After having one of their better seasons in 2019, the Jamestown Community College men’s soccer team was looking to ride the momentum into the 2020 season. Those plans were halted with the global pandemic.

Almost two years later, the Jayhawks will look to live up to those expectations with an almost entirely new team.

“It has been a little difficult going into this season as we are pretty much starting all over,” said head coach Pat Anderson. “We have a few returners and some transfers but essentially we are starting from scratch. Most of these guys haven’t played in a meaningful soccer game in two years so they are going to have to shake off the rust and do it quickly.”

The Jayhawks will play a road-heavy schedule this fall, with 13 games played on the road out of their 18 game schedule. With the road-heavy schedule, coach Anderson doesn’t mind it just as long as his players have the opportunity to play.

“As long as the student-athletes are able to play, playing on the road does not matter,” said Anderson. “As long as we have the depth, we should be able to manage the schedule. One of the benefits of having all these games on the road is the time they will spend together traveling and becoming better teammates and friends.”

JCC will open the season this Saturday, September 4th, as they host No. 7 Mohawk Valley Community College at Vets Park in Salamanca. From there the Jayhawks will play four straight on the road before returning home to take on Niagara County Community College on September 19th at Falconer High School.

After playing their next five games on the road, the Jayhawks will play two straight at home against Erie Community College on October 6th and SUNY Broome Community College on October 9th at Falconer High School.

To close out the season, JCC will play four of their last five games on the road. Their lone home game will be against Genesee Community College on October 13th.

The Jayhawks return two players from the 2019 season in Jesse da Costa (Perth, Western Australia/SEDA) and Ryan Koch (Auckland, New Zealand/Long Bay College), which having some form of veteran leadership has helped bring along the young team.

“It is really important having guys like Jesse and Ryan on our team,” said Anderson. “Someone who has done this before has a vision for where we are now and where we are trying to get and how we are going to do that. Having the message coming from those guys gives it a little more credibility.”

Expectations are high for the Jayhawks as coach Anderson believes that this is one of his more talented group of players.

“It’s hard to find a weakness in our team as we are fairly balanced across the board,” Anderson said. “We have the talent and work ethic to win a lot of games this season. Soccer is a fickle sport, you can be very good but not have the result fall in your favor.”

The Jayhawks open the season tonight as they take on No. 7 Mohawk Valley Community College at Vets Park in Salamanca at 8:30 p.m.