August 26, 2017

Article copied from the Jamestown Post Journal (http://www.post-journal.com/sports/local-sports/2017/08/room-to-improve/)

Last season, Jamestown Community College's men's soccer team scored just 18 goals in 18 games en route to a 3-13-2 overall record.

Head coach Pat Anderson knows if the Jayhawks are going to see more success on the pitch this fall, they are going to have to find the back of the net more often.

The veteran coach feels he has the men to do it.

Jamestown CC returns half of its scoring from a season ago, including leading scorer Jackson Rybicki (Jamestown/Southwestern), who led the team with four goals to go along with a pair of assists. Joining Rybicki in the midfield will be Raymond Amborski (Westfield/Westfield), who had three goals and four assists, as well as Brandon Greiner (Bemus Point/Maple Grove), who chipped in two goals.

"Overall we are talking about a group that should be stronger offensively and a group that has a little more experience than what we've had," Anderson said following Thursday morning's practice. "It's not the numbers, but the quality of the returnees is really pretty high. They all play the game at a pretty good level so we're feeling pretty good about that."

A season ago, five of the Jayhawks' 13 losses were by just a goal, but they also went through a stretch in early October of five straight shutout losses. Hoping to remedy that, Anderson will count on four incoming freshmen to put the ball in the net.

Tyler Pride (Auckland, New Zealand/Rodney College) and Melenio Hamlyn (Launceston, Tasmania/St. Patrick's College) are two players Anderson was excited to talk about Thursday while he also mentioned Nyle Bird (Jamestown/Frewsburg) as a newcomer that has the ability to find the back of the net.

"Tyler is a really big guy playing center forward for us right now. He has already shown he is tenacious, hard working and doesn't hesitate to shoot," Anderson said. "Melenio has shown he can definitely put the ball in the net and has some speed. Nyle is doing a great job on the outside and Felipe Diaz (Bogota, Colombia/San Pedro Claver), after this weekend, will be able to come in and give us a real hand too.

"Those guys can all score and they have all shown the ability to make plays when they get into the final third."

Dan Skinner (Brocton/Brocton), who played in 17 of 18 games on defense a season ago as a freshman will move up to midfield to join Rybicki, Greiner and Amborski.

"They get it, they understand they have to be primary defenders and primary attack players," Anderson said of his sophomore foursome. "When we are on defense they are not allowing people to get good, quality opportunities. When we are on offense they've been right up there supporting the attack and have been right in the middle of it. It looks good at that level."

Sophomore Judah Herr (Westfield/Westfield) will anchor a defensive unit that was a bright spot a year ago despite the team's overall record.

"I was actually very pleased with our defensive play. They kept us in every game basically," Anderson said. "There were at least 10 games where the outcome could've been different had we been able to put the ball in the net. You can't blame your defense when you are still in the game in the 87th minute and you just haven't put the ball in the net."

Herr will be joined by a combination of freshmen Scott Crowe (Perth, Australia/St. Stephen's School), Carson Peters (Jamestown/Jamestown), Dominic Collazo (Clymer/Sherman) and Lyndon Harvey (Mango Hill, Australia/Grace Lutheran College).

"Scott's a pretty experienced guy from Australia. He's going to be able to do some good things for us," Anderson said. "Carson will be on one side while Dominic and Lyndon are both showing signs of being able to take over the other spot."

The Jayhawks' last line of defense will be freshman keeper Nick Mole (Frewsburg/Frewsburg), who shined in net for a Bears' team that struggled overall last fall.

"He's big, he's strong, he does a lot of good things. We're working on the technical side of it to make sure his positioning is right, his hand positioning is right and that he is more verbal," Anderson said of Mole. "He's a very coachable guy."

If the Jayhawks are able to up their goal total while not sacrificing on the defensive end of the field, they should be able to move up the NJCAA Region 3 Division III standings.

"You have to have people that actually finish those plays in the final third of the field" Anderson said. " … The guys we have up there have a nose for the goal. Some of the new guys we have coming in are natural goal scorers and they like to get to the net."

Their poor record a season ago left the Jayhawks out of the top eight teams that made the Region 3 playoffs. Due to the total number of teams, a pair of Region 3 teams advanced in the postseason. Herkimer beat Erie CC, 6-0, to claim the District A championship while Genesee CC beat SUNY Broome CC, 5-1, to claim District B. In the regular season, the Jayhawks lost to Genesee CC, 5-0, but were much closer in their game with SUNY Broome CC, losing 2-0.

"We have all the weapons up front to be a quality offensive team. We might even be a really good offensive team, but it's hard to tell until we get further into the season," Anderson said. "If we can pair that with some decent defense … I think we can move up significantly.

"I'd like to believe that we can get ourselves up toward the top of the region, but there are so many unknowns it's hard to tell where it's all going to fall out."