Introduction
Since coach Phil Wolf took over the Point Loma men's soccer program four years ago, the 2015 season has been a highly-anticipated one for Sea Lion fans. PLNU weathered the storm in coach Wolf's first season, and the second year (2013) saw his first recruiting class, which included 12 freshmen. The Sea Lions played great in 2013 despite their youth, and the 2014 season was expected to be another positive step in the development of the program, but it did not go quite the way coach Wolf and his team would have anticipated.
 
Coach Wolf set up a very competitive early season schedule for the Sea Lions last season, with the hope that continued growth would help PLNU establish itself as a competitive team in the NCAA West Regional. PLNU faced one of the hardest opening season schedules in the West with three CCAA foes, two teams of the top teams in the PacWest and Division I San Diego State. With that schedule the Sea Lions struggled early to get their first result, but once they got those first points they rattled off a seven-match undefeated streak, which included six victories, to end 2014 with momentum, and added some excitement coming into the 2015 season.
 
Training camp
After a quality offseason training program in the Spring, the PLNU men's soccer team returned in mid-August and ran double days out at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista for 10 days to prepare for the season. Coach Wolf has continued to emphasize the importance of fitness and unity within his teams, and those will be two areas the team will be focusing to refine in Training Camp. But in addition to creating chemistry and prepping the student-athletes physically for the season, coach Wolf and his staff have a few questions that they need answered before camp is done.
 
"The real question is, 'who plays in the back four?' said Wolf. "I feel fairly good about the front group as far as where they're going to play. We have depth all over the field. This is the deepest team we've had since I've been here. But the questions are 'who's going to be in the back four and what positions are they going to be playing?' Those are probably the first things that we've got to solve in training camp. Once we do that, I think we'll be fine."
 
Schedule
Once again coach Wolf will challenge his team in the non-conference portion of the schedule. He set up matches against five CCAA opponents, four of which (CSULA, CPP and CSUDH) are picked to finish in the top 4 spots in the conference. PLNU will then play a 13-match PacWest Conference schedule as they attempt to finish in the top 6 in the final regional poll and earn their first-ever invite to the NCAA playoffs.
 
"It's a great challenge," said coach Wolf about the Sea Lions' schedule. "I think if we can get some results out of the first five games it's great. If we can't get any results out of the first five games then it doesn't look so great. The main thing early for us is going to be the first five games. We have to get off on the right foot early and getting a couple results so that when NCAA voting time comes we have the comparison from earlier in the season. But it is easier said than done. Those are five of the best teams in the region. Historically, they're five of the best teams (in the CCAA), so it's a very, very daunting first five games. But the guys got experience last year, I think we were a little unlucky in those first games last year, so hopefully with the year came more experience and added hunger. Those first five games are going to be make or break basically for our playoff chances. Obviously, if it doesn't go well we will have to get things back together and try to make a run in the PacWest. But as we all know, if we want to have a chance to get in the NCAA tournament those first five are going to need to go well and we need to at least get a couple results out of it."
  
Team Strengths
Unlike his first three seasons, Wolf finally entered camp with a veteran group. The Sea Lions returned 17 returning letterwinners, including nine starters and three All-PacWest selections (Daniel ten Bosch, Tyler Allen and Avrin Yakou), on the deepest team Wolf has ever had while wearing the Green & Gold.
 
"I haven't said this since I've been here, but it's actually a fairly experienced group," explained Wolf. "It's mostly going to be juniors and seniors playing. We have guys that have played minutes a lot of minutes in this program and are going to be in the program for the next two years. We used to ask the young guys to boss games but now we're asking juniors and seniors to boss those same games. We are going to look much different.
 
"The experience of being not quite good enough, especially last year, hopefully burns in the guys and they really want to do well this season," Wolf continued. "This team has that hunger to show people that, even though last year was, we were off the level, it's not as far off as what it looked like. The guys are very ambitious for this season. It's my fourth year, my fourth time, and I think you should begin to see the program turn around a little bit. Hopefully we have the group to do it."
  
Goals
For these past few years it was all about laying a foundation for the program. Now coach Wolf can start outlining goals for the team this year and beyond.
 
"Our goal is taking the next step for this program," said Wolf. "Last year weren't quite good enough or deep enough. The next step for us is to get inside the top 2 or 3 spots in the PacWest, get a couple of results against the CCAA teams and put ourselves on the regional map. I think for me, getting in the NCAA tournament would be a real positive step in the right direction and that should be our goal. I think we have the players to do it and I think we have the group to do it. If we get to the NCAA tournament, that means we got results against CCAA and we probably finished among the top 3 or 4 spots in the PacWest. I think those would be our goals, but those are lofty and obviously Division II is not easy, so to accomplish that would say a lot."
 
