HARROGATE, Tenn. – Lincoln Memorial University's men's soccer team will look to build upon its run to the South Atlantic Conference Championship match in which the Railsplitters lost in heartbreaking fashion in double overtime to Tusculum. The team returns to the pitch with a veteran-laden roster led by nine seniors.

2016 Season Rewind
 
The 2016 team recorded its most wins since 2012 with an 11-7-1 (6-5 SAC) finish, including a trip to the South Atlantic Conference Championship match, but that still wasn't enough to clinch a berth to the NCAA tournament—a place the Railsplitters haven't gone since finishing as the national runner-up in 2007. Tusculum stunned the Railsplitters with a goal in the 109^th minute to clinch a 2-1 victory in the tournament championship. Lincoln Memorial was one of the first teams left out of the tournament despite the team's strong regular season and deep conference tournament run.
 
Entering the season, the Railsplitters were picked to repeat in third place in the conference following a 10-3-3 overall record (7-3-1 SAC) in 2015. Though the team faltered slightly in 2016 to a fifth-place finish, it rebounded to make a run to its first SAC Championship match since 2012 before falling to Tusculum in double overtime. The late run propelled the Railsplitters to an 11-7-1 overall finish (6-5 SAC), which marked the first time since the 2004-10 campaigns the team recorded consecutive 10-win seasons.
 
The 2016 campaign started with a tough 2-1 loss to Montevallo before the Railsplitters rolled off four consecutive wins. Danilo da Silva (Campinas, Brazil) starred with four goals and three assists in the first six games.
 
Lincoln Memorial then entered its most difficult stretch of the regular season with consecutive matches against the top three teams in the SAC—Tusculum, Lenoir-Rhyne and Wingate—who all made the NCAA Tournament. Tusculum shut out the Railsplitters 2-0 in Harrogate, but the team rebounded three days later to defeat Lenoir-Rhyne 1-0. The Railsplitters then traveled to Wingate to take on the eventual national champion Bulldogs. Despite a spirited effort from the Railsplitters, Wingate scored on a free kick in just the third minute and held on to win 1-0.
 
The schedule then eased up, and Lincoln Memorial won five of its next six. The stretch began with a 6-1 nonconference rout of Lees-McRae in which senior George Burne registered a hat trick in less than three minutes.
 
The team dropped its final regular season game at Catawba, which set up a rematch in the SAC Championship four days later. Lincoln Memorial returned the favor and advanced to the conference semifinals to face an upstart Brevard squad that finished eighth in the conference but had just handed Wingate its only loss of the season. The teams remained tied at two after two overtime periods. Despite seeing less than 12 minutes of game action during the regular season, goalkeeper Pedro Ozi relieved starter August Ahlin for the penalty shootout. D'Anna's move paid huge dividends, as Ozi made two saves to propel the Railsplitters to the championship game for a rematch with Tusculum.
 
The Railsplitters once again found themselves in a match destined for a penalty shootout, but Tusculum scored in the 109^th minute to clinch the match and SAC Tournament title.
 
Key Departures
 
While the roster unit is largely still intact from last season, the Railsplitters will have to account for the losses of significant contributors in George Burne, August Ahlin and Hisham Abdelaziz. Both Ahlin and Abdelaziz started all 19 of Lincoln Memorial's games in 2016, while Burne finished second on the team with seven goals and third with 16 points.
 
Pedro Ozi will also not return after completing his eligibility. The Brazilian went 10-3-3 in goal for the 2015 squad but was supplanted by Ahlin last year and made just two appearances. He did, however, play a large part in LMU's run to the SAC Championship in the tournament semifinal games by stopping two Brevard penalty attempts.
 
Alexandre Leao and Bryson Lehn combined for 91 games played and 39 starts over their four-year LMU careers. The duo also completed their eligibility.
 
Mats Rohrken started 13 games as a freshman and will also not return.
 
Key Returners
 
Ten of the twelve players to record a point for Lincoln Memorial in 2016 will again suit up for the Railsplitters in 2017. Victor Peres (Brasilia, Brazil) will look to improve on his team-best nine goals and 23 points. Meanwhile, da Silva attempted a SAC-high 90 shots and led the Railsplitters with eight assists. The Brazilian forward also chipped in six goals and 20 points and is the only returner to have started all 19 games last season.
 
