Pacific Index

Pacific’s men’s soccer team welcomes back 11 returning players to start the season

As the season begins for Pacific’s men’s soccer team, players and coaches are feeling good about where they are at. So far, they have started this season 2-1 and have high expectations going forward into the rest of the year. 

It is already a marked improvement from last year (5-9-6), which was an improvement from the previous year, but still, the players are expecting more. After all, it is no longer a building season—but the season for which they have been building, as the squad has returned all 11 starters.

Coach Brandon Porter says the most significant thing about returning all these players is that they are able to stay calm and collected throughout a game. “They don’t get rattled when things don’t go well, or when things go wrong, or if the energy isn’t as good,” he says. “The seniors don’t get as anxious or nervous. At least it doesn’t seem to affect their performance as much.”

Captain Brodie Buchert can attest to this. “Throughout my four years here, this is the most we’ve returned,” he adds. “The year before we only returned two or three guys. We are happy with where we are at, and we have a lot of chemistry we can carry over from prior years.”

Outside of returning starters, many of the players were able to compete for semi-professional and club teams in off-months. This has allowed many players to stay in shape and compete during the months leading up to kickoff back on campus. Captain Tait Kuchenbrod was among a few of these players. “I played for a team called Cascadia United; it is pretty local, down in Beaverton. I got to play with some ballers. A bunch of D1 players, D2 guys, and just a lot of good players in the area,” tells Kuchenbrod, “It totally helped; playing with those guys at a higher level definitely helped.”

Players who compete in the off-season typically stay in shape and stay prepared to face game speed. “It just kept them sharp,” explains coach Porter. “Because going four, five, six months without playing soccer can make them kind of rusty. They stayed fitter- like they say it’s easier to stay in shape then get in shape, so they played a lot.”

Even though the season is still early, there is a continued expectation to get better every single game. Coach Porter says that his main goal is to make sure his guys are locked into the present. He wants to keep them focused on what they can control right now. “I think just focusing on what’s right in front of us,” shares Coach Porter. “It’s easy to look off in the distance, seeing two, three, four weeks ahead and wonder what’s going to happen then. But we got to just look at what’s in front of us.”

The soccer team still has a long season ahead of them, but if they can stay focused, Pacific men’s soccer fans should be able to expect a team that has really improved since last season.