Mastodons Open Men's Soccer Season Friday Against Saint Joseph's

Friday, August 26

Westfield, Ind. (Field #3)

7 P.M.

Purdue Fort Wayne

Saint Joseph's (IN)

Mastodons Open Men's Soccer Season Friday Against Saint Joseph's

8/25/2016 8:27:00 AM | Men's Soccer

Who: Saint Joseph's (IN)
When: Friday, August 26 | 7 p.m.
Where: Grand Park Field #3 | Fort Wayne, IN
All-Time Series: Fort Wayne leads the series 15-8-2
Last Meeting: Saint Joseph's 3, Fort Wayne 2 | August 28, 2015 | Fort Wayne, Ind.
Live Stats: Fort Wayne Live Stats

ABOUT FORT WAYNE
Head coach Mike Harper returns for his ninth season with the Mastodons coming off of a 5-12-0 finish last season. Harper welcomes back 16 players from last year's team, including six seniors and four juniors. The team also welcomed the addition of 11 newcomers to the squad.

FORWARDS
Three Mastodon forwards return for the front line of the 2016 campaign. Senior Stephen Danielian, redshirt junior Oscar Uyamadu, and sophomore Alex Joneson. Uyamadu logged time in eleven games last season, starting three. Sophomore Erick Turner steps on as the lone newcomer fighting for time.

MIDFIELDERS
The Mastodon midfield returns eight with sophomore Zach Tom leading the way after a 2015 season in which he led Fort Wayne in points with 11, landing him in spot in the top ten in the Summit League in points. Senior duo Spencer Brown and Jacob Murphy return after each recorded three goals and logging playing time in sixteen or more games throughout the year. Fellow senior, Darren Doyle, returns for his final season after logging heavy playing time with seventeen starts for the Mastodons. Fort Wayne adds a quartet of newcomers to strengthen the midfield with Edel Ensaldo Bustos, Will Hunt, Keelan Barker, and Nicholas Ribas.

DEFENDERS
Senior Thilo Körperich returns to Fort Wayne as one of the leaders in points from last season, recording three assists good for three points. Redshirt junior Andy O'Donoghue (one goal) and junior Cam Sinclair (one assist) also return to bulk up the back line. Junior Jeremiah Ziaty comes in as a newcomer in 2016.

GOALKEEPERS
Redshirt senior Raphael Kotzock logged 17 starts last season and ranked fourth in the Summit League in total saves with 71. Sophomore Jorge Trujillo also returns for the Mastodons this season, after seeing time in three games last year. Freshman Andrew VonGunten joins the Mastodons for the 2016 season.

SCOUTING THE PUMAS
Saint Joseph's went 9-7-2 last season. The Pumas finished fifth in the Great Lakes Valley Conference last season and eventually fell to the fourth seeded Missouri S&T Miners in double overtime in the GLVC Men's Soccer Championship Tournament. Friday's match-up with the Mastodons will be an exhibition for Saint Joseph's. The Pumas conclude preseason play with an exhibition contest where they host Bethel College (IN) before beginning the regular season portion of their schedule September 2^nd at Northwood University (MI).

ALL-TIME SERIES
The Mastodons and Pumas are meeting for the 25th time in series history, with Fort Wayne owning a 15-8-2 record over Saint Joseph's. The series dates back to 1978, as the two clubs were former conference mates in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. While the 'Dons fell to the Pumas 3-2 in their last meeting in the 2015 season, Fort Wayne earned the 6-0 shutout over Saint Joseph's in the 2014 season.

SCHEDULE
The Mastodons begin the season with matches against non-conference opponents including the Horizon League (Green Bay, Valparaiso and Detroit), American Athletic Conference (Cincinnati), Mid-American (Western Michigan), Atlantic 10 (Dayton), Western Athletic Conference (UTRGV), and Atlantic Sun Conference (Northern Kentucky). In addition to the non-conference slate, Fort Wayne is set to face a pair of Missouri Valley Conference members, Bradley and Evansville, at the Evansville Tournament. Summit League play begins September 24^th when the Mastodons travel out to Colorado to take on Denver.

LAST TIME OUT
Fort Wayne topped Indiana Tech 4-0 at Warrior Athletic Field on Tuesday, Aug. 16 in an exhibition contest. Oscar Uyamadu scored the first goal for the Mastodons in the contest with Erick Turner adding one before the close of the first half and Zach Tom and Jacob Murphy rounding out the final two goals in the second half. The Mastodons concluded their preseason exhibition schedule as part of the Shindigz National Soccer Festival Friday, Aug. 19 with a 0-0 lock against Wright State. Goalkeeper Raphael Kotzock held off the Raiders with three saves on eight attempts.