After a slow start to the season and losing most of their returning players, the Bucks men’s soccer coach is confident in his team and their odds of turning around a 1-4 record.

The defending Eastern States Athletic Conference(ESAC) champions have a new look this season. With only four returning players from last year’s conference championship team, there are now plenty of new faces on the roster.

“We’re pretty much starting completely from scratch” Head Men’s Soccer Coach Justin Burroughs stated, mentioning the trials of a young team that’s learning how to play soccer at a college level with new teammates. “We’re starting to see a lot of progress being made with these guys and we’re very confident that we can right the ship.”

Burroughs in his 18th coaching season, praised the players on the team that have really stepped up in the early stages of the season when talking about the progress that the team has made. He mentioned Captain Carlos Hernandez, midfielder Aiden Perry, defender Chase Ralston, and goalkeeper Jordi Ronal Ambrojo-Uceta.

“These guys have been crucial to our team and have brought excellent leadership,” remarked Burroughs. With such a young team and a lot of new players coming in, leadership has been imperative to the team’s development moving forward and these players have been key.

The team began the season with a 1-4 record through five games with their lone win being a 4-1 win at home over Lehigh Carbon on Sept. 7.

With crucial conference games coming up Burroughs stated, “These upcoming games are a huge opportunity for us to right the ship.”

These games won’t be easy however, with Bucks being the defending ESAC champions teams seem to have much more of an incentive to beat them. “I believe we’ll have a bit more of a target on our back with these upcoming conference games being the defending top team of the conference,” said Burroughs. “It’s crucial that we match the intensity that these teams bring us.”

With having a young team, the focus right now is holding ground against schools with overall older and more experienced rosters. “We’ll really have to limit our mistakes in these upcoming games” commented Burroughs on what would be the biggest part of turning around an early season slump.

On top of the imperative upcoming conference games, the team is also looking forward to their final game of the season on Oct. 25 on the road against Berkeley College New Jersey, a 4-year school. Burroughs said, “This will tell us how far we’ve come.”

With 10 games left on the schedule, half of which are in conference play, the men’s soccer team still has plenty to play for. This includes two conference games against both Williamson and Manor College and a second time playing against Central Penn at home with Central Penn winning 3-1.