ROLLA, Mo. – The last time the Missouri S&T men's soccer team was seen in game competition that mattered was in the first weekend of November in 2019.  At that time, the Miners were in the process of finishing off a improved season, but one that saw them fall short of making the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament.

After making a two-game jump in the win column in the 2019 season, the Miners have had to wait to get back into contests as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic that postponed the season last fall.  But starting Friday, Missouri S&T will return to the playing field as it opens an abbreviated spring schedule with a pair of weekend contests.

The Miners will begin a 14-game, conference-only slate Friday when they take on Truman State in Kirksville, Mo., then opens the home schedule on Sunday when they play William Jewell at 2:30 p.m. at Allgood-Bailey Stadium.  Due to current GLVC and university guidelines, fans will not be able to attend Sunday's game – but the game will be available on the GLVC Sports Network (click on link on the right).

S&T head coach Rob Cummings is excited to get things started, even under the unprecedented circumstances that the season will take place in.

"This spring is going to be a unique season in not only because we are playing in the spring, but also that no players will lose any eligibility," Cummings said.  "What this does is allow me to take a closer look at players in games and not having to worry about jeopardizing any of their eligibility.  It also means that every practice is going to have everyone competing to make the game day roster."

The Miners will play this spring season without their top scorer from 2019 in Bertram Gjelfort (Frederiksberg, Denmark/Falkonergaarden), who scored six times that season.  S&T will, however, return several other multiple-goal scorers from that squad beginning with Paal Benum (Trondheim, Norway/Byaasen Videregaadende), who posted four goals during that campaign. 

Benum will anchor a back line that includes returners Josh Wobbe (Collinsville, IL/Collinsville) and Evan Birsinger (Friendswood, TX/Friendswood) while Andrew Heider (Hazelwood, MO/Hazelwood West), who did not play during the 2019 season, also returns to the mix among the defenders.

Also back in the mix are Jason Jorgensen (Florence, Italy/Liceo Scientifico Santa Maria) and Julien Denis (Olathe, KS/Olathe East), both of whom had two goals and two assists, while Shane Cairns (North Olmstead, OH/North Olmstead) had two goals and an assist. 

Jorgensen will be among the midfield contingent along with Cairns, Jacob Bandy (Bettendorf, IA/Pleasant Valley) – who also scored twice a season ago – Joe Mueller (Cottleville, MO/Francis Howell Central HS), Sean Perryman (Springfield, MO/Glendale), Sigurd Semlitsch (Oslo, Norway/Stabekk Videregaaende Skole) and Nick Sikora.  Tony Petruso (O'Fallon, MO/St. Dominic), a squadmember who did not play during the previous campaign, also returns to a squad that also has a number of newcomers in the midfield, with Brandon Bunger (Williamsville, IL/Williamsville) and Derek Schlenker (Chandler, AZ/Hamilton) leading that group.

Denis is the leading returning scorer among the forwards, where the Miners also bring back Sigurd Semlitch and veteran Mark Poindexter (Raymore, MO/Raymore-Peculiar).  The Miners are also looking to get additional offense from newcomers Dario Rossell (Madrid, Spain/IES Lazaro Cardenas), Leyton Harper (Andover, KS/Central) and Gabe Ontiveros as well as Luan Barbosa (Curitiba, Brazil/Colegio SESI), who was redshirted during the 2019 campaign.

The biggest hole to fill for the Miners this spring will be in goal, where Nick Posey (Edwardsville, IL/Edwardsville) started in 16 of the 17 games played in 2019.  The only other goalkeeper to see playing time was Michael Sallee (Springfield, MO/Catholic), who played 148 minutes in three contests and recorded a goal against average of 3.63.

Sallee will compete with returners Davis Joseph (Andover, KS/Andover Central) and Brendan Sweeney (Kearney, MO/Kearney) and newcomer Alec Venhaus (Columbia, IL/Columbia) for the starting role in goal.

The Miners were picked to finish 12^th in the GLVC pre-season coaches poll that was released Wednesday and Cummings has set a goal for S&T to be among those teams taking part in the event.

"Our goal is to compete to get to the conference tournament," Cummings said.  "We have two seniors that this will be their last season, so want to send them off with a conference tournament bid.  We have some good depth in many areas and this spring it's going to force everyone to have to compete each and every practice to keep or earn a spot on game day.

"I told the team going into our first match this Friday at Truman that our depth has made this decision very difficult as the gap isn't big between our players," Cummings added.
 
The Miners will play seven home contests during the spring season leading into the GLVC Tournament that begins April 23.

Truman State was 7-8-2 during the 2019 season and was 6-7-2 in GLVC play, while William Jewell finished that campaign with records of 1-14-2 and 1-12-2 in the GLVC.