop-off in those 18-20 players. There are a lot of possibilities and combinations in those two groups, it's just about early on finding the right mix and right substitution patterns to be successful."
 
Wofford was picked to finish fifth out of six teams in the preseason coaches' poll but had three players selected to the preseason all-conference team in seniors Connor Davis and Kevin Hady and junior Matthew Aurednik.
 
Aurednik also earned national recognition in the preseason, being named one of 30 Division I players to the Preseason Mac Hermann Trophy Watch List.
 
"We're hoping for another big year out of him," Polson said. "We'd love to see him with another 10 goals, but anytime he's on the field he's a threat to score. This year, he's a bit of a marked man because of the [season] he had last year, so it'll make things interesting but it provides opportunities for some other guys as well."
 
Coach Polson said his expectations for the team are high despite the low preseason ranking.
 
"The expectations are to be competitive in the Southern Conference," Polson said. "We're a little disappointed that we were picked fifth, but somebody's got to be picked there. It's not where we start but where we finish that matters, and we feel like we're a better team than that [ranking] and we'll be right in the thick of things at the end of the year."
 
Despite losing nine graduated seniors from 2014, Wofford's 2015 team still has plenty of leadership. The Terriers boast eight seniors this season, including Davis, a 2014 first team all-conference selection, Hady, and 2014 second team all-conference selection Nestor Jaramillo. Defender Matthew Tran, midfielders Will Puckett and Tanner DeFreitas, and forwards Joe Marshall and Connor Copeland round out the senior class.
 
Jaramillo said the team expectations in 2015 are to "win the SoCon" and take it "game-by-game" in terms of focus.
 
"As seniors, we need to be great leaders and set an example for all the young guys," Jaramillo said. "We have a lot of seniors on the team so we have a lot of experience within the team. Hopefully we can win the regular season and go on from there."
 
Wofford added 11 freshmen and three transfers to the 2015 roster. Goalkeepers Matthew Reynolds and Hunter Wages; defenders Kyle Nelson, Landon Renner and Brock Belcher; midfielders Jonathan Dean, Connor Mullaney and Jordan Poff; and forwards Matthew Ward, Andreas Suri and Jack Sicker are the freshmen newcomers to the Terriers.
 
"We're excited about our freshmen class," said Coach Polson. "We feel like several of those kids are going to step up. We realized in preseason we have a lot more depth than we expected to have, some guys who have stepped up and done a good job.
 
Junior Nicky Watson transferred to Wofford after playing two seasons at Niagra University. Watson played in 36 matches, totaling 18 points on seven goals and four assists over his two seasons.
 
Sophomore Keaton Hinze transferred from James Madison University to join the Terriers. Hinze played in 14 matches, making one start his freshmen year while taking two shot attempts.
 
Freshman Darby Martens rounds out the transfers, as he joins Wofford after spending a redshirt season at the College of Charleston.
 
The Terriers open the season against the Gardner-Webb Bulldogs, who went 3-13-1 in 2014 and finished ninth in the Big South Conference. The match starts at 7 p.m., and admission to Snyder Field is free.