KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- Last season, Western Michigan University's men's soccer team was second in the nation in goals scored with 51. 

With just nine of those goals returning in 2024, it begs the question, where will the goals come from this season? 

Head coach Chad Wiseman has a simple answer for a team ranked 12th nationally in a preseason poll and a team which has made the NCAA tournament Sweet Sixteen for the past two seasons. The goals will come from a lot of players. 

"I think this season, more than anything, it's probably going to be scoring by committee with a whole bunch of guys who can get in the 3-to-5 goal range this season and then hopefully some will bust out and get in the 6-to-8 range,'' Wiseman said.
 
The Broncos (17-1-4 overall, Missouri Valley Conference champions at 7-0-1 in 2023) will have a chance to see where they stack up nationally when they open the season at home against No. 14 Vermont on Aug. 22.  

''We were looking forward to that game the day we all got here this fall,'' WMU captain Landon Fisher said. ''It was the only team which gave us a loss last season.'' 

With 14 new players (nine transfers, five freshmen) to go along with 17 returning players, Wiseman feels he has a lot of firepower in which to choose from. 

''We have a lot of capable scorers, like Carson Hodgson (junior midfielder), who was drafted by Montreal in the MLS and Montreal gave him back to us for at least one more season,'' Wiseman said. ''We have a Michigan State transfer in Greyson Mercer who scored goals in the Big Ten in his career. 

''Returning players like Roni Sylejmani (redshirt junior from Gull Lake High School) and Connor Burkett (redshirt junior from Mattawan), I expect those guys to step up. We definitely have goal scorers on our roster, but it's one thing to do it in training and another thing to show you can do it in a game when the moments count.'' 

The two huge goal-scoring loses are Charlie Sharp and Dylan Sing, both of whom are now playing professionally. Sharp led the nation with 19 goals and Sing wasn't too far behind with 15. Oh, and Jonathan Robinson was second in the nation with 13 assists last year, but he's now in the pro ranks, too. 

''With guys like Charlie and Dylan, opponents knew what was coming and they still couldn't stop them,'' Wiseman said. ''Maybe in the first few games, the scouting report on Western Michigan might not be so good on us. We have a lot of opportunities on our roster and we'll see who takes advantage of that.'' 

Hodgson is the leading returning scorer with six goals and 10 assists.  

Among the transfers is goalkeeper Colin Welsh, who has been in the NCAA tournament the past two seasons with Memphis. 

Wiseman never wants to rebuild a WMU team, he wants to reload. He looks at three ways to do that. 

''The first way is from within our returning players and we're hoping they spread their wings and be ready to play this fall,'' the head coach said. ''Another way is to bring in true freshmen and we have some of them who could play right away like Gabe Villagomez, who has been playing with men since he was in the 10th grade, and Burkett, Sylejmani and Liam Smith.  The third is the transfer portal, and with our national success, we've had a bigger reach in the portal,'' Wiseman said. ''We're making sure we get the right fits, not just athletically, but all the other ways we are looking for."

''There is a lot of competition going on right now and I don't know who is going to win what.''  Fisher feels it didn't take long for the new players to meld with the returning players. 

''We saw everyone during the summer which helped a lot,'' he said. ''It's been smooth so far and all the guys are excited about the season.'' 

Part of that jelling is making sure the players are up to the standard of Western Michigan men's soccer. 

''Making the NCAA tournament is the standard now,'' he said. ''It's not something we hope for, it's that we are going to work hard to do. We go into games expecting to win because of the preparation we put in, which is to be confident going into these games.'' 

Part of that confidence is that Fisher feels there are a lot of goal scorers on this team.

''Whatever we can do to score goals, we'll do,'' he says. ''Rather than opponents trying to stop two guys, they have to stop six guys, which is lethal for us.'' 
 
Seniors/Graduate students  –  Colin Welsh, goalkeeper; Owen Smith, midfielder; Amin Fernouchi, defender; Donal Rahill, defender; Duarte Chapelas, defender; David Ogbonna, defender; Greyson Mercer, forward; Asher Barnes, defender; Ty Usiak, midfielder; Landon Fisher, midfielder; Sean O'Meara, goalkeeper.  

Juniors  – Roni Sylejmani, forward; Connor Burkett, midfielder; Stephen Belanger, midfielder; Tanner Hodgson, midfielder; Carson Hodgson, midfielder; Ronan Wilcox, midfielder; Nick Biel, midfielder; Emiel Nieuwhof, defender. 

Sophomores -Noah, Dietrich, goalkeeper; Braxton Arpachinda, defender; Noah James, midfielder; Carter Cormier, defender; Alex Lindewirth, goalkeeper. 

Freshmen  – Gabe Villabomez, center midfielder; Jordan Klein, center midfielder; Liam Smith, midfielder; Christian Shannon, defender; Alek Markovski, forward; Adam Matej Smolcic, defender; John Coon, goalkeeper.  

Coaching Staff – Chad Wiseman, head coach; Shane Lyons, assistant coach; Mike Haines, assistant coach; Lukas Von Lienen, assistant coach; Scott Spada, director of soccer operations.

For all things WMU men's soccer, make sure to follow the team on Instagram, @wmu_menssoccer, X, @WMUMensSoccer, and Facebook, @wmumenssoccer.