The Bryan College Men’s Soccer team has released its schedule for the 2016 season. The Lions pieced together an impressive campaign last year, capturing the 2015 Appalachian Athletic Conference Regular Season crown with a notable 13-5-2 overall record and 8-0-1 record in conference, bettering their previous four seasons.
Last year the Lions proved their ability to hang with top teams in the nation. The first ranked opponent Bryan met was University of Rio Grande (Ohio) who went on to secure a 23-1 record and collect its second National Championship title in school history.
The Lions held the No. 1 team to a two-goal difference when Bryan battled the RedStorm. Bryan faced a 25th ranked Georgia Gwinnett College mid-season and slipped away with a 3-2 loss. Fellow AAC foe and conference tournament victor, Union College (Ky.), fell victim to the Lions 3-2 during the regular season. The Bulldogs of Union responded in the AAC Tournament Championship Game with a 1-4 decision their way before heading to the NAIA National Tournament where the No. 1 seeded Rio Grande ended their run in the second round.
Bryan had a top-50 national ranking in shots per game (19.1), shots on goal per game (8.4), goals per game (2.5), total goals (51), total assists (36), assists per game (1.8), and total shutouts (6).
As the season approaches and the Lions kick their way into preseason, Head Coach Drew Courtney said, “I am really excited to get our season underway. We have a lot of work to do to get where we need to be, but I believe we have the right group of guys who are ready for that type of commitment.”
It’s a dual of the big cats as Bryan and the Lions of Freed-Hardeman compete in the season opener on Aug. 27 with a 7pm start time. The first of this year’s nine AAC meetings will be Sept. 17 at 7pm when the Lions travel to Virginia to square off against the Rams of Bluefield College. Bryan remains on the road the following week as they take on Georgia Gwinnett on Sept. 20 and conference opponent St. Andrews University on Sept. 24 before returning home on Sept. 27 to defend the pitch against the Cumberland University Phoenix (Tenn.). On Oct. 1 the Lions journey to Greenville, S.C. for a match against NCCAA opponent Bob Jones University and follow it up with a visit to Barbourville, Ky. where Bryan will look to even things up with the Union Bulldogs. The homecoming game is slated for Oct. 8 with a 2pm start time versus Milligan College (Tenn.). AAC challengers Truett-McConnell College (Ga.) and Reinhardt University (Ga.) hosts Bryan Oct. 11 and Oct. 18 before the Lions make their way to Campbellsville University (Ky.) for the last non-conference match of the season. Bryan closes out regular season action with three conference home games against Point University (Ga.) on Oct. 22, Montreat College (N.C.) on Oct. 26, and Tennessee Wesleyan on Oct. 29.
The tough layout of skilled conference and non-conference teams in the schedule was put in place to better ready the Lions in the long haul. When asked about the planning process of the schedule, Courtney explained, “This year we purposely made a difficult out of conference schedule. Our purpose for that is to prepare ourselves for the strength of our conference and put ourselves in a better position for post-season play. There are no off days for us this fall, which will certainly be a challenge, but I think the young men in our program are here because they want to be challenged and hopefully compete for championships in the process.”
Instead of struggling to fill positions, the Bryan team only lost a few seniors last year, so the highly skilled and determined Lions remain young. This has allowed the newly seasoned crew to settle in as leaders and offer an easy move to the incoming individuals. “Coming into this season will be very different for us than in years past,” mentioned Courtney. “Our senior class last year was only three guys so the majority of our team will be returning. Our culture is extremely important to us, so having a lot of returners is key and also makes the transition for the new guys a lot smoother. I am excited about our incoming freshmen class. They will certainly raise the level of our play and push for time straight away.”