LOGGER HIT THE ROAD TO OPEN 2007
With a trip to Southern California to open the 2007 season, the Puget Sound Logger men's soccer team will attempt to repeat as Northwest Conference champions following the title in 2006. The Loggers will open the season on Saturday with an evening contest against La Verne and will then take on Occidental on Monday before returning to Tacoma to begin classes.
Season Preview
Winning a conference title in 2006 was good. Returning eight seniors off that NWC title in 2007 is even better and that is the situation that the Puget Sound Logger men's soccer team finds itself entering the 2007 campaign.
Leading a tough Logger defense that allowed just 0.38 goals per game in 2006 is Second-Team All-American goalkeeper Pete Van Sant (Santa Cruz, Calif.), who will be assisted on the back line by senior Andrew Hewitt (Monroe, Wash./Archbishop Murphy) and sophomore Cole Peterson (Great Falls, Mont./C.M. Russell).
The Loggers will be looking to restock up front in the forward position but UPS welcomes in a number of young players who could see significant playing time early in the season.
Helping the young Loggers support themselves early will be an experienced group of midfielders, led by seniors Greg Swanson (University Place, Wash./Curtis), Scott Blanchet (Gig Harbor, Wash./Bellarmine Prep) and Mark Conrad (Seattle, Wash./Willamette).
Not only were the Loggers the pick of the NWC coaches in the annual preseason poll, the team is also attracting national attention early, heading into the season opener as the 20th-ranked team in the country, according to the voters at d3kicks.com.
The season will kickoff for the Loggers on Sep. 1 with an evening contest at La Verne. Puget Sound will then take on Occidental on Labor day before returning to Tacoma to play host to a pair of non-conference west region contests against Claremont-M-S and Pomona-Pitzer on Sep. 7 and 9 respectively. Puget Sound will then host Simpson of Iowa on Sep. 14 before opening up their title defense at home on Sep. 16 against Willamette.
National Attention
The Loggers begin the season with a little bit of the national spotlight on them, earning a preseason ranking of 20th in the nation according to the voters at D3Kicks.com.
Scouting La Verne
Last season, the Leopards took fifth place in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with a record of 7-7 in conference and 9-10 overall. Senior Andrew Tillehkooh and sophomore P.J. Diaz earned All-SCIAC honors last season and return to lead La Verne in 2007.
Scouting Occidental
The Tigers will host the Loggers on Labor Day in Occidental's season opener. Last season, Oxy went 9-8-2 overall and 6-7-1 in SCIAC play to finish sixth in the conference standings. Fran Taylor earned First Team All-SCIAC honors last year and returns at forward for the Tigers.
The Coach
In his 14th season at the helm of the Loggers, Reece Olney has compiled a career record of 159-74-24. In Northwest Conference matches, Olney has a record of 92-28-12.
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