2022 Season Preview: Gents Soccer

Let's Go! That familiar phrase is often heard coming from senior GK Sami Borchalli (Lafayette, La.) on the field, on social media, or likely in the locker room as well. Just as likely is the fact that his teammates echo the same thought. It is indeed "Go Time" for the 2022 Gents as they begin their regular season on Thursday, Sept. 1 at home versus Dallas Christian College in a non-conference match set for 7 p.m. at Mayo Field.

Centenary aims to rebound from a disappointing 2021 campaign, albeit one that ended on a high note. The Gents finished last season at 6-11-1 overall and recorded a 2-6 mark in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play. The Maroon and White got off to a 3-1-1 start, struggled in the middle of the season, then ended on a three-game winning streak. The Gents scored a season-high six goals in a win over Dallas on Oct. 31 in their regular-season finale and finished the season by outscoring the opposition 10-3 over their last three matches, and they allowed one goal or less in a match 11 times during the season.

Kevin White enters his second season as head coach after coming to Shreveport prior to last season from the University of Texas at Dallas where he was a longtime assistant for the Comets. Tommy Haney has joined the staff as White's top assistant and is expected to being a wealth of knowledge and familiarity to the program as the native of Wylie, Texas played collegiately for fellow SCAC member Austin College for four years (2005-08) and served as team captain his senior season.

"I have expectations that we are going to compete in every game we play, look to win every game we play and we want to get into that Top four and get ourselves to the conference tournament," said White.

"We have a non-conference schedule that will be challenging but I think one we can do well with. Think there are lots of winnable games against good opponents. Conference will always be tough with the strength of the SCAC. We open with playoff teams and finish with playoff teams so we have to be sharp and playing our best soccer when we get to that part of the year."

Centenary landed two players on the All-SCAC Men's Soccer Team last season as senior MF Jaron Petreas (Denton, Texas) and sophomore F Dylan Allred (Lafayette, La.) represented the Gents on the prestigious squad. Petreas was named Honorable-Mention while Allred earned a spot on the All-Freshman team. Centenary placed at least two players on the All-SCAC team for the fifth time after having a program record three earn all-conference honors last season.

Petreas, who was named to the All-SCAC second team in 2020, scored one goal last season and started all 17 games as a steady force in the midfield for the Gents. Allred turned in an impressive rookie season as he played in 14 games with 11 starts and scored one goal in the Gents' 6-1 domination of Dallas in their season finale. He also added an assist in the match to finish the season with three points.

Borchalli, one of the most decorated and accomplished players in the division III era (2011-present) is back for a fifth season in goal for the Gents. He currently ranks second in program history in the D3 era in career saves (302) and on Sept. 10 of last season, he recorded his 11^th-career shutout in a 2-0 home win over Ozarks (Ark.), as he set the record for the most shutouts in the D3 era in program history. His 121 saves in 2018 are the most in a single-season in the D3 era and he is second all-time in that span in career GAA (1.62). He started 13 games last season and despite missing several games due to an early-season injury, he still ranked in the top 10 in the conference in four different statistical categories. He posted two shutouts to finish tied for second in the SCAC, his 61 saves ranked fourth, and his goals against average (GAA – 1.57) and save percentage (.753) each ranked sixth.

Sophomore MF Brennan Amato (Denham Springs, La.) is back after an impressive rookie season in which he started all 18 of the Gents' games and scored a pair of goals, both of which were game-winners. Sophomore F Ron Masti (Houston, Texas) played in 12 games as a freshman and made one start, scoring a a pair of goals to finish the season with four points. Masti took just four shots all season with two coming on goal and made the most of his opportunities as both attempts on target found the net.

A trio of seniors - D/MF David Barbera (Gonzales, La.), D Xavier Noyola-Ramirez (College Station, Texas), and D/MF Marco Basteris (Katy, Texas) are back and will provide a great deal of experience and skill. The three have combined to appear in 113 career games with 77 starts.

"Bringing back Sami Borchalli for a fifth year and Jaron Petreas for his senior year will be great as having your two captains both back gives you good consistent leadership," said White. "Marco Basteris will be a rock-solid returner as well and hope he gets some conference recognition this year."

"I am definitely excited about this freshmen class. F Aaron Myers (Plano, Texas) will be a good addition up front and hopefully add some goals for us. Junior D Enrique Hernandez (Beaumont, Texas) is a transfer with good experience and will add some solid play to our back line.

The Gents are scheduled to play 17 regular-season contests, eight at home and nine road/neutral matches. Conference play begins on Oct. 2 at Colorado College and the Gents' first league match at home is set for Friday, Oct. 14 against Dallas at 7 p.m.

The Gents will open their season with nine-straight non-conference contests in the month of September before heading west to face Colorado College to begin the month of October in what is the first of three-consecutive SCAC matches on the road. Centenary has a season-high four home matches in a row from Oct. 14-23 against Dallas, Austin College, Schreiner, and finally Trinity for Senior Day on Oct. 23. The Gents' final regular-season match is set for Oct. 29 at St. Thomas.

Centenary wraps up the opening weekend on Saturday, Sept. 3 with another home match versus Sul Ross State at 7:30 p.m. before hitting the road for three-straight matches at LaGrange (Sept. 9), Huntingdon (Sept. 10), and Belhaven (Sept. 13). The Gents' final four matches of the seasons' opening month are at home versus ETBU (Sept. 16) and LeTourneau (Sept. 18) and versus McMurry (Sept. 23 in Irving, Texas) and at UT-Dallas (Sept. 25).

Centenary is set to face LaGrange, McMurry and Sul Ross State for the first time in school history and Huntingdon for just the second time after defeating the Hawks 2-1 last season at home. Centenary will also play UT-Dallas for only the second time after falling 1-0 at home to the Comets last season. Centenary enters the season having gone 13-9-1 at Mayo Field over the last three seasons.

The Gents were picked seventh in the preseason SCAC poll released last week. The 2022 SCAC Men's Soccer Championship is scheduled for Nov. 4-6 in Sherman, Texas and hosted by Austin College.

See the complete Gents' schedule here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/msoc/2022-23/schedule 

Admission is FREE to all Centenary home athletic contests. Live stats and live video stream are available for all Centenary home contests.

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