Roster
Schedule
WEST CHESTER, Pa.- Fresh off its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2019 and its first PSAC Championship game appearance since 2018, head coach
Michael Benn and the West Chester University men's soccer program will look to make continued strides in 2024. The 2024 season gets underway on Thursday afternoon vs Jefferson at 3 p.m. on Rockwell Field in the first of five non-league games for the Golden Rams to begin the new year.
Click
here to check out our interview with Coach Benn as we recapped last year, the 2024 preseason, and looked a bit closer at the 2024 edition of the Golden Rams.
PRESEASON PROGNOSTICATION
West Chester, who is receiving votes in the United Soccer Coaches Preseason Poll, was picked to finish second in the PSAC East Preseason Coaches Poll, receiving one first-place vote, following only Millersville, who captured the 2023 PSAC Crown and copped five first-place votes.
FLOCK TALK
West Chester returns quite a bit of offensive firepower in 2024, led by
Jack Dieffenderfer (Lewisburg, Pa./Lewisburg), who scored six goals and three assists for 15 points.
Frankie Taylor (Delran, N.J./Delran), Maksym Komperda (Whitehall, Pa./Allentown Central Catholic), and
Owen Slack (Collegeville, Pa./Perkiomen Valley) also return after contributing nine and eight points a year ago, respectively. Taylor finished the year third on the team in scoring with four goals and one assist for nine points, while Komperda chipped in four goals to go along with two goals and four assists from Slack. Offensive balance was a strong point for West Chester a year ago as 13 players scored a goal, while five more added at least one point via an assist in 2023.
Devven Frey (Wyomissing, Pa./Wilson), Jason Goldfeder (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cedar Cliff), Christian Vorchheimer (Ambler, Pa./Wissahickon), Peter Tichy (Bethlehem, Pa./Freedom), Mason Clatterbuck (Conshohocken, Pa./Plymouth Whitemarsh), Shaw Masson (Enola, Pa./Cumberland Valley), and captain Tommy Bodenschatz (Royersford, Pa./Spring-Ford) add excellent depth to the Golden Ram midfield.
While West Chester does return some critical members of its backline, including
Ian Alicea (Huntingdon Valley, Pa./Lower Moreland), captains
Phil Udo-Inyang (Havertown, Pa./Haverford) and Cooper Jackson (Sinking Spring, Pa./Wilson), along with
Jaeden Amato (Allentown, Pa./Emmaus), and Eric Johnson (Townsend, De./Middletown) Dillon Barbieri (Souderton, Pa./Souderton) who turned in an excellent 2023 rookie season, the Golden Rams will need to replace some important departures, perhaps most notably
Andrew Markopoulos (Drexel Hill, Pa./Msgr. Bonner & Prendie), Josh Daniels (Fleetwood, Pa./Oley Valley) and
Daniel Good (Exton, Pa./Downingtown East). Replacing Good, who graduated with career records for wins (42), shutouts (27), and goals-against average (0.97), will be no small task for Benn and the Golden Rams. However, West Chester does boast a strong stable of goalkeepers led by sophomores
Jaden Howard (Townsend, De./Middletown) and
Alexi Amanatidis (Huntingdon Valley, Pa./The Shipley School), along with newcomers
Caleb Addalia (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial) and Michael Sarff (Camp Hill, Pa./Camp Hill).
Addalia and Sarff are two of many talented newcomers for Benn and the Golden Rams as they are joined by
Macade Knoblauch (Pottstown, Pa./Boyertown), Jack O'Brien (Mays Landing, N.J./Oakcrest), Danny McGonagle (Glen Mills, Pa./Rustin), Luke Harper (Douglassville, Pa./Daniel Boone), Florida Southern transfer
Joseph Maxwell (Langhorne, Pa./Neshaminy), Ian Warner (Carlisle, Pa./Carlisle), David Sierra (Collegeville, Pa./Spring-Ford), Alex Fedor (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown East), Tyler Vagner (Mullica Hill, N.J./Clearview), and Sean Duffy (Hockessin, Del./Salesianum).
Fans will also notice some different faces on the Golden Ram bench this season as a new top assistant joins Benn in
Rob Dallas, who joins the Golden Rams after 12 seasons as the head men's soccer coach at Cabrini University.
Ryan Brazuk, who sat in the chair next to Benn a year ago, remains on staff as another assistant coach and is now joined by Good, who will help develop the Golden Rams talented young keepers as they look to follow in his footsteps.
OPENING UP
West Chester opens its 2024 season at home once again this year with a familiar foe in Jefferson. The Golden Rams have squared off against the Rams in their season opener for the third year in a row and sixth time in the last seven seasons. The last time West Chester hosted Jefferson on Rockwell Field to begin the season was in 2022 when the Rams escaped with a 2-1 victory over Benn's Golden Rams after erasing a 1-0 deficit with a pair of goals midway through the match.
In his tenure at the helm, Benn is 5-3-2 in season openers, including a record of 5-1-1 in such games since 2016.
JUST AHEAD
After opening their season at home on Thursday, the Golden Rams will head out on the road for two games after this, visiting Holy Family on Saturday afternoon and Wilmington next Wednesday before coming home to host Southern Connecticut State on Saturday the 14
th at 4 p.m. West Chester will open league play vs a familiar foe in rival Bloomsburg on September 21 beginning at 12 p.m.
