RAPID CITY, S.D. – The South Dakota Mines men's soccer team begins its season on Friday as they head to Denver for a pair of neutral site contests, taking on Emmanuel on Friday and William Jewell on Sunday.
Returners:
Starting with the goalkeepers, the Hardrockers bring back Daniel Frietas who has started nearly every match over the past two seasons.
Jonathan Stockwell enters the fray as a junior after spending time with the team in a different role last season.
Freitas has started 28 games in his career, seeing action in 30 and significantly improved in his sophomore year to acerage allowing 2.27 goals per game, almost a goal improvement over his freshman season.
In the defense, the Hardrockers bring back mainstays,
Trent Ripley,
Zach Peroff,
Rider Grow and
Aydon Ellis along with
Gabe Ripperda Jonny Hoesch and
Colton Clay.
The four mainstays have started in 86 games over their careers with the four starting a combined 60 games in 2023.
Rider Grow earned RMAC Defensive Player of the Week last season when he scored the game-winning goal in a win at Adams State.
In the midfield, the Hardrockers bring back
Hayden Jaramillo who is one of the best players in program history, sitting atop the leaderboard in single-season assists and in a tie for most assists. Also joining him in the midfield is
Jacob Miklas who will come back after playing in a defensive role last season.
Bergen Loveless,
Dominic Delka and
Mateo Clagg return as sophomores.
Jeff Wacker,
Parker Yocom,
Chase Stohlmann,
Jayden Roque and Trace-Ho Tran make up the returning attackers.
Newcomers:
In goal, the Hardrockers bring in
Charles Thompson from Canada to push for time in the net.
Emory Johnson,
Cooper Hunt,
Joel Eckhardt,
Abhel Cortez-Soto,
Auggie Scherting and
Hosea Wohler make up the incoming defenders.
The three additions in the midfield are
Ethan French,
Stone Rubeck and
Mason Kasel.
Meanwhile, in the front line, the Hardrockers bring in
Alex Warrick,
Sawyer Rueckert,
Nickolas North and
Conner Larrew to push for time and increase the attacking effort in the team.
Scouting Emmanuel:
Emmanuel is a team that picked up eight victories last season, finishing with a winning record and was picked to finish seventh in the preseason poll for Conference Carolinas.
The Lions bring back standouts Tomas Pollacchi, Naxto Faus and Matt Fitzer.
Pollacchi and Fitzer each can find the back of the net, combining to score 15 goals, while Pollacchi added eight assists. Fitzer led the conference with 10 goals in 2023.
Faus had an 11-save outing and finished the season with a .791 save percentage.
Scouting William Jewell:
William Jewell was recently selected 14th in the GLVC preseason poll with 34 points.
They are coming off a tough 2023 season where they were winless, finishing the season 0-12-4 and 0-9-4 in the conference.
Their top goal scorers in Alexis Ibarra and Henry Staebell both return.
GAME INFORMATION
Emmanuel:
Date/Time: Sept. 6 / 3:00 PM MT
Site: Lakewood, Colorado
Stadium: Trailblazer Stadium
Series Overall: Never met.
Streak: Never met.
Last Meeting: Never met.
Watch Live: RMAC Network |
rmacnetwork.com/coloradochristian
William Jewell:
Date/Time: Sept. 8 / 12:00 PM MT
Site: Lakewood, Colorado
Stadium: Trailblazer Stadium
Series Overall: Never met.
Streak: Never met.
Last Meeting: Never met.
Watch Live: RMAC Network |
rmacnetwork.com/coloradochristian
You can find the latest on South Dakota Mines soccer all year long on X (@hardrockermsoc) and Instagram (@hardrockersoccer), while also following on Facebook at Hardrocker Soccer. The latest on South Dakota Mines athletics can be found by following us on X at @GoHardrockers, hardrockerathletics on Instagram and Hardrocker Athletics on Facebook.
About South Dakota Mines
The South Dakota School of Mines & Technology is a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) and NCAA Division II offering 13 men's and women's varsity intercollegiate athletic programs. The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference is a premier NCAA Division II conference with 15 members, as well as four associate members, located in the states of California, Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Utah.
