WILKES-BARRE – The Wilkes University men's soccer team returns to Bruggeworth Field looking to make a splash in the Landmark Conference. They finished the 2022 campaign with an overall record of 7-9-3 and a conference record of 4-3-1, finishing fifth in the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom and reaching the MAC Freedom Play-In-Game for the second consecutive season. Head coach Michael Piranian enters his seventh season leading the Colonels.

"We've been waiting all summer thinking about this," Piranian said.

Junior forward Colin Schulmeister (Old Saybrook, CT/Old Saybrook) returns to lead the Colonels attack this season. Schulmeister was the Colonels leading goalscorer last season with eight goals, and earned All MAC-Freedom First Team Honors. Fellow Junior Xavier Guerreiro (Newtown, PA/Council Rock North) returns as well after being named an All MAC-Freedom Honorable Mention last season.

Alongside their fellow upperclassmen, Senior Conner Maciejczyk (Allamunchy, NJ/Hackettstown) and Junior Herbert Ramirez (Highstown, NJ/Highstown) add to an experienced group of forwards. First years Kendall Heck (West Wyoming, PA/Wyoming Area High School), Jacob Trendell (Cobleskill, NY/Cobelskill Richmondville High School), and Landon Kelly (Marcellus, NY/Marcellus Senior High School) round out the position group with youth.

In the midfield, the Colonels look to fill the shoes of three graduating seniors with a talented list of returning players and first year additions. Eli Gordon (Jacksonville, FL/The Bolles School), Joseph Zisa (East Windsor, NJ/Highstown), and Michael Buckholtz (Huntingtown, MD/Northern) make up a trio of returning seniors, while Zachary Dudak (Stroudsburg, PA/Stroudsburg) moves up from defense to make it a quartet. The Colonels also welcome back an exciting sophomore duo of Seth Marsteller (Coplay, PA/Whitehall) and Will Wagstaff (Allentown, PA/Parkland). Wagstaff contributed two goals and two assists from the middle of the park last season.

Six first year midfielders join the team this year, the most of any position group. Giovanni Mazzola (Whitehall, PA/Whitehall High School), Ian Farbman (Marlboro, NJ/Marlboro High School), Kerran Makuikila (Gaithersburg, MD/Gaithersburg), Owen Lewis (Ellicott City, MD/Howard High School), Spencer O'Neil (Cobleskill, NY/Cobelskill Richmondville High School), and Joseph Jackson (West Chester, PA/Bayard Ruston) will all look to make an impact in their first year as Colonels. Piranian expects them to contribute and elevate the team as a whole.

"I think that we have a good core of returners, and my hope is that they are pushing the returners to improve, to be better, and to fill the holes if there are any," Piranian explained.

In defense, senior Andrew Slusser (Fleetwood, PA/Fleetwood Area) leads an experienced back line alongside junior Matthew Meagher (Oceanside, NY/Oceanside). Meagher played in all 19 games last season, starting 18, and clocked 1476 minutes on the pitch, the second most on the team. Joining them is graduate student Vincent Ippolito (Park Ridge, NJ/Park Ridge), juniors Jesse Lippner (Mt. Olive, NJ/Mt. Olive), Kevin Doran (Cream Ridge, NJ/New Egypt), and sophomores Josey Williamson (Oley Valley, PA/Oley Valley), Brett Sanders (Goshen, NY/Goshen), and Gavin Merritt (LeRaysville, PA/Northeast Bradford Jr.-Sr.). First years Grant Gerstner (Carlisle, PA/Cumberland Valley High School) and Kevin Henris (Commack, NY/Commack High School) join the Colonels defense.

Graduate student Nick Kinzler (Jackson, NJ/Jackson Memorial) returns as the top choice goalkeeper after playing in 12 games last season. Kinzler's 54 saves last campaign put him second in the MAC-Freedom and his .933 save percentage was fourth best in the conference.

"He is very important to us," Piranian said of Kinzler.

Kinzler will mentor two first year goalkeepers this season in Matthew Conti (Florence, NJ/Florence Township Memorial High School) and Scott Termatto (Manalapan, NJ/Red Bank Catholic).

The Colonels, who were ranked ninth in the Landmark preseason coaches' poll, kick off their campaign at home against Penn State Berks on Friday, September 1^st at 4:30 p.m. They also open their first season of play in the Landmark Conference at home on Saturday, September 23^rd at 1:00 p.m. against Susquehanna University.

The Colonels will play eight non-conference games and nine in league play across their 17-game schedule. Piranian expressed his excitement at the challenge of this year's non-conference schedule.

"I said last year that it was probably our most difficult, and I think I topped it this year," he said.

Only eight of the 17 games will be played at Bruggeworth Field, with a four game road trip after the home opener to start out the season.

"Being able to play on the road is going to be important to us," Piranian said.