Men's DC Purple and Gold Classic Preview
DC Classic Site
DEFIANCE, Ohio – The DC men's soccer squad kicks off its season this weekend at Defiance College, where the Yellow Jackets will host the Alma College Scots and the Greenville College Panthers in the annual DC Purple and Gold Classic. The classic runs from Friday, August 31 through Sunday, September 2, with each team slated for two matches.
The Yellow Jackets go into the upcoming season with third-year coach Alex Van der Sluijs leading the squad. The team showed improvement as it added two more wins in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference play to finish with a 3-4-2 mark. The Jackets also ended the season going 4-3-2 in their last nine games and look to build off that momentum leading into this season. DC returns 17 letterwinners and seven starters.
Alma College enters the 2012 season led by head coach Josh Oakley, who is in his second season with the team. Oakley came to Alma after an eight-year stint with Asbury University in Kentucky. Last season the Scots ended with an overall record of 5-12-2 and a Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association record of 2-10-2. Alma lost its top goal scorer, but returns 20 players from last year's squad, including its second-leading point scorer in senior Matt Kuberski with six points.
The Panthers start anew under first-year coach Bobby McColl, who came to Greenville after serving as the assistant men's soccer coach at Roberts Wesleyan College in New York. GC comes into 2012 after a very successful campaign last season, where it went 13-7-3 and grabbed the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship. Greenville lost its top-three goal scorer's to graduation, but does bring back two double-digit points scorer's from last year's squad in senior Dan Ruder and junior Jacob Krisher.
The classic commences on Friday, August 31st at 3:00 p.m., when Defiance hosts Greenville College in the inaugural match. Directly following the men's game, the Lady Yellow Jacket women's squad takes on Greenville College at 5:00 p.m. All DC Classic games will be played on Winsper-Knobel Memorial Field.
