Firm footing starts Kiefer's 2nd GCU year with depth
8/20/2025 6:50:00 PM | Men's Soccer, Paul Coro
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Lopes open at home Thursday night vs. Jacksonville with options
By: Paul Coro
Before Grand Canyon men's soccer can climb in stature again, it needed to find its footing.
The foundation of Lopes head coach George Kiefer's first year revealed where GCU was solid and where cracks needed to be addressed so that his second team of 13 returnees and 17 newcomers can start the season stronger and bonded.
When the Lopes open Thursday night against Jacksonville at GCU Stadium, their outlook will still be formulating because Kiefer and his staff wanted to be two deep at every position for players to be pushed and the team to have more security.
"There's great, healthy competition at every single spot," Kiefer said. "I feel like we've got great moves, and it's going to be a group effort. You'll see almost two teams out there.
"Some guys who played a lot might have to fight to play a lot this year. I want to see how they handle that."
The returnees accounted for 51% of last season's starts for a team that started 2-0 after a win at NCAA Tournament qualifier Duke but ended with four consecutive losses and a 5-10-3 record.
This season starts with five consecutive home games, including a Sept. 4 visit from No. 5 SMU, to help maintain a base that is solidified by the return of Preseason All-WAC players Ben Assane and Jorge Lopez. Ben Assane
"We have so much quality," Assane said. "We have the talent, but that's not enough. We have the work rate from everybody and the communication. Everybody's ready to work harder and give it their all."
The players said they have been helped by changing training tactics, using pre-practice video to help visualize what they are implementing.
The culture of 5 a.m. spring workouts, improving the team GPA and no-excuses timeliness is firmly in place.
"I feel a lot better about the team," Lopez said. "We've gone through a lot of different tactics and motions in training. We have a lot of talent at every position. This team is really stuck together. We do things outside of soccer, and that's going to bring us together and help us this year."
This team is better equipped to play the possession-oriented, high-pressing style that Kiefer envisioned last season. But with only three returnees who scored goals last season (five combined) and improved ball control, GCU expects to boost an offense that averaged less than a goal per game.
"You've got a couple guys who could hit eight to 10 goals each, and then you can get three to four from other guys, and you need some backs to get some on restarts and things like that," Kiefer said. "We have enough guys on top to spread it around."
Assane, a 6-2 graduate from Senegal, could play wide with the ability of Phoenix College transfer Michael Watkins, a 6-2 sophomore, or Junior Diouf, a 6-1 freshman from New Jersey who played for the No. 1 prep team in the country via United Soccer Coaches, Saint Benedict's Prep, last season. Allan Rosales
Diouf could also handle a wing, like junior college transfers Richard Tabares Ochoa (Phoenix) and Allan Rosales (Mount San Antonio) or freshmen Liam Healy and Max Kiefer, who joins his defenseman twin, Jack, on their father's team. Senior forward Nelson Gomez Rodriguez averaged 43 minutes per game last season.
The midfield was solid with the returns of Lopez, sophomore Xande Santos and senior Erick Monge and became stronger when Montreal freshman Toto Salama joined spring practices.
"If Jorge can do the work on the side defending, he will be very valuable on both sides of the ball," Kiefer said of Lopez, who tallied two goals and five assists last season. "With the ball, Jorge is good in tight spaces. He's also good at finding guys 60-70 yards away. I enjoy coaching Jorge because he's a good rhythm guy, a link guy. He gets a lot of people around him to play better."
That midfield deepened with the arrivals of another Phoenix College transfer, junior Martin Luala, and 23-year-old freshman Diego Sanchez, who played on a Monterrey, Mexico, club and trained in Barca Residency Academy in Casa Grande.
"There was a huge priority to make sure the players who we brought in could handle the ball," Kiefer said.
Monge, a fourth-year Lope from Houston with at least six starts each season, has felt the culture shift as much as any player. The Lopes are seeking their first winning season since the 2020 and 2021 NCAA Tournament teams.
"We're disciplined," Monge said. "Everyone learned how to listen. We call came in early and put in the effort to be ready. We're better suited and better prepared." Viggo Gustavsson
The back line has the most experience returning after Viggo Gustavsson and Liam Harrington were pressed into starting. With the additions of freshmen Charles Volcy of Montreal and Finnley O'Brien of Virginia Beach, Virginia, and the return of sophomore Serigne Babacar Diallo after a 2024 injury, GCU has five candidates for center back play.
Santos is also working at right back, where freshman Jack Kiefer of North Carolina and Raul Sanchez of Mexico form a young trio. The left back is nearly as young with freshman Baden Wandling, Diouf's teammate from powerhouse St. Benedict's in New Jersey, and another Mount San Antonio transfer, junior Felipe Cobian.
Goalkeeper may be the most wide-open spot after 6-3 sophomore Max Ionita (Yavapai) and 6-1 Daniel Ibarra (Milwaukee) transferred while 6-5 freshman Gavin Atkinson came from Philadelphia Union Academy to join 6-3 returnee Willem Ficek.
"It's a heavy competition there," Kiefer said.
GCU will have to earn its respect on the field after WAC coaches predicted the Lopes to finish sixth in the eight-team conference.
"I take that personal," Lopez said. "I don't really like that they put us that low. We've got to flip that and show what we're really about."
The foundation of Lopes head coach George Kiefer's first year revealed where GCU was solid and where cracks needed to be addressed so that his second team of 13 returnees and 17 newcomers can start the season stronger and bonded.
