Pacific Index

Evan Bleyer Gives His Thoughts on the Upcoming Season

It is the Friday before the Pacific Men’s soccer team plays against Bushnell. The sun is out, and coach Evan Bleyer wears his team polo and shorts after a light session. He sits on a bench by the field, with a calm and optimistic presence. Just last year, and the year before, Bleyer was on the other side—as a player. Now, in his final term as a Sports Communication Major, he has switched from field to sideline as an Assistant Coach for the team.

Nico Lomanto: You’re the new coach for the Pacific men’s soccer team as of the 2025

season. Let me first ask how you’re liking it. 

Evan Bleyer: So far, I’m really liking it. I’m here finishing up my degree, so I definitely wanted to be involved with the team in some way. Coaching was the perfect thing. Started doing it last

spring and kind of earned the job for the fall. But I really enjoyed just being around at practice,

seeing you guys play and improve as well.

NL: As a quality player do you find it difficult transitioning to a coaching role where

you’re no longer able to play? 

EB: Some days they are harder than others. Like, on a day like today, it was not a problem at

all, because it was a light training session, just having fun being out there with the boys

watching you play. But then, obviously on days where it’s a lot of playing, and fun drills, yeah, I

definitely miss playing. So it really just depends on what we’re doing on the day.

NL: Pacific graduated 10 seniors from last season. How would you respond to people

saying this has left a void in the team this year? 

EB: Yeah, we lost five starters, and six big minute players from last year, including three

captains. So we weren’t sure what we were going to see out of the guys, but we have improved

every single game. Every single training session, they’ve been incorporating what we’ve been asking, which is great! We’ve seen a lot of guys step up. That next man up mentality is what

college soccer is all about. I’ve liked what I’ve seen so far.

NL: Pacific lost their two exhibition games, as well as losing and tying an opening game.

How would you respond to people asking if this is something to worry about? 

EB: I think in terms of preseason as a coaching staff, you want to see as many guys out there

as you possibly can. You’re not going to have your best team out there all the time. Preseason is

more about getting your guys bought into how you want to play. We just want to see progression

and improvement before we approach the conference season.

NL: With 11 new players brought in this year, do you think this has changed the tactics of

the team or the way that they play and how has it changed if it has? 

EB: Yeah, it definitely has. Obviously, you still have the same non-negotiables, like, working

hard, defending well, you know, getting in the box, stuff like that. But in terms of tactics, it’s kind of different based on the class that we have. Like you mentioned, we lost a lot of seniors last year that kind of helped us in possession. And so now that we kind of lost those guys that

helped us keep the ball we’ve turned to a very direct style. We started with a 4-4-2 formation.

Now it’s a 4-2-4. So we are really bypassing the midfield and playing vertically into the channels.

NL: What do you see as the biggest strength and weakness for this 2025 Pacific soccer

side? 

EB: I would say our biggest strength is our defensive shape. I feel like with teams the past two

years, that was kind of, you know, a problem where we get played through. This year, other

teams have not really been able to create much against us. And then obviously our biggest

weakness is definitely scoring goals. And basically building through the midfield. We don’t really focus on that.

NL: And what is a reasonable goal for this side? 

EB: Last year, we had a winning record for the first time in nine years. We’d love to keep the

narrative of this program. It’s been kind of just improving the program every single year. But with all due respect, I don’t think that’s the goal this year. Obviously, we had three captains graduate. So I’d probably say somewhere in the range of maybe like six or seven wins.