Men's Soccer kicks off season at Fort Hays State

Jacopo Belardo led the Hawks with 12 points last year

Rockhurst is celebrating 60 years of Men's Soccer this fall. The Hawks will kick off their 61st season Thursday afternoon at Fort Hays State.

Tony Tocco has been the head coach for 53 of the first 60 years. He ranks second among intercollegiate men's soccer coaches with 733 career wins.

"Even though we have more depth at all positions this year, we cannot have any of our top 14 players get hurt," Tocco said.

"If we hope to have a good season, we need to score 25-to-30 goals and hold our opponents to eight-to-10 goals this season," Tocco said.

Graduate student midfielder Jacopo Belardo, junior midfielder Daniele Bizzarri, graduate student forward Cristoforo LiCavoli and sophomore midfielder Sam McIntosh combined to score 11 of the Hawks' 17 goals last year.

Belardo led the Hawks in with five goals and 12 points last year. He has scored 11 goals and 25 points over the past three seasons. McIntosh was named the GLVC Newcomer of the Year after scoring nine points.

Defensively, senior Jeremiah Musa, junior Kaden Cripe and sophomore Evan Hill combined to play over 3,000 minutes last year. Transfer Franco Brunoro will start the season as the starting goalkeeper.

Rockhurst finished sixth in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Preseason Men's Soccer Poll. The Hawks will play the top five teams in the GLVC poll (Lewis, Indianapolis, Maryville, McKendree and Illinois Springfield) in the first half of their conference schedule. All five are ranked in the Division II preseason coaches' Top 25 national poll.

Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

#10 Jacopo Belardo: M; 6' 0"; Graduate Student

#21 Daniele Bizzarri: M; 6' 1"; Junior

#16 Kaden Cripe: M; 6' 3"; Junior

#6 Evan Hill: D; 5' 11"; Sophomore

#7 Cristoforo LiCavoli: D; 5' 7"; Graduate Student

#8 Sam McIntosh: M; 5' 8"; Sophomore

#17 Jeremiah Musa: D; 5' 10"; Senior

#34 Franco Briani Brunoro: GK; 6' 1"; Junior

Players Mentioned

#10 Jacopo Belardo
: 6' 0"; Graduate Student
: M

#21 Daniele Bizzarri
: 6' 1"; Junior
: M

#16 Kaden Cripe
: 6' 3"; Junior
: M

#6 Evan Hill
: 5' 11"; Sophomore
: D

#7 Cristoforo LiCavoli
: 5' 7"; Graduate Student
: D

#8 Sam McIntosh
: 5' 8"; Sophomore
: M

#17 Jeremiah Musa
: 5' 10"; Senior
: D

#34 Franco Briani Brunoro
: 6' 1"; Junior
: GK