CRESSON — Mt. Aloysius men’s soccer team is hunting for its third AMCC championship in the last four seasons but, they’re also thinking about being ranked in a more major way.

“Our team goals for this season are to win our third conference title in four years and return to the national tournament to try to win the college’s first-ever national tournament game in any sport,” Mounties head coach Laurence Hutchinson said.

“Two years ago we were defeated in the national tournament on penalties by No. 11 Ohio Northern. We also want to be regionally ranked throughout the season with the hope of achieving the college’s first-ever national ranking.

The Mounties were 12-2-4 last season and were AMCC runner-ups. In 2021 and 2022, Mt. Aloysius won the AMCC and reached the NCAA Tournament.

“Last year (2023) was a very difficult one to improve on as we were the No. 1 scoring offense in the country and only conceded nine goals. We had an amazing season. However, we were defeated on penalty kicks in the conference final, so we are hungry to get that one back and try to win the conference again so we can play in the national tournament. This is the deepest roster we have ever had in terms of quality from top to bottom, so the expectation is that we keep moving forward and pushing the program to new heights,” Hutchinson explained.

The coach added that the Mounties will face a gauntlet of tough competition as they pursue their goals.

“Buffalo State, Lycoming, and Geneva are our toughest non-conference opponents as they all had brilliant seasons last year. In the conference there are never many easy games – Alfred State beat us on penalties in the final last year to win the conference and they will be good again, Penn State Behrend is always a very good team that has won more AMCC titles than everyone else combined,” Hutchinson noted.

The Mounties want to control the pace of play and have a stingy defense.

“We are a team that wants to play on the front foot and dictate the tempo of the game by controlling possession in the opposition’s half and playing through the lines with our numerous creative players. Defensively we take pride in not giving the opposition anything easy and will look to continue to be a hard team to defeat,” the Mounties coach added.

Who will be the Mounties’ captains this season?

“Our captains this year are seniors Luke Traynor and Louis Bez, and junior Manuel Prats. Juan Camacho is looking to become the program’s all-time leader in goals, assists, and points. He needs 14 goals, nine assists, and 30 points to take the triple crown. Last season he finished with 13 goals, 14 assists, and 40 points while receiving conference POTY, All-Region, and Academic All-Region. Louis Bez also received All-Region recognition,” Hutchinson said.

The Mounties have quality underclassmen who could make noise on the soccer field this season.

“Sophomore defender Martin Donner will look to become an all-conference defender this year and Warrior Run graduate Tanner Polcyn will be a key contributor for us on the wing. All of our freshmen came in flying this year, Hugo Ljungmark, Bill Dohren, and Joel Martinez all had a quality preseason and will keep pushing to become starters for us this season,” the Mounties coach said.

Hutchinson added that his junior class is worth noting and local standouts have stepped up.

“We have a big junior class that has stepped their game up this preseason. Local players Braden Callahan (Duncansville, Pa.) and Reyan Imler (New Enterprise, Pa.) have impressed and are pushing for starting spots. We also have an open competition right now for goalkeeper with three excellent options Sam Denchfield, Axel Tamm, and Alfred Regner battling it out,” the coach voiced.

The Mounties begin their season at 4 p.m. today against Fredonia. This also marks the start of a three-game road trip.