Following a season in which the Mount Vernon Nazarene University men's soccer team went 9-7-2 and finished Crossroads League play with a 4-3-2 mark, the Cougars announced their 2022 regular season schedule, which will begin with an East Coast tune-up trip before starting the regular season Aug. 20.
Last year’s squad averaged 2.0 goals per game and allowed 1.13 goals per game. The 2021 Cougars were led on the scoreboard by three freshmen, Zack Browser with six goals, Ben McLernan with six goals and Manuel Flores with five goals; and junior Joshuah Sitney with four tallies. Junior Keon Boney had seven assists, and sophomore Sam Hershey dished out five. Bowser, Sitney, Boney and Hershey will return this season. Senior goalkeeper Joshuah Dunn will tend the net duties.
Sitney earned First-Team All-Crossroads League recognition. The San Juan, Trinidad and Tobago, native finished with four goals and two assists in 17 games. Of Sitney's 29 shots, 15 of them were on goal.
Boney earned honorable mention recognition for MVNU. Boney, like Sitney, comes to MVNU by way of Trinidad and Tobago. The Manzanilla native scored three goals and did an outstanding job of creating for others. Boney finished the 2021 season with a career-high seven assists.
Dunn also earned honorable mention honors. Dunn, who hails from Edinburgh, Scotland, had a solid senior season. Dunn allowed 16 goals in 14 games played and racked up 49 saves. He had a save percentage of 75.4%.
Coach Zach Ganzberg starts his sixth season at the helm and has a 44-33-11 mark as coach. Ganzberg came to MVNU after spending three years as the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Bethel College (now Bethel University) in Mishawaka, Ind. Ganzberg’s duties at Bethel included recruiting, compliance, training session preparation and execution, match analysis, and in-game tactical decision-making. In 2016, Ganzberg helped lead the Pilots to the Crossroads League regular season championship. This achievement is a familiar one to Ganzberg, as he has won the Crossroads League seven times as a player and as a coach. Ganzberg has coached in two NCCAA National Championship games, leading the Bethel men’s soccer team to national runners-up finishes in the 2014 and 2015 seasons.
The 2022 Cougars head out on the road in August to play in New York for exhibitions against Canisius College on Aug. 13 and Niagara University on Aug. 16,. The men will begin their regular season at the University of Rio Grande on Aug. 20. Rio Grande will be a stiff early season test for the Cougars as it finished last season ranked No. 13 in the NAIA Coaches' Top 25 Poll.
MVNU's home opener and first match at the fully finished CH4 Stadium takes place on Aug. 22 against Shawnee State University. Following a road trip to Point Park University on Aug. 24, MVNU has a four-match home stand with Aquinas College, Lourdes University, Madonna University, and Concordia University being the opponents. The Cougars play two road matches, one at Lawrence Technological University on Sept. 14 and the other at Thomas More University on Sept. 17, before starting Crossroads League play at home against the Taylor University Trojans on Sept. 24.
Following road matches at Goshen College and Huntington University, MVNU plays host to Indiana Wesleyan University and Marian University on Oct. 8 and Oct. 12, respectively. After a match at the University of Saint Francis and a home contest against Spring Arbor University, MVNU hosts the defending Crossroads League Champion Bethel University Pilots on Oct. 26. Bethel finished last season ranked 22nd overall in the national rankings.
The Cougars close their regular season on Oct. 28 in Winona Lake, Ind., against the Lancers of Grace College. The Crossroads League Tournament quarterfinals are set to begin on Nov. 5.
