The NOC Mavericks open the 2018 soccer season Saturday hosting Crowder (MO) at 2 p.m.
The Mavericks are coached by Michael DuRoy, now in his 22nd season at NOC. His career record is 229-97-22.
NOC (12-5-1 in 2017) must replace plenty of firepower from last year's team. Rojay Smith had 21 goals for the Mavs while Prince Dom Afriyie had five goals and 10 assists.
The leading returnee is Jamie Ponce who had six goals and three assists in 2017 while Darrion Wilson had four goals and three assists for the Mavs. Besides Ponce and Wilson, Danny Perez played significant minutes in 2017 along with John Woodhead, though the sophomore from England is injured and may miss the entire 2018 season.
"We lost eight starters from last year's team so we'll be rebuilding a little bit," DuRoy said. "This group is working very hard and has had a good attitude. For us, it's a matter of learning to play together with so many new faces and gaining valuable experience. If we can stay healthy, I think we'll improve as the year goes along."
Sophomores who played sparingly as freshman in 2017 but are expected to have more prominent roles include Cin Mang, Victor Bernal, and Austin White.
"They have all improved so much from last year," DuRoy said. "They all had a good spring and summer and are ready to contribute this fall."
A tough early season schedule is just ahead of the Mavs with matches against Cloud County (KS) and Barton County (KS), DuRoy said both are high quality teams.
"We have to survive our early schedule," he said. "We can't let early success or failure make or break us. We have to use everything game and practice as a learning experience."
NJCAA Region 2 has five teams including NOC Tonkawa, NEO, Eastern, Rose State, and Murray State.
"Rose (State) has a lot of returning players," he said. NEO always has a scrappy team so it'll be tough. Eastern and Murray will both be improved so I think it'll be a competitive region."