Aug. 8, 2006

What a difference a year makes. The first day of preseason in 2005 is when George Mason University's men's soccer team met its new head coach, Greg Andrulis. A lot has changed in 365 days as Andrulis heads into the 2006 season with a year of coaching at Mason under his belt, which will provide a solid foundation for the Patriots' upcoming year.

"There is no question that last year was a whirlwind," said Andrulis. "Clearly there is a different expectation going into this preseason versus 2005.

"Our foundation was more or less built in the spring season, which incorporated a solid group of guys that are on this year's roster. We had a tremendous spring, which lays a good tactical foundation of how we want to play this fall."

Included in this mix are 15 players from last year's squad, six of whom were starters, and 16 new faces. A handful of the first year players enrolled in classes at Mason in January to be eligible for spring season.

"In addition to our returners and a quality freshman class, there is a tremendous group who transferred in, which will change the dynamic and the chemistry of the team that was formed during the spring season," stated Andrulis. "All of those things have to be quickly woven together during a very short preseason to get us off to a good start."

One strength for Patriots is their defense as Mason returns a three-year starter in senior Jacob Weitz and a two-year starter, junior Brian Barry-Austin. The Patriots did lose an integral part of the defense from last year's team in 2005 CAA Defender of the Year, Anthony Noreiga. To help fill this void, there are athletes coming in that have national team experience, as well as a few transfers. Freshman Richard Edgar is one who brings a wealth of playing experience and to reaffirm this he was recently named as one of the "Top 100 Freshman to Keep an Eye On in 2006" by collegesoccernews.com.

"Both Jacob and Brian are leaders on the team and are strong players," said Andrulis. "There are also many first-year talented players that will compete for spots at this position."

At the goalkeeper slot, redshirt sophomore Jeremy Jessup returns, but he did see limited action in 2005 due to an injury. Freshman Sean Kelley, who also was included on the same list as Edgar, joins Mason and will compete for playing time at goal.

"We know that Jeremy is healthy and is very solid at the goal," commented Andrulis. "Sean, an All-American, is someone we have a lot of faith in, but he has to prove himself at the collegiate level."

The midfield position is where Mason sees the majority of the returners coming back from last season. Senior Josh Fleming, who played in all 18 games and was in the starting line-up 13 times, scored two goals for the Patriots in 2005 and dished out two assists to finish tied for third on the team in points (6). Senior Francis McCardle closed out the season third among teammates in goals (3) after seeing action in every contest, 12 of which he started. The last of the starters is sophomore Jonathan Borrajo who started 12 of 14 contests and tallied two goals for Mason in his first year.

"I think in the midfield we are very solid," said Andrulis. "We have the return of Josh, Francis and Jonathan, but are also adding a strong first-year group to this position."

The Patriots have 17 regular season games slated for the 2006 campaign, which includes six teams that participated in the 2005 NCAA College Cup. The Patriots will play seven games at George Mason Stadium, including four in the month of October.

"Our goal was to upgrade the schedule and try to get it some strength regionally," commented Andrulis. "We have added NCAA Tournament teams, which is a positive for us, including perennial national contender in Virginia."

Mason will open up its season at home against Monmouth on Aug. 25 for just the second meeting between these two teams. Mason will then play its next five games on the road, which includes a match-up against the University of Virginia on Sept. 1 for the Patriots first road contest. Last season, the Cavaliers advanced to the Round of 16 in the 2005 College Cup, but fell to North Carolina.

After visiting La Salle (Sept. 3), Mason will compete in the Yale Classic in New Haven, Conn. and both schools the Patriots will face competed in the 2005 College Cup. Mason will first square-off with Yale and will wrap-up competition against Dartmouth two days later.

"I believe the beginning of our schedule is difficult because there are so many away games, but it is all to prepare us for our conference schedule, which is obviously challenging," said Andrulis.

The Patriots will open up Colonial Athletic Association action in Fairfax after ending its non-conference play at George Washington (Sept. 16). Mason will host both Northeastern (Sept. 22) and Hofstra (Sept. 24), which was crowned 2005 CAA Tournament Champions. Last season the Patriots ended in a scoreless tie with the Pride on Oct. 9 in Hempstead, N.Y.

After playing at UNC Wilmington (Sept. 29) and Georgia State (Oct. 1), the Patriots travel to Norfolk to face last season's CAA regular season conference champion, Old Dominion (Oct. 13). The remaining road games for Mason are against William & Mary (Oct. 15) and Virginia Commonwealth (Oct. 20).

"We have to be better in the CAA this year so we can make the conference tournament and give us a chance to win the championship." Other home conference contests include: Delaware (Oct. 6), Drexel (Oct. 8), James Madison (Oct. 22) and Towson (Oct. 27), which is the final regular season game.

The first round of the CAA Tournament is slated to be played at the highest seed on Oct. 31 and the semifinals (Nov. 3), as well as the championship game (Nov. 5), will be played at the Virginia Beach Sportsplex in Virginia Beach, Va.

"This is a new team with different strengths and different weaknesses than last year's squad," stated Andrulis. "It is extremely exciting to see how things will pan out."

Only time will tell where Andrulis and the Patriots will be 365 days from now.