 Welcome to the Graham Miller show presented by Buffalo Wildwings. I'm Sam Murray joined now with Stevenson men's soccer head coach Graham Miller and coach eight games into the season quite the turnaround from last year sitting at five and three Just talk about your team's performance through the first half of the season. Yeah overall Just impressed with a young team, you know very young team. We brought in a lot of new players 24 to be exact and you know the guys have really they really are starting to come together Over the over the course of the season so far and just impressed by the way they've They've matured quickly, you know our season is so short to be able to you know win five games at this stage and Be better than obviously the last couple of seasons It's just great for the program in general and it gives the guys some extra confidence Yeah talking about confidence going back to last season score 10 goals all last season you score 22 all last season 177 shots you're sitting at 157 What are those stats those type of numbers do for for the extra boost of confidence? Well the stats certainly sound a lot better than at the end of last year I mean, that's what it is. It's all about confidence when you're a young team It's you want to get on the right foot if you start losing games It can be very tough for a young team mentally to come back from it You know and we found out last year But we had a bit more of an experienced team last year and the guys really did push all the way to the end and You know I credit that team last year for not giving up all the way to the end of the season This young team needed to start off and and we had a tough bump You know to start with with Washington College. It's a game that we outshot them I think we had over 20 shots that game and we lose 2-1 So, you know to get over that and then turn around with Penn College and win 6-0 and You know gave them that that breathed life into the team So right away having that game where we scored six goals and we also scored against Washington We didn't get shut out and and we created so many opportunities We knew the finishing was going to come and and and you've seen that with how many shots we've taken each game and You know the goals to score and I mean, yeah, we're close to three goals a game And and giving up only one goal a game, which is what our goal at the start of the season I talked about it in the preseason You know video that we wanted to be over two goals a game and less than one and that was the difference from last year So far and it's going to get tougher with conference But we're really happy that the guys are are doing the right things against the teams that we should be beating And from the outside looking in and you might think differently But the story of the season to me is kind of capped by that Wilkes game on Saturday It's won three straights the first time won three straights since 2014 and to come from behind down one Nothing less than 10 minutes ago and score two goals to win that game What is that type of game and for a young team to come from behind do moving forward? And that's yeah, that's a great observation because that that really was and you've seen the way we celebrated and I definitely enjoyed that celebration on On Saturday we you know Washington York and Catholic the three losses were all teams that we could have be very good teams Doing well so far and and non-conference and those were the games that were the close games the Penn College the Shenandoah St. Vincent del Val these were games that we were expected to kind of to win on paper And we took care of them But we took care of them and in the fashion that we needed to and got a lot of goals the Wilkes game was back to those Washington, you know Catholic York so for us to then to you know to be down one zero to not give up You know and I was trying to change things and the guys did it without me They didn't they didn't need it they fought back and and two great goals And you know jevon with a great, you know end-swinging free-kick and then Jay to get the goal off a diving header And you've seen how much it meant to him, you know at the end of that game as well So for for a young team to finally get a game that you know, we're even with I would say I think Wilkes is a good Program the coaches did a great job with them. That's huge for us now now We can say okay, we can go into this week and go into conference and we can win those close games Can we win those close games and and I think the guys should really should really be encouraged by that result on Saturday And you're right I think that was the the story of our season so far really that game was a huge one Yeah, you mentioned Jay Smith He leads the team with five goals, but you're getting scoring from all over the field the reigning rookie of the year Tarik Lee he has three goals to assist Dylan Holy from the defense four goals all with his head and then DR Medtar he's has he has five assists just talk about the play all throughout the field Well, you look at those, you know, that's and that's what we want. We've got so so much talent here We get so much depth across the board Even depth in the the goalkeeping position as well But you know across the board we're getting guys scoring goals and that's great You know because you can't always