Conclusion
There are many 'if's' with the team but coach Wolf has worked diligently to assemble the most talented team in his Sea Lions' tenure so if they can answer some of these questions and develop team chemistry before the start of the season PLNU fans could be in for a special season.   
 
Here is a look at the Sea Lions by position:
Goalkeepers: Avrin Yakou (Sr.), Micahel Lambert (So.), Sam Falkenberg (Fr.)
Coach Wolf's quote: "We are returning Avrin (Yakou) at goalie. He was our starter last year after winning the job. He did a good job and he'll be returning for his senior year. That's a position he showed he could play at this level. He showed that he could do well, so we feel very good about him at that position. Backing Avrin up is going to be Michael Lambert. We feel like both Michael and Sam (Falkenberg) offer us some depth. I think that's going to be a position that's definitely going to be solid with a little bit of experience."
 
Defenders: Matt Steinhaus (Sr.), Lewis Grant (Sr.), Tyler Allen (Jr.), Joshua Eusebio (Jr.), Brady Johansen (Jr.)
Coach Wolf's quote: "The real test to the group is going to be our back four. I feel really good about the pieces we have, meaning the players, I'm just not sure we know where they're all going to play. We have Tyler, Brady, Josh Eusebio, Matt Steinhaus, Lewis Grant and don't know how it's all going to look. We have even had Mitch Wheelon play a little bit of left back. It's a good group. It's just how it's going to shape up that is going to be interesting. I think the real test of the group will be how does that group come together. We're going to basically have training camp to work out who it's going to be and the positions. But this is an experienced group. Brady and Tyler have both played a lot of minutes, and Lewis is a seasoned player. Matt Steinhaus has also played a lot of minutes and Josh Eusebio will move back from striker where he played last year. We have a lot of good players. We just have to figure out the right setup for them."
 
Midfielders: Daniel ten Bosch (Sr.), Val Doppenberg (Jr.), Simon Bell (So.), Ricardo Martinez (Jr.), Andrew Ritchie (Jr.), Mitch Wheelon (So.), Manuel Montal (Sr.), Luke Lance (Jr.), Steven Valazquez (Jr.), Matt Owens (Fr.), Patrice Glaser (Jr.), Paul Sweet (Fr.), Eduardo Gallardo (So.), Taylor Kang-Illescas (Fr.), Christian Caudle (Fr.)
Coach Wolf's quote: "Midfielders are a little bit of unknown, but we feel good about it. One of the reasons why it's unknown is we're adding two players to the group; Patrice (Glaser) and Manuel (Montal). Manuel has been playing D1 for a few years, so I don't think it's going to be a big learning curve for him. It's just going to be a matter of how we gel as a unit. Patrice is new to the program and new to college soccer, but with great experience as a player over in Germany. We're hopeful that both of those guys can hold down central midfield positions. Andy Ritchie is another guy that did not play with us all last year and we're hoping that he can fit in there in the center midfield somewhere. Val Doppenberg is coming off an injury. He was our starting holding center midfield last year until he went down with a knee injury, so we're hopeful Val can come back. We also have Rickie Martinez who was playing some minutes as the number 10. I think he gives us some depth as well. So we feel good about the center midfield. Wide of the midfield is probably an area of real strength for us. I think, hopefully we're going to try to push Daniel (ten Bosch) wide right, which I think is his position. It has always been his position, we just haven't been able to play him there. Chris (Tellez) is a good sub wide-right, and then wide on the left. Eddie (Gallardo) and Mitch (Wheelon)both played a ton of minutes for us this last year as freshmen. Now they're going to be sophomores and they're going to kind of battle it out on the wide left with Daniel on the wide right. Midfield is probably a real strength for us. Again we have a lot of good players. We just have to see who wins the jobs and get them in the right formation."

Forwards: Christopher Tellez (So.), Nico Tagaloa (Jr.), Manuel Montal (Sr.), Indiana Fuller (Fr.)
Coach Wolf's quote: "Right now we're going to move someone into the position. We're going to move Nico out of the central midfield, which is where he's been playing the last two years, and play him up top. He had a really good spring playing up top and was really dangerous against a lot of good competition, especially that first weekend against UC Irvine and USD. I think he's ready to do it. I don't necessarily know if he's the typical striker, but I think he's the thing that we have that's the closest. Josh Mobley should be that guy for us in the future. But I think that Niko's probably going to take most of the first team reps, and we'll get him between the posts and see if he can score some goals."