With six starters and eight total players from the previous season lost to graduation, the 2003 Mary Washington men's soccer team saw an infusion of new faces in the starting lineup and on the roster. Led by a core of veterans in the defense, the young Eagles jumped out to an impressive 4-0 start en route to an 8-5-4 season in which UMW was again ranked nationally and challenged for the CAC Championship and a bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament.
The season began with a tough challenge at Gettysburg College, and the Eagles, playing a man down, opened the year in dramatic fashion with a 2-1 victory. Subsequent victories in the early win streak came against Albright College (5-0) and Shenandoah University (2-1) in the annual UMW Classic, and a 2-1 road win at NC Wesleyan College. From there, the Eagles dropped a pair of matches, but those results, too, were encouraging.
UMW fell, 2-0, at defending national champion Messiah College, and then dropped an overtime match to incumbent-Division One program Longwood University, despite playing the majority of the match a man down. The Eagles then went on a four-match unbeaten streak, which included perhaps the most impessive victory of the season, a 4- 1 win over regionally-ranked and previously-unbeaten St. Mary's College.
Three consecutive ties, with Goucher College, Eastern Mennonite University, and regionally-ranked Roanoke College, followed. After dropping two of three CAC matches, UMW bounced back with another three-game unbeaten streak, including CAC wins over Marymount University and York College of PA, and a 1-1 tie at regionally-ranked Christopher Newport University.
UMW closed the campaign by getting upset in the first round of the CAC Tournament, which marks just the second time in 13 years that the Eagles did not advance to the CAC Championship match. Despite the rare early exit from the playoffs, the Eagles are gearing up for another run at the CAC Championship in 2004.
Heading a talented group of returnees is Capital Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year Bryan Hargrove, whose immediate impact made him one of the top midfielders in the CAC. The center midfielder scored four goals and added two assists to finish second on the 2003 club in scoring. Without 2003 scoring leader Andrew Shin, other forwards who will look to pick up the slack offensively include talented sophomores Chris Dolan, Jeff Corey, Brett Nobile and Glenn Gray.
Without graduated all-region selection Steve Ramos, senior Clint Wivell, this year's team assist leader, will look to solidify the midfield position, as will sophomores Robert Hughes and Tommy Park. Defensively, the Eagles lose three AII-CAC performers, but defenders Brandon Lamb, Bryan Beers, Jake Rouse and Cody Parrish will lead a group that will include a new starting goalie after the graduation of All-CAC pick Liam Garland.