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Spartanburg, S.C. - The USC Upstate men's soccer team, which is just a few days into its practice for the fall season, will hit the field against outside competition for the first time in 2012 when it hosts Spartanburg Methodist College in a scrimmage Tuesday night at 7:00 at County University Soccer Stadium.
Upstate is coming off its most successful season since moving to the A-Sun and Division I in 2007. The Spartans were in the hunt for one of six spots in the A-Sun Tournament until the final match of the regular season last year. They also had five postseason selections in the A-Sun, the most in the first five years of play in the conference. SMC is coming off of a strong season as well, finishing 15th in the nation in the final junior college rankings and claiming a 16-4 overall record. The Pioneers were the Region X regular season and tournament champions.
The scrimmage against SMC is the first of two preseason games for Upstate to begin the 2012 season. The Spartans will play host to Wilmington (Del.) in an exhibition on Aug. 22 before opening the regular season at Clemson on Aug. 24. Upstate will play its regular season home opener on Sept. 3 against Presbyterian.
Upstate head coach Greg Hooks will begin his 18th season as the head coach of the Spartan program. He is also entering his 25th year as a college head coach. He owns a 281-132-32 overall record and a 200-102-26 mark at Upstate. The veteran coach will rely on a solid crop of returning players, led by senior forward Dylan Hoop (Hamilton, Ohio), senior defender John Kadane (Garland, Texas) and sophomore forward Dave Musambi (Ottawa, Ontario). Hoop was a second team all-conference selection a year ago and led Upstate in scoring. Kadane was also a second team all-conference pick and earned preseason all-conference honors this season. Musambi earned all-freshman honors a year ago.
Hooks will look to fill the open position at goalkeeper with one of four roster players. Sophomore Dani Alvarado (Leander, Texas) comes into the season with experience in the program, though he did not see any game action as a freshman last year. Three newcomers will compete for time in goal as well, including junior college transfer Dan Bacon (Tuscon, Ariz.) and freshmen Hassan El-Haddad (Marietta, Ga.) and Raad Wullner (Columbia, S.C.).
