Valparaiso men's soccer head coach Mike Avery announced today that two transfers and 16 incoming freshmen will join the Crusader program for the 2007 season.

“This is a very large and talented group of players that fit our needs as we enter into the Horizon League," said Avery. “We lost some very important pieces of the team to graduation, but we were able to replace them with a top-class group of recruits that are excellent soccer players, talented students and, most importantly, young men of great character."

“This class has some experience and international flair with two transfers, some big-time club products and a few players who come from lesser-known club backgrounds that will shine when they take the field in the fall. With the commitments from these players to join our family, the Valpo soccer program has great momentum heading into the fall. We will be young in 2007 with just two seniors, but our future is very bright and we know that championships are on the horizon for this program."

Name Position        Hometown        High School/Prev. School (Club)



Transfers


Jose Jaime del Castillo MF      Mexico City, Mexico     Gardner-Webb Univ.


Oscar Lomeli    F       Jalisco, Mexico Bethel [Ind.] College



Incoming Freshmen


Jay Cort        D       Bloomfield Hills, Mich. Wylie E. Groves (Michigan Rush)


Kevin Deitsch   D/MF    Cincinnati, Ohio        St. Xavier (C.U.P. Red)


Jake Freisinger MF      Saint John, Ind.        Lake Central (Chicago Magic)


Stefan Gabis    GK      Chillicothe, Ohio       Unioto (Ohio Galaxies FC)


Kyle Gentile    MF      Brownsburg, Ind.        Brownsburg (Westside United)


Clayton Lyons   MF      Louisville, Ky. Trinity (JYSA United)


JP Lytle        D       Wooster, Ohio   Wooster City (Pennine United)


Matthew Moffitt MF      Erlenger, Ky.   St. Henry District (TC United)


Jon Obial       MF      Cincinnati, Ohio        Turpin (C.U.P. Red)


Adrian Ortiz    MF      Berwyn, Ill.    Morton West (H.U.S.A.)


Ken Perkins     MF      Cedar Rapids, Iowa      Kennedy (C.R.S.A.)


Brendan Roth    MF      Elkhart, Ind.   Elkhart Memorial (Indiana Invaders)


Anthony Silvestri   GK  Thousand Oaks, Calif.   Thousand Oaks (So Cal United)


Zach Stivers    F/MF    Brownsburg, Ind.        Brownsburg (Westside United)


Ryan Tudas      D/MF    Leawood, Kan.   Blue Valley North (BVSC Stars Real)


Taylor Warden   MF      Onalaska, Wis.   Onalaska (Coulee Region Minnesota SC)