Coro: Historic year starts 'GCU way'

8/29/2019 11:23:00 AM | Men's Soccer, Paul Coro

Lopes' 2018 WAC title sets up program for carryover

By: <a href="http://gculopes.com/index.aspx?path=coro">Paul Coro</a>

The culture of a winning program takes consistency that becomes expected.

To be the program that it wants to be, Grand Canyon men's soccer needed an original to replicate. The Lopes created that last season with five victories against top-25 teams, a WAC Tournament championship and its debut in the NCAA Division I tournament.

What comes next in building the culture is the consistency, within a season and season over season.

This GCU team, which opens its season at 7 p.m. Friday against Northern Kentucky at GCU Stadium, is built to succeed with its defense again, but the returnees who felt the glory of celebrations and the sting of a NCAA tournament loss on penalty kicks have more to bring to this season.

They know the importance of maintaining a consistent level rather than going through last season's extreme highs and low. They know they have to improve their offense to make having one of the nation's best goalkeepers, sophomore George Tasouris, stand up more often.

"It was a magical year," said GCU fifth-year head coach Schellas Hyndman, who ranks fifth in NCAA history for Division I men's soccer coaching victories. "It was a historic year. You hope that what comes out of it is that you've been there, you've tasted it, you've got the trophy and you've got the recognition. Prior to that, it was only by reference to the success I've had for how nice it is to win a conference championship and get into the NCAA tournament. Now they've tasted it. The team's different, though. The new players haven't tasted it."

Fourteen players, 12 of whom started at least one game, return for GCU with Tasouris being the most heralded as WAC Preseason Defensive Player of the Year. The Cyprus native ranked second in the nation for save percentage, stopping 86% of opposing shots last season and posting three shutouts during the Lopes' WAC Tournament championship run.

"Once you get to that point where you have such a good year, what you hope to do is replicate it," Hyndman said. "In sports, we always think you'll be better. If we could get him to replicate what he did his freshman year, we'll be pretty happy with it.

"His other areas will get better – more maturity, more understanding of the NCAA, more accustomed to the collegiate game. That might make him feel better to have a better performance."

It took more than Tasouris for GCU to rank 24th in the nation last season for goals-against average (0.79 allowed per game).

The defense brings back seniors Julien Armaroli and Austin Day, who each started 11 games last season, as well as senior Marlon Atondo. The back line adds Phoenix College transfer Ariel Aguas, who is from Ecuador.

"I think he will have a big impact this year," said Hyndman, who also bolstered the defense with 6-foot-2 freshman Mitch Stephens of Springfield, Missouri, and junior Nick Barreiro after he started two years for New Mexico before its program was discontinued.

That unit is boosted by returning center midfielders Pambos Aristotelous and Marios Andreou after Aristotelous was limited to the final four games last season because of transfer rules.

"It feels like a really tight, close-knit group," Day said. "Everyone's on the same page. There's a chemistry on and off the field that is really good. We had a really good preseason. We're prepared and ready to play and have some fun."

New staffers are helping Hyndman carry over the success of last season, when GCU posted nine shutouts. Tim McClements, a former head coach at Vanderbilt, SMU and Eastern Illinois, reunited with Hyndman after the pair teamed twice at SMU for Final Four runs. Vlastimir Davidovic was elevated from volunteer assistant to full-time assistant coach.

The Lopes stumbled five times on the road last season, but that is where Day said the team is better prepared with rituals it installed for preseason games.

"They know what it takes to get there," Hyndman said of the returnees. "You hope that the players who have tasted it become leaders and drive the team to being more effective on and off the field. It takes time to develop that culture. It takes multiple years of success to be, 'It's the GCU way.' "

GCU is in search of an offensive boost and hopes that returnees such as sophomore forwards Calvin Kissi and Bert Wilton and junior forward Marco Afonso, the team's top returning scorer, can raise their games and the team's scoring. Junior Clement Vannier, a French transfer from Presbyterian, and returnee Jaime Delor, remembered for a game-winning bicycle kick last season against No. 20 Creighton, also help up front.

Junior midfielder Justin Rasmussen has been impressive in his progress on the left side while senior Tosh Yasuda, who came on late last season after an injury, could handle the right midfield spot, where freshman Hugo Logan of England also is a factor.

"Hugo is going to help us in the attacking midfield with creation and hopefully can score some goals as well," Hyndman said.

GCU finished last season ranked No. 53 nationally in the NCAA Ratings Percentage Index, which showed the strength of the WAC with three other teams in the top 51. In addition to facing that conference schedule, the Lopes have loaded the schedule with visits to Saint Mary's, Santa Clara and Virginia Tech in addition to hosting Oregon State on Sep. 12.

The trek begins at home Friday night against Northern Kentucky and sophomore forward Alex Willis, who scored 16 goals last season to rank fourth in the nation.

"The key parts of the game are you have to score goals and stop goals, so we've got to find ways to score goals," Hyndman said. "It could be a lot of different ways, but we've got to get the goals to find victory. If not, your defense can only hold up so long."

Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.