All-SAC selections Henrique Rezek (São José dos Campos, Brazil) and Ronaldo de Jesus (Campinas, Brazil) also return. Both scored three goals and appeared in 18 matches last year.
 
Felipe de Sousa (São Bernardo do Campo, Brazil), Philip Wong (Hong Kong, China), Andres Pratto (Buenos Aires, Argentina), Felipe Machado (Ribeirao Preto, Brazil), Raphael Baeta (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), Diego Zanoni (Ferrara, Italy) and MJ Sheriff (Knoxville, Tenn.) round out the list of returners that saw significant playing time in 2016. All are upperclassmen except for de Jesus, who is entering his sophomore year.
 
Rezek and Machado have been selected as team captains for the upcoming year. With such an abundance of leadership, the third captain honor will rotate throughout the season.
 
"All these guys are a step above from last year," men's head coach Helio D'Anna said.
 
Newcomers
 
The Railsplitters welcome the addition of ten newcomers to the active roster for 2017, though only five are true freshman. This includes three goalkeepers to replace the departed Ahlin and Ozi—Caio Bergamo (Campinas Brazil), Caleb Cothrin (Lubbock, Texas) and Sergio Echeverri (Bogotá, Colombia)—who will compete for the starting job.
 
"All ten are capable of contributing in either a starting role or off the bench," D'Anna said.
 
The new recruiting class covers all four position groups. Tom O'Brien (Isle of Wight, England), Andrea Cantoni (Telgate, Italy) and Christoph Willemsen (Ede, The Netherlands) will add to the defensive rotation. Frederico Abreu (Lisbon, Portugal) is the lone midfield addition, while Miguel Reis (São José dos Campos, Brazil), Jorge Melcar (Antioch, Tenn.), Richard Dougherty (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Andreas Xenofontos (Nicosia, Cyprus) will add to the group of forwards.
 
2017 Outlook
 
LMU will look to build upon 2016's fifth-place finish in the SAC standings, though that won't be an easy task. Only seven of the team's 15 matches will take place at home with ten against South Atlantic Conference opponents. This includes trips to defending national champion Wingate and SAC tournament champion Tusculum. Lenoir-Rhyne and Catawba, who both finished ahead of the Railsplitters in the conference standings in 2016, highlight the home portion of the conference schedule. Wingate, Tusculum and Lenoir-Rhyne, the top three regular season finishers from last year, make up three of LMU's first four conference matchups.
 
"We get all the brutes right off," D'Anna said. "The dice were not friendly to us."
 
All five of the Railsplitters' nonconference contests will come against direct in-region foes. A home date with Young Harris highlights this portion of the schedule, as the Mountain Lions finished second in the loaded Peach Belt Conference a year ago. The game is a rematch of last year's 2-1 LMU victory at Young Harris.  King will also make the trip to Harrogate.
 
The Railsplitters open the season at Erskine and make trips to Lees-McRae and North Georgia for nonconference matchups.
 
"You have to go strong out of conference even with the automatic qualifiers," D'Anna said. "Your strength of schedule has to be high to give yourself a chance at an at-large."
 
LMU will make long road trips to North Georgia, Coker and Anderson, which played a role in why the team only scheduled 15 games rather than its usual 16 or 17.
 
"I wanted to take some of the opportunity for injury away," D'Anna said. "It's hard enough as is. Different coaches take different approaches even here at Lincoln Memorial. You have coaches that when they step out of conference want to schedule the easiest possible games and give confidence to their teams. I don't have room for that. If I want to be an at-large, I want to make every game count. But I also don't want to overload with 16, 17, 18 games and pick up injuries."
 
With most of the team's playmakers returning from last year's team that ranked fourth in the conference as well as an uncertain goalie situation, the Railsplitters may look to become even more offensive-minded this year. The 2016 posted its best offensive season since 2012 in most key categories.
 
"We have historically had strong defense and possession, but if you don't put the ball in the net, things break down," D'Anna said. "The ceiling will be how many goals we can score."
 
That ceiling could be a trip back to the national tournament—a place Lincoln Memorial has not returned to since finishing as the national runner up in 2007. The 2012 team came close with a 13-4-1 record but was still left out.
 
"It's past due and overdue," D'Anna said. "We're not going to count on committees. We're not going to count on an at-large. We're going to earn our way in."