PORTLAND, Ore. --- The Portland Pilots men’s soccer team opened the 2008 campaign with it’s first official preseason training session at the Clive Charles Soccer Complex on Wednesday morning. The Pilots, who are looking to make their second straight NCAA playoff appearance and 14th visit overall, begin the regular season against Virginia Tech on Friday, August 29, at Merlo Field.
16 letterwinners and six starters return to The Bluff this season from a team that finished with a 10-6-5 overall record last fall. The Pilots, who finished third in the West Coast Conference last season with a 6-2-4 league mark, returned to the NCAA postseason for the first time since 2004. Portland finished with its best overall record since going 13-6-1 in 2002.
Senior forward Bryan Irwin is one of six returning starters for UP. Irwin was second on the team last fall with six strikes. Junior attacking midfielder Collen Warner, who was one of eight Pilots to earn all-conference honors last season, also returns. Warner finished with three goals and four assists as a sophomore.
First team all-conference goalkeeper Austin Guerrero returns for his second season on The Bluff. As a freshman last fall, Guerrero led the WCC with eight shutouts, tied for the league-high with 85 saves, posted a 0.98 goals against average and went through a stretch of 435 consecutive minutes played without allowing a goal. The native of Chula Vista, Calif., was named to both the Soccer America All-Freshman team and Top Drawer Soccer All-Rookie Team.
Virginia Tech, which reached the 2007 College Cup and lost to eventual national champion Wake Forest, is one of eight teams the Pilots will face this season that reached the postseason last year. A total of ten regular season home matches are on the men’s schedule this fall, beginning with the Nike Invitational (Aug. 29-31).
Director of Soccer and head coach Bill Irwin enters his sixth year at the helm of the UP program and his 22nd year overall with the Pilots.
