After having the largest turnout in recent history at tryouts last spring, the men’s club soccer team enters this season expecting success, according to team member Davey Steele. This year’s team of 27 was chosen from a field of more than 100 players seeking a position on the squad. Steele, the team’s treasurer, said it is the best team he’s been a part of.

“I’ve played the past three years, and this is definitely the best talent we’ve had,” Steele said. “We just play really well together, and we can really work the ball around and keep possession.”

Entering this past weekend, the Wolfpack was ranked No. 3 in the region behind Auburn and Florida. After last Friday’s game against UNC-Chapel Hill was canceled, State defeated Wake Forest on Sunday, improving its season record to 3 – 2.

The Pack has not lacked in offensive firepower this season. After five games, the team has already scored 19 goals for an average of 3.8 goals per game.

While the team has also given up 12 goals in five games, midfielder Brandon Williams, a junior in business management, said the players are much improved defensively from last season when they struggled at times.

“We were lacking in a lot of positions,” Williams said. “The back wasn’t that strong, and the outsides needed work. We just needed to pick up some more players, and we did that this year.”

State has just one more scheduled game at Elon this Friday before the Clemson tournament on Oct. 12. Team secretary and starting forward David Vaught, a junior in sport management, said the Clemson tournament and the regional tournament two weeks later are the focus of the team’s fall season.

“Those are really our two big events that we shoot for every year,” Vaught said. “That is when we expect to be playing at our best and have all of our best players.”

Vaught also said the team is strong enough this year to win both tournaments.

“The team that we have is probably one of the most talented teams I’ve been on in the three years I’ve played club,” Vaught said. “Also, it has the dedication you need to be successful, which is something we haven’t always had in years past. I definitely expect us to be in contention for both of those tournaments.”

With 27 players and six reserves listed on its roster, Steele said the team can field higher numbers of quality players than ever before.

“The strength of our team this year is definitely the depth,” Steele said. “Usually you have 11 good players, and when you sub somebody, the level of play falls off. Now we are pretty deep, so that doesn’t happen.”

After playing this Friday and then a bye week, the club will travel to the Clemson soccer tournament. State’s next home game will be Nov. 11 when Wake Forest comes to Raleigh. Midfielder Kurtis Kennedy, a junior in civil engineering, said students should definitely come out if they want to see quality soccer.

“We are always looking for support,” Kennedy said. “It’s always a good time, so we’d love to have some more fans out there.”