ARKADELPHIA- Ouachita Baptist Head Men’s and Women’s Soccer Coach Alex Denning announced the release of the 2010 schedule for both soccer programs.
Ouachita Baptist will compete in 17 matches for the Men’s program, while the Women’s program will play 18 for the 2010 season.
“The 2010 Tigers Soccer schedule is going to be a tough one playing a few GSC teams multiple times and adding some more competitive teams into the season but that should set us up to be ready for conference matches and then hopefully the conference tournament,” Ouachita Baptist Head Coach Alex Denning said. “With the recruiting class we have coming in and the solid team that is returning I expect a return to the conference championship. I would like to finish at least third in conference play and believe we can definitely do that.”
After making it to the Gulf South Conference Men’s Soccer Tournament for the first time in program history during the 2009 season, Ouachita Baptist will look to make it back-to-back seasons in postseason play, as the Tigers open the season on the road at Texas Wesleyan on Sept. 4, while Ouachita begins GSC play on Sept. 24 at Delta State.
Returning for the Men’s program are the top five scorers, including reigning GSC Freshman of the Year and First Team All-GSC member Rizvan Ceka, who finished 28th in the nation with .75 Goals per Game and 30th in Points per Game with 1.75. Joining Ceka will be sophomore Sergiu Postolache who finished 24th in the nation in Assists per Game with .45. The Tigers finished at 6-8 overall, including 2-3 in GSC play in 2009.
“After making the Conference Tournament last year we have a lot to build on,” Denning said. “The team is still very young but now with the experience the players got last year I am hoping we can improve on the success towards the end of the season.”
For the Ouachita Baptist Women’s program, the Lady Tigers return 13 players, including the top eight scorers. Among the returnees will be junior Beth Wendl who finished with 11 goals, including a GSC season-high four against Louisiana College on Sept. 3. The Lady Tigers finished third in the conference in Goals (40), Assists (31) and Points (111), while finishing the season fifth in the GSC at 5-8-1 overall, 2-4-1 in GSC play.
“The Lady Tigers 2010 season has potential to be a great one,” Denning stated. “The players coming in, along with the recruiting class all will bring something special to the program and now we actually have some returners with experience which is much needed. We are lucky having such a young team that has so much experience and now this schedule will set us up to play tough competition all the way through keeping us sharp for the conference matches.”
Ouachita Baptist will begin the 2010 Women’s Soccer schedule on the road at Texas Wesleyan on Sept. 4, before returning for the home opener against Palm Beach Atlantic on Sept. 6. The Lady Tigers begin GSC play on Sept. 19 at home against North Alabama.
“Making the conference tournament will be tough this year with most teams returning a good number of players but it is what we expect and would like to accomplish the goal earlier in the conference matches rather than later,” Denning believes. “The leadership and the fact the the team is so close should help us come together quickly and start of the season right.”
