MORAGA, Calif. – Saint Mary's Men's soccer kicks off their first week of the 2022 regular season with games this Thursday, August 25 against Niagara University and Sunday, August 28 versus Northern Illinois.
 
THE DETAILS
Saint Mary's (0-0) vs Niagara University (0-0)
Thursday, August 25 at 1:00 pm
Saint Mary's Stadium – Moraga, Calif.
Watch Live | Live Stats | Get Tickets
 
Saint Mary's (0-0) vs Northern Illinois (0-0)
Saturday, August 28 at 1:00 pm
Saint Mary's Stadium – Moraga, Calif.
Watch Live | Live Stats | Get Tickets
 
ABOUT NIAGARA UNIVERSITY
Thursday's game will be the first ever match up between the Gaels and the Purple Eagles. Niagara was picked sixth in the MAAC Men's Soccer Preseason Coaches' Poll, based on a vote by the leagues 11 head coaches. The Purple Eagles went 8-10 overall in 2021, including a 6-4 MAAC record.
 
Jordan Acevedo, Josh Savoni, Stephen Hasse, and Jayson Repine all return to NU this season and will serve as team captains for 2022.
 
Acevedo enters her sixth season with the Purple Eagles; he missed the 2021 season due to injury. This will be his second season serving as a team captain. In his career so far, Acevedo has played in 56 games and started in 49. He has tallied one goal, which was a game-winner, and two assists.

Goalkeeper Savoni is in his senior season on Monteagle Ridge and has a record of 14-14, including seven shutouts. He has played 2,479 minutes in net and has made 139 saves. He has a goals against average of 1.35.

Hasse also enters his senior season. He has played in 39 games for the Purple and White and has started in 33. He has tallied nine assists on his career, including a career-high six assists during the 2021 season.

Repine has played in 42 games and started in 32 in his three seasons with the Purple Eagles so far. He has scored two goals and notched two assists.
 
Key newcomers for 2022 include Anthony Amato, who joins the Purple Eagles from Grand Island High School, where he was named the Greater Niagara Newspaper's Boys' Soccer Player of the Year in 2021. Amato earned All-Western New York First Team and All-Niagara Frontier League First Tea, honors in 2021.
 
Saviour Brown comes to Niagara from the University of Liberia. Brown played for Gardnersville FC and scored 15 goals last season. He was promoted to the LISCF FC First Team in July 2022.
 
ABOUT NORTHERN ILLINOIS
This will be the third meeting between the two program's overall. The Gaels hold a 2-1 advantage in the all-time series, wining 4-1 at home on September 25 of 1992, losing an off-site game in Evanston, Ill. in 2-1 in 2013, and winning 5-0 in their last meeting at Nothern Illinois in Dekalb, Ill. in October of 2019.

The Huskies are the defending Mid-America Conference regular season and tournament champion. NIU opens the campaign at San Francisco on Thursday before facing the Gaels. The Huskies return seven starters from a season ago when they tied a school record with 15 victories and reached the NCAA Tournament Second Round.
 
Enrique Banuelos scored in both of NIU's two preseason exhibition matches and is the leading returning scorer for the Huskies, having tallied 13 points a season ago (three goals, seven assists).
 
Two of NIU's newcomers for this season, Patrick Coleman (Antioch, Ill./Antioch Community/Notre Dame) and Nolan Cosgrove (Chesterfield, Mo./Parkway West/Tulsa) joined the Huskies this past winter and participated in the spring with NIU. 

Coleman, who plays on the wing, joined the Huskies from Notre Dame where he appeared in 27 matches, including 17 starts. He with both Chicago Magic Academy and FC United PDL while also playing four years at Antioch Community High School. This summer he helped Bavarian United SC win the National Amateur Cup. 

Cosgrove is a goalkeeper who played in three matches at Tulsa in 2021, making nine saves while not conceding a goal. He played club soccer with St. Louis Scott Gallagher as well as three years at Parkway West High School, where he was a two-time all-conference selection. 
 
2021 GAELS REVIEW
SMC finished tied for third in the final standings last season after going 4-2-1 in WCC play and 11-6-1 overall. The Gaels went into their tilt with Santa Clara last October 27 tied for first in the conference standings, before the Broncos eked out a 1-0 win in Moraga on their way to a WCC Championship.
 
