Last Year: 3rd
Coaches poll for 2015: 2nd
Men’s soccer at SFU has become synonymous with excitement, passion, and most importantly, success.
For eight years the men’s program flourished under the tutelage of Clan alumnus Alan Koch, who expertly led the men through a transition from NAIA play into NCAA Division II competition. Koch will be remembered for orchestrating feats such as an undefeated 2011 season and taking the clan into back-to-back NCAA Division II final four finishes in 2012 and 2013. Now, after taking the reigns as the Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2 head coach, Koch has passed the torch to former associate head coach and longtime friend, Clint Schneider.
The San Angelo, Texas native has been with the Clan for all five of their NCAA playing years, and prior to joining SFU was working alongside Koch at Baker University. As an expert in recruiting, scouting, and a specialist in goalkeeper coaching, Schneider is thrilled to take on a new challenge at the helm of the men’s team.
“I am honored to be given this once in a lifetime opportunity to lead such a prestigious and successful program,” said Schneider to SFU Athletics upon his promotion in February.
“I have had an opportunity to work with one of the best coaches in the business for almost a decade and he has helped me to develop the skills necessary to continue to build upon the foundation already in place.”
With preseason clashes already under his belt, SFU’s fifth appointed soccer coach is straight to work on building a competitive squad for the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) opposition. Alongside Schneider will be former Canadian International and Major League Soccer player Kevin Harmse, who offers the young players a great source of mentorship at this stage of their development. Six players in total are gone from last year’s playoff run and 11–5–2 season record.
So far the Clan have had a taste of every possible result with one win, tie, and loss during a series of friendly matches in August.
Despite losing their star attacking player in Jovan Blagojevic — who scored 18 goals in 18 matches during his senior year last term — the Clan look destined to build their goal scoring exploits as a collective unit.
“I think we will score by committee,” Schneider remarked after a 2–1 victory over Kwantlen Polytechnic University. “We don’t have a guy like Jovan who will score 18 goals. I would love for that to happen but we are more likely to have a lot of guys with 5, 6 goals, or 7 goals.”
Schneider is eager to test out his fresh batch of reinforcements and is full of confidence to set the bar high.
“We have a great group of returning players and adding these incoming freshmen will enable us to compete for championships straight away.”
One thing’s for sure: the soccer fans at SFU will be ready and raring to motivate the men to victory at Terry Fox field. The Clan take on California State University San Bernardino Terry on September 9 — will you be there?
