FROSTBURG, Md. - The 2010 Frostburg State men’s soccer team is coming off three-straight 12-win seasons and is poised to carry that recent success into the first year in the Capital Athletic Conference this fall. The Bobcats, who finished 12-7-1 and made their eighth-straight trip to the AMCC Tournament semifinals last year, hope to make a successful transition to the new conference and compete right away with some high-quality teams. 

In some ways it will be a bit of a rebuilding year for FSU as they field just four seniors this season. The Bobcats lose 53 percent of its offense from a year ago as the top four goal scorers and point leaders will have to be replaced. Ninth-year head coach Keith Byrnes is hoping that his young team can grow and build on the early season games and be ready to compete in the CAC come mid-September.

The sophomore tandem of Dillon Muise (Germantown, Md./Clarksburg) and Shawn Baker (Jefferson, Md./Brunswick) will be asked to lead the offense in 2010. The pair combined for 10 goals and five assists while earning a combined 16 starts in their rookie seasons. Muise and Baker were key contributors last year who saw significant time and should be ready to step up and be the go-to-guys in the frontline.

The midfield will have plenty of experience as it will be comprised of seniors Danny Hutchins (Baltimore, Md./Parkville), Cisco Diaz (Silver Spring, Md./Damascus) and Raul Diaz (Clarksburg, Md./Damascus). Raul Diaz, who spent time in the midfield and in defense last year, earned Honorable Mention All-AMCC honors last season. The ’09 season was Diaz’s first season with the team after transferring in from Montgomery CC-Rockville. Junior Michael Bistany (Greenbelt, Md./Damatha Catholic) will occupy the role of the team’s defensive midfielder and look to break up opposing attacks. Sophomore Jason King (Herndon, Va./Herndon) will be back after sitting out the 2009 season with an injury. In 2008, King started 12 of the 13 games in which he played and spent time as a central midfielder and forward.

The defense will have a few new faces, but first team all-conference player Jamie Flewellyn (Arnold, Md./Broadneck) will be back to solidify the back line. Flewellyn has started all 39 games in his first two years. Junior Anthony Tossounian (Rockville, Md./Walter Johnson) hopes to be fit and back in form after two tough seasons. Tossounian had to redshirt his freshman year due to a hamstring injury picked up during preseason and then in his sophomore year had to sit out due to a knee injury suffered midway through the season. Tossounian was back on the field last year, but was not quite 100 percent as he worked to get back to the form that had him in a starting role before his knee injury.

The goalkeeper position will have some veteran experience and should see a competition for the starting spot in 2010. Senior Stephen Cavallo (Charlotte, N.C./East Lincoln) and sophomore Abiye Jack (Baltimore, Md./Loch Raven) will push each other to be the team’s top netminder this year. Cavallo saw most of the time, starting 18 games, but Jack started three games in the middle of the season and had a 0.67 goals against average before being knocked out of his starting spot with an injury.

Four other players from 2009 will return and after having strong spring seasons hope to have more of an impact on the team this year: senior Matt Parsons (Frostburg, Md./Beall), juniors Michael Hurst (Church Hill, Md./Queen Annes County) and Scott Wasser (Leesburg, Va./Heritage) and sophomore Mark Eiseman (Olney, Md./Sherwood).

This year, if Byrnes and his squad are to make it four-straight 12-win seasons, they are going to have to rely on the help of the 12 new players on the roster.

Freshmen Michael Norman (Jefferson, Md./Middletown) and Alex Brainard (Aberdeen, Md./Aberdeen) will offer immediate support to the frontline. Brainard was a First Team All-Conference selection as a senior at Aberdeen.

In the midfield, former All-State selection Bryan Whitmore (Hagerstown, Md./Williamsport) and North Carolina Wesleyan transfer Chris Coello (Glen Burnie, Md./Mt. Saint Joseph) will see playing time right away. Whitmore was the county Player of the Year runner-up and All-County honoree as a senior at Williamsport. Brandon Rodgers (Frostburg, Md./Mountain Ridge) and Toby Schaffner (Mt. Holly Springs, Pa./) will add depth to the midfield this season. 

On the backline, Sergio Vargas (San Jose, Costa Rica) has locked up the starting left back position through his play this preseason. Meanwhile, Greg Hill (Upper Marlboro, Md./Bishop McNamara) is currently contending for the open center back spot. He was a two-time all-conference and All-County selection at Bishop McNamara. Jason Bennett (Dunkirk, Md./Northern), Micah Bunting (Pocomoke, Md./Pocomoke) and Chris Jones (California, Md./Leonardtown) will start the season as backups on defense but will have the opportunity to work into the lineup as the season progresses.

Freshman goalkeeper Drew Hock (Brookeville, Md./Sherwood) will push the two returning keepers for playing time fall. Hock was a four-year letterwinner at Sherwood.

New Addition
Emmett Rutkowski begins his first year with the FSU soccer coaching staffs in the fall season and will work with both the men’s and women’s goalkeepers. Rutkowski, a goalkeeper himself in college, played four years at the University of Mary Washington. While with the Eagles, he served as team Captain, team MVP and garnered First Team All-CAC honors in 2009. On the coaching side of things, Rutkowski served as an assistant coach for Chancellor High School, head coach for the Fredericksburg Generals and a goalkeeper trainer for the Fredericksburg Hotspurs.

Schedule
Frostburg State opens the season on Sept. 1 when it travels to Bethany. It’s the second-consecutive year that FSU and BC face one another in their season opener. On Labor Day weekend, the Bobcats host the FSU Tournament with Allegheny, Eastern Mennonite and Wilmington on Sept. 3 and 4.

FSU kicks off CAC action on Sept. 15 when it hosts Marymount at 5:00 pm and the Bobcats travel to defending league champion York on Oct. 2 at 2:00 pm.

Frostburg closes out its regular season on Oct. 27 when it travels to Stevenson at 3:00 pm.