MDC Ready To Restart Men’s Soccer Program With A Bevy Of Freshmen
When he was hired earlier this year to resurrect the Miami Dade College men’s soccer program, which had been on hiatus for nearly 35 years, head coach Giuseppe DePalo immediately went to work.
Six months later, DePalo has constructed a team with international flair. The Sharks lineup features players from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, France, Haiti, Italy, Nigeria and the United Kingdom as they prepare to start their season versus back-to-back national champion Monroe College at Kendall Campus on Aug. 22 at 7 p.m.
“The team is very diverse and we have many international kids,” said midfielder Javier Prieto. “Adjusting to those cultures has been fun, and the chemistry the team has built in these past weeks has been wonderful.”
Strikers include Diego Luengo, Alejandro Cumplido and Wisdom Ishaya, who are all freshmen.
The midfielders are Gabriel Obletter, Joao Pedro Dos Santos Oliveira, John Bentley Fortune, Benicio Aronow, Eduardo Cornejo, Sean Bayard, Kyle Reid and Prieto.
Defenders include Agustin Sinelli, Jeremy Levivier, Agustin Bezara, Facundo Ochoa, Beau Beresford, Cheick Dounkasse, Jesus Colazo, Guilherme Soares Martins, Deberson Louis Jean and Reginald Eldime.
The last line of defense will be sophomore goalkeepers Angel Fernandez and Jaime Guerrero, and freshmen Will Blease and Samuel Cavo.
With only three sophomores on the team, the freshmen-laden squad provides ample room for growth as they carve out an identity.
“We would like them to play, attack and defend,” DePalo said. “Also figuring out what formation best suits the players, along with getting them to know each other and know us.”
The team has already faced some early challenges. DePalo said some of their equipment has not come yet. And their $5 million on-campus soccer stadium, which was originally slated to be ready this fall, has encountered delays.
DePalo believes the space will not be ready until the end of the season.
“We’ve had to train and play on the side fields,” DePalo said. “It has been challenging in terms of coordinating with the women’s program and four teams training out there.”
For now, the team will utilize that space, which features full-size soccer fields, to play their home games.
“It’s hard with a new program because we don’t have a basis or pre-existing history to go off of,” DePalo said. “It’s going to take time to get them to gel and understand how we want them to collaborate, but the plan is to compete and try to be among the better teams in the league, region and eventually the country.”
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