ROLLA, Mo. – A new era of men's soccer gets underway at Missouri S&T this weekend, as the Miners – under the direction of new head coach Robert Cummings – open their 2018 schedule with a pair of games in the state of Michigan.

The Miners, who reached the semifinals of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament for the second time in three years last fall, will begin the new campaign with contests against two of the top pre-season picks in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.  The first of those comes Sunday against Northwood in Midland, Mich., against a team that was picked to finish third in that conference.

S&T completes the early road trip Tuesday with an afternoon matchup against the GLIAC's pre-season favorite, Davenport, in Grand Rapids, Mich., before it heads home to prepare for its home opener against Upper Iowa one week from Sunday.

Last year, the Miners finished the season with a record of 8-7-3 and went 6-6-2 in the GLVC before knocking off regular season champion Rockhurst in the first round of the conference tournament.  However, the team that will take the field Sunday will have quite a different look to it than the one that was on the field last November.

The Miners lost three of their top five scorers from last year's squad and one of the two that returned, David Murphy (Naperville, IL/Naperville Central), has been sidelined with an injury in the pre-season.    The top returner in the scoring column is Unnar Ulfarsson (Gardabaer, Iceland/Fjolnir Reykjavik), who tallied three goals and dished out seven assists last season.

Ulfarsson is one of six returning starters to the Miner lineup this year, as he is joined by forward Austin Parks (Rolla, MO/Rolla), midfielder Will McIntyre (Queenstown, New Zealand/) and defenders Tyler Sivadon (Spring, TX/Concordia Lutheran), Paal Benum (Trondheim, Norway/Byaasen Videregaadende) and Tim Schreffl (Rosenheim, Germany/Findsterwalder Gymnasium).  Parks missed much of last season with an injury, but did have a goal and an assist before being sidelined.  McIntyre had a goal and two assists, while Sivadon anchored the back line that included Benum and Schreffl and helped hold opponents to a 1.57 goals against average.

That trio will be joined along the back line by a group of newcomers, including Hunter Short (Rolla, MO/Rolla), who is playing his final season at S&T after playing three seasons at William Jewell; freshmen Jason Jorgensen (Florence, Italy/Liceo Scientifico Santa Maria) and Andrew Heider (Hazelwood, MO/Hazelwood West) and returner Kyle Carberry (Lake In The Hills, IL/Huntley).

They will play in front of goalkeeper Nick Posey (Edwardsville, IL/Edwardsville), who started for the Miners during his freshman season in 2015 but has been a reserve behind Aaron Hohenstein (St. Louis, MO/Lutheran South) over the last two years.  Posey is one of four goalkeepers on the S&T roster along with returners Corey Jolitz (Milwaukee, WI/Marquette University HS) and Michael Sallee (Springfield, MO/Catholic) and newcomer Lucas Mitchell (Liberty, MO/Liberty).

Along with Ulfarsson and Parks, the Miners are looking for significant offensive contributions on the front line from a pair of redshirt freshmen in Julien Denis (Olathe, KS/Olathe East) and Jesse George (St. Charles, MO/Francis Howell North) and newcomer Alejandro Chavarri (Sevilla, Spain/Santa Joaquina de Vedruna), who played the 2017 season at Oakland City University.

At the midfield position, the Miners return Mark Poindexter (Raymore, MO/Raymore-Peculiar), Trey Haman (St. Louis, MO/St. Louis University HS) and Sean Perryman (Springfield, MO/Glendale), while newcomers Thomas Jorgensen (Florence, Italy/Liceo Scientifico Santa Maria), Cade Johnstone (Wasilla, AK/Mat-Su Career & Technical) and Joe Mueller (Cottleville, MO/Francis Howell Central HS) will also be part of the mix.

S&T's Sunday opponent, Northwood, went 11-4-3 and captured the regular season title in the GLIAC last season.  The Timberwolves return goalkeeper Corbin Cecchini, who recorded a 0.90 goals against average a year ago, while sophomore Austin Hobbs is the team's top returning scorer with four goals.

The Timberwolves and Miners played to a 2-2 tie early in the 2017 season in Rolla.

Davenport was 12-6-1 and won the GLIAC Tournament, helping it earn the top spot in the league's pre-season poll.  The Panthers had the GLIAC's offensive player of the year in Brogan Shrimpton, who scored 19 goals last fall and the defensive player of the year in defender Stephen Carroll – and both players are back this season.   Davenport will have a new regular goalkeeper this fall, but most of the Panthers' back line has returned.