With the summertime heat wave approaching scorching temperatures of 100 plus degrees, the Baker University men’s soccer team opened camp Aug. 1 with a mixture of old and new faces.

Despite the difficult conditions, head coach Alan Koch said his team trained hard and came away feeling good about the upcoming season.

“Obviously, it’s been very hot and demanding,” Koch said. “But every camp is that way. We managed to schedule our training around the heat for the most part – in the morning and the evening. I think for the most part, our guys managed to survive it.”

During the offseason, Koch spent a lot of his time looking for talented players to help replace the seniors the team lost.

Koch said he and his coaching staff have been extremely pleased with the talent they’ve found.

“We are really, really happy with the recruiting class that has come in,” he said. “We have a couple transfers who are going to start for us and a couple freshmen who will compete for a spot on the starting squad.”

Koch said he has also been pleased with the play of his returning players and their ability to involve the newcomers.

“It has gone relatively well as far as trying to mesh the new players with our returning players,” he said. “I think we are almost ready for the season.”

Seniors Travis Moore and Ryan McAloon will captain the team this year. Moore said this year’s team has a large number of newcomers.

“We have a lot of younger players and it has taken a little bit of time, but for the most part, they are starting to adapt to the college level,” he said. “A lot of the guys are showing that they are responding to the leadership of our seniors. With a good senior group, we are doing a good job of showing leadership and the young guys are doing a great job of following the lead.”

Koch said the captains have done a good job of creating a team atmosphere.

“Travis and Ryan have done a great job of meshing everyone together,” Koch said. “They have done a great job off the field of putting everyone together as well as on the field.”

In preseason games against Truman State University and the University of Missouri-Kansas City, the Wildcats fell short losing 2-1 and 1-0, respectively. However, the ‘Cats used these games to prepare for the upcoming season.

Sophomore Matt Hodges said the team improved, despite the preseason shortcomings.

“We are going to be good,” he said. “We are starting to get everything together. We should be better than last year, but we are a totally new squad.”

The only question left for Koch to answer is who will be his starting goalkeeper this season. Returning junior Aaron Williams and two freshmen, Andrew Dale and Alex Burton, have been battling for the position since the first day of camp.

Koch said all three have worked hard and the position is still open.

“Alex Burton played fantastically against UMKC and Aaron Williams played really, really well against Truman State,” Koch said. “Andrew Dale has been battling injuries but has shown positive signs as well.”

The team will face one of the toughest schedules in the nation this year, but will take a game-by-game approach, Koch said.

“Last year we set a bunch of goals, but this year we are going to take one game at a time. Hopefully the sky’s the limit for this team,” he said.