Wildcats News
Wed, Aug 18, 2010 - [Men's Soccer]
Cats Ready To Make Run at Championship
Cats Ready To Make Run at Championship
Cats Picked 12th in NAIA Coaches Poll
 
Bethel Picked to Win TranSouth Conference
 
Bethel University Wildcat Soccer is coming off one of the more successful seasons in school history. The 2008 NAIA National Champions finished the 2009 regular season undefeated and were the TranSouth Men's Champions. The team dropped a tough decision to conference foe Martin Methodist in post season play and then after defeating Kansas Wesleyan University in the first round of the NAIA tournament, they bowed out with a loss to Simon Fraser in round two.

The 2010 squad will be one of the most experienced and deepest in school history.

The Wildcats lost only one senior from last year. Massimo Cullo-Marchese was an Honorable Mention All-American, and will be missed. Coach Melvin Belong will look to seniors, Felix Obilo, Armando Orozco, and Erick Rosas. Obilo and Orozco were All-Conference last year. Juniors, Mario Vila Boa and Joseph Omondi both look to continue their great play. Omondi was a First Team NAIA All-American Defender, while Mario Vila Boa was Conference Player of the Year. Junior Dawyne Smith was also TranSouth All-Conference.Orozco, Smith and Vila Boa combined for 36 goals last season.
 
The  Cats play one of the toughest schedules in the nation. The schedule includes defending champions Lindsay Wilson and seven other Top 25 ranked teams.

Coach Belong will be in his fourth year as head coach at Bethel. He commented on the upcoming season, "We are returning three seniors and three juniors. We hope our experience translates into a successful season. We are excited about our newcomers and feel they will be a part of that success as well." Belong added, "Our expectation each year is to achieve the ultimate goal of winning the national title. We want to achieve team chemistry and energy. We hope to play attractive and result based soccer and approach each game like it is our last."