rely on Tarik Lee, you know, we say, you know coming back from rookie of the year People know him now, so he's gonna be probably marked a little bit tighter Jay, you know leading the way, you know as one of our sophomores DR with the assists I mean he he really has you know improved tremendously and with these set pieces and delivery and then Dylan, you know Dylan coming up. I mean not often you get center back this put in four goals and You know, he's a big weapon for us on the long long throw ins and corner kicks So having having a range of different scores means that somebody you don't have to rely on one person And you know, they could be having a bad game You need other people to step up and that's the great thing about our team right now as you know When when everybody's stepping up everybody's doing what they need to do to win the game And some of those are rookie some of them a freshman Diego Guerrero Dale boring and put the ball in the back of the net talk about their play because there are quite a few freshmen getting a Lot of minutes. Yes, and the freshman, you know, we're you know, we there's no I don't gradually ease them in You know, this is this is college soccer now, you know You don't go back to being like a freshman in high school or maybe you're you know You sit in the bench for a little bit. You can ease into it. You're playing college I mean, you're an adult you need to come in and playing time and those freshmen have earned their playing time And you know amongst the amongst the upperclassmen and the freshmen are really standing out I tell them to be confident if you're one of the players that gets the opportunity to play You can't be nervous a soccer you got to go out and enjoy it and be confident And you know, we're seeing a lot of freshmen step up because they have to you know We expect them we expect them to step up and it's great to see and you know They shouldn't feel pressure because they are freshmen, but they should want to win I want to do well on the field to get more minutes And one of those freshmen is is a goalkeeper Matt Stelitano He's been giving a lot of minutes between the post is a pair of shutouts talk about his play so far this year Yeah, Matt Matt has done a great job and we've got four great goalkeepers that are all you know competing for playing time Matt and Bobby have been the ones that have been kind of going back and forward Matt has You know been getting the playing time recently And they know that they've got to bring it in practice every time because they've got you know so much competition and that's what we wanted we wanted this team to have depth in every position and It starts with the keepers and Matt is a freshman. You see how brave he is I think they had like three or four corners at the end of the Wilkes game and You know, he just came out and punched the ball like you know three or four times And and that's what we want We want our keepers to take command and and as a freshman that kid has no fear And we want that with all our goalkeepers being able to you know take charge take charge of the defense and you know We and he's learned from his mistake because in the Washington College game where we lose to one and he admitted He should have come off his line for that second goal. He didn't they score we lose the game and you know He didn't regress he learned from it. You know, we talk about it's not losing. It's not you know We're learning from our mistakes. It's a learning experience and that's what non-conference is build for conference play Let's let's learn from our mistakes and the the freshman are buying into that and they are doing that what they need to do Yeah, looking forward to the second half of the season conference play starts on Saturday You have Arcadia and then it doesn't get easy you host number one defending national champion messiah on Wednesday And then that following Saturday hit the road for 20th ranked like homing talk about the conference play And where you want to see your team go from here? Well, you know, the conference is a tough conference The Mac has had a you know, really tough conference for a while and men's soccer We've got to you know, we got to get into the playoffs We haven't been in the Mac playoffs yet as a program from Stevenson men's soccer So our goal is to get into the playoffs and finish as high as possible You know, we talked to the guys at the start of the year. We we want to get in the Mac playoffs That's one of our goals and we want to finish as high as possible So regardless if we're playing, you know, Arcadia messiah like homing the first week of the last week It's a game. We got it. It's a conference game. We got to get up for it We're excited for Arcadia on Saturday. We're not gonna You know, and we're not gonna look ahead to messiah like homing We have to win, you know, the game against Arcadia if we want to, you know, be in the top five So we're excited. We're excited to get get rolling with conference. The guys are You know, just just ready. I think we're ready to take that next step for our program And that's to to reach the Mac playoffs. Well coach, we wish you the best of luck and hopefully We sit in here previewing that Mac Mac Commonwealth playoffs. I hope so for head coach Graham Miller I'm Sam Murray and this has been the Graham Miller show