Lions Soccer Team Has High Hopes For 2011 Season

Lion soccer coach Seth Wilber expects the off-season work ethic of his team to carry over into the 2011 campaign.

“I think we’ll be better than what we were last year for sure,” Wilber said. “We have a solid 18 or 19 guys on the varsity level who can play and we’ve had a lot of dedication over the summer from those 18 or 19 guys. I think they have expectations and that’s to do better than we did last year.”

Wilber, who starts his fifth year as head coach this fall, said his team engaged in off-season conditioning and competitive tournaments over the summer. Wilber has compiled a 29-43 overall record as coach of the Lions.

Zumwalt East, who finished the 2010 season with a 16-9 overall record and placed second the Gateway Athletic North Conference with a 6-1 mark, lost seven seniors to graduation last spring. The losses include center midfielder Tommy Vitale and sweeper Clayton Meyer. Wilber said Vitale provided “a big boost of offense” and that the midfielder and sweeper would be tough to replace.

The Lions have eight seniors this year: Cody Elmenborf, Michael Stock, Lewis Moretti, Marcos Alberto, Jordan Swindle, Ryan Schninders, Travon Mitchell, and C.J. Vaccaro.

Stock will be East’s sole forward this year. Wilber expects Stock to be an offensive weapon, as he scored nine goals last season and 13 goals in two tournaments this summer.

“We look for some big things out of (Stock) this year,” Wilber said. “He’s a big guy who puts himself in great places to finish. He also has a good shot and is very comfortable in front of the goal.”

Junior Brendan Shields, Moretti, Swindle, Bret Sugar and sophomore Luke Wigglesworth will all play in the midfield. Shields will be an attacking midfielder, Moretti and Wigglesworth will fill the role of holding midfielders while Swindle will play on the left side and Sugar plays on the right side.

“We’ll expect them to do a lot of goal scoring for us,” Wilber said on the midfield. “We have three guys who have a lot of quality minutes for us—Jordan, Shields and Sugar. Sugar is awesome out of the air. He scores tons of goals with his head and has an incredible work rate on the right side.

"Brendan Shields is a great dribbler. He can beat guys to the top of the box and has a great shot. He had 13 goals last year. Jordan (Swindle) had to sit out last year with a knee injury, but he’ll be the fastest kid on the field this year.”

Elmenborf, Schniders an junior Brian Ruzycki will all see action at defense this year. In addition, sophomores Joe Malnar and Tyler Campbell are fighting for positions at defense. Vaccaro and junior Brian March are fighting for a position at goalkeeper.    

Wilber expects his team to do big things in the GACN this season.

“I think our boys are coming in here wanting to do big things in conference and I think that’s a realistic goal for us.”

The Lions will start the 2011 season at 11 a.m. on Aug. 27 with a contest against McCluer.