OMAHA, Neb. – The Omaha men's soccer team will take to the pitch for an exhibition game against Marquette on Saturday, Aug. 20 at 7 p.m. at Caniglia Field. The South Omaha Classic exhibition match will be the Mavericks' final tune-up before the start of the regular season.
2016 Omaha Season Outlook
The Omaha roster features 11 new faces, including two redshirt players from 2015. The Mavericks return 13 letter winners and eight starters from the 2015 squad (9-6-3). UNO finished tied for second in the Summit League and appeared in the program's first Summit League tournament.
Senior midfielder Mark Moulton returns after leading the Mavericks in scoring last year with seven goals, six assists and 20 points. The Omaha native earned first team all-conference honors and finished second in the Summit League in goals, assists and points.
Senior Fazlo Alihodzic earned second-team all-league honors in 2015. Alihodzic had two goals, two assists and four points last season.
Sophomore Noor Hamadi closed last season with three goals, two assists and eight points.
As an offense, Omaha returns five players who contributed at least one goal or assist in 2015.
The UNO defense was one of the best in the Summit League last season, allowing just 22 goals and boasting a 1.14 goals-against average, the second-lowest in program history. The Mavericks will look to fill the void left by outgoing senior goalkeeper Josh Christensen, who had 31 starts in goal, a career goals-against average of 1.82 and 146 career saves.
Omaha will carry four keepers on the 2016 roster. Junior Joseph Ghitis appeared in 10 games last season and had a 4-4-2 record with two shutouts and a 0.90 goals-against average. Redshirt sophomore Quinn Nelson will compete with incoming freshman Jose Camberos and Ugo Tritz for time this season.
Monitoring Marquette
Marquette ended last season with a 5-10-2 overall record and a 1-7-1 mark in BIG EAST play.
This year the Golden Eagles have been picked to finish in a tie for seventh place. Redshirt senior defender John Pothast was selected to the All-BIG EAST Preseason team. Luis Barraza returns in goal for MU after posting a 5-8-2 mark with a 1.68 goals-against average and posting a .714 save percentage.
Another player to watch out for is freshman Jan Maertins. Maertins scored four goals in Tuesday exhibition win over the University of Detroit.
Up Next
Omaha opens the 2016 regular season at home on Friday, Aug. 26 against San Francisco at 6 p.m.