But Saint Mary's defeated second-place Pacific 1-0 and had a 1-0 double OT win at Stanford in another double-digit-win season for the Gaels.
 
KEY RETURNERS
Louis Sterobo and Riley Lynch were named to the WCC All-Preseason team for 2022. Lynch showed his speed and play-making ability with three goals and three assists in his freshman season while leading the team in shots on goal. His three goals tied for the team lead and were good for 15th in the WCC, while his 36 shots on the year were a team high and were seventh in the conference.
 
The Chandler, Ariz. native's 17 shots on goal also led the team while being second most in the WCC on the season. He had a team-high two game-winning goals last year, which came against UNLV and Gonzaga.
 
Sterobo was third on the team in minutes with 1,263 and played a career high 110 minutes against San Francisco. The Odense, Denmark native helped led the Gaels defense to eight shutouts last year. Both Lynch and Sterobo were selected to the All-WCC Second Team in 2021.
 
Boyd Curry returns to the Gaels after he received All-WCC Honorable Mention in 2021. Curry made 15 starts in 16 games played last season and was second on the team in minutes played, while scoring a goal with an assist on defense for the Gaels.
 
The Aukland, New Zealand native helped anchor some of the best back lines in SMC history over the last three years, and has been part of this run that is the most successful stretch of soccer in Saint Mary's history. Curry also landed on the All-West Region Third Team last season after finishing on the Second Team the previous season.
 
Kash Oladapo projects to be the Gaels primary goalkeeper in 2022 after starting eight games last season. He was perfect nine for nine on save opportunities with two shutouts in his first two collegiate starts. The Happy Valley, Ore. native had three shutouts (UNLV, Dixie State, Sac State), 27 saves on the year and finished with a 5-3 win-loss record.
 
Gael Quintero and Lynch were named to the All-WCC Freshman Team as well last season and the Gaels led the conference in players named to the All-WCC Freshman team. It's a good sign for the future of the Gaels after having one of the younger teams in the Coach Adam Cooper era in 2021.
 
It was the first time in Saint Mary's Men's Soccer program history that the Gaels have had three players named to the All-WCC Freshman Team. Quintero played in 17 games, starting in seven, and had two assists in his freshman campaign.
 
NEW ADDITIONS
The youth movement will continue for the Gaels in 2022 with 12 freshmen joining the team out of 16 newcomers.  
 
Of the incoming freshman, Bastian Toelhoej could play a big role in 2022, as he has experience with Fremad Amager Elite and Sonderjyske in his home country of Denmark and has started both Gaels exhibition games in the midfield.
 
One of the Gaels freshman defensive additions this fall is center back Nick Strangio. The Jesuit High School product earned numerous accolades during his time as a Marauder, including ECNL All League First Team and California State Player of the Year.  
 
But it's the transfers of the incoming Gaels that could make an immediate impact for the team in 2022.
 
That group includes Omar Yehya who comes to Saint Mary's from Cal State Fullerton. The forward from Redlands, California played in seven games for the Titans last year, and scored two goals with an assist during SMC's exhibition matches. During his four years at Redlands High School, he tallied a total of 51 goals and 24 assists. He was awarded Redlands High School MVP twice, and made the First Team all Citrus Belt League twice as well.
 
Another transfer Joining the Gaels for his senior season is Matthias Kuhn, a defenseman that spent his previous three seasons at Mercy College. During his junior season, Kuhn appeared in 15 games, notching seven goals and one assist. He also netted a team high three game winning goals throughout the season. He collected numerous awards during his tenure, including Third Team All American and CoSIDA Academic All-District.
 
Crowthorne, England native, Wade Muttitt, also transferred to Saint Mary's this fall after spending last season with Feather River College. During his time with the Golden Eagles, Muttitt logged 20 games, scoring 12 goals with 10 assists. 
 
MARK YOUR CALENDARS
Along with the upcoming opening-week matches, other games of note will be a visit from Stanford University on Saturday, October 15 at 1:00 p.m. SMC will be looking for their first home win over Stanford since 1994 after winning on The Farm last season for the first time since 1995.
 
Saint Mary's will close out the home slate with Senior Day on Saturday, November 5 at 1:00 p.m. against Loyola Marymount University. The Gaels will play three of their seven WCC matches at home, with USF, Gonzaga, and LMU on the home schedule for 2022.