Paul Pizza
The Paw Print
The second season for the ASC men’s soccer program is officially underway and off to a tremendous start.
The starting line-up for Grizzlies consists of mostly freshman.“I’m excited to be here, playing for Adams State College because Colorado is a beautiful state. This team is extremely young and has a lot of promise,” said freshman Hawken Hanna from Lansing, Michigan.
Alex Hernandez, another Michigan native, is projected to bring both extreme talent and leadership to the pitch.
The 2010 recruiting class also consists of players from multiple states across the country. Henry Stewart and Josh Padgett both come from Las Cruces, New Mexico and are both projected starters for Coach Tim Busen’s Grizzlies. Tyler Frintz is the third and final New Mexico prospect from Carlsbad, New Mexico. Kyle Lanham comes from the Christian Brother High School in St. Louis, Missouri, the high school with the most wins in the history of the United States.
Norberto Lopez, from Providence, Utah, is the last out-of-state recruit and looks to be one of the two strikers for the Grizzlies. As for the rest of the roster, the team consists of fifteen recruits from the state of Colorado, all of whom are freshman as well.
The only collegiate experience for the team comes from the seven upperclassmen. Peter Freeman, Joe Jallow, Bruno Falco, Raul Sanchez, and Diego Santos are the five juniors of the seven. The lone seniors are Tyler Corbin and David Powers.
The first game for the program kicks off at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, September 3 against Eastern New Mexico State.
Two days later, the Grizzlies are back in action at home versus Mesa State; kick-off is at 1:00 p.m.
The schedule for the rest of September for the Grizzlies is a heavily home-weighted schedule.
Following a game at a neutral site against Montana State-Billings, the team plays all four of their next games at home. The most notable game takes place on September 24, when the number one ranked Fort Lewis comes to town.
In the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, the Adams State Grizzlies were picked to finish in ninth place according to the coaches around the league. Fort Lewis topped the league, ranking first in the RMAC and the nation.
Colorado School of Mines took second place, followed by Metro State and Regis to round out the top four. Mesa State and UCCS hold the fifth and sixth spots. CSU-Pueblo, Colorado Christian, and Adams State then round out the league. “We’ve got a lot to work on, but we also have a lot to work with. Right now we’re headed in a good direction,” said head coach Tim Busen.
Although the Grizzlies don’t have the experience of the majority of the teams in the RMAC, they definitely have the skill to compete in the league.
“We were picked to finished ninth in the league; well, I know for fact we will finish higher than that,” Alex Hernandez said after the team’s annual Green and White scrimmage.
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