Atlanta Soccer News: Art, Music and Culture: College Update: Georgia Gwinnett College’s men’s soccer

College Update: Georgia Gwinnett College’s men’s soccer

Georgia Gwinnett College defender Ruud Grol, right, battles for ball possession with his teammate Martin Lugo during a men’s soccer practice on Tuesday at Georgia Gwinnett College in Lawrenceville. (Staff Photo: David Welker)

Georgia Gwinnett College midfielder Pierre Semudenge-Mujene kicks the ball during a men’s soccer practice on Tuesday at Georgia Gwinnett College in Lawrenceville. (Staff Photo: David Welker)

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Georgia Gwinnett College’s men’s soccer team is paying a price for being good.

#As an independent, there are no required games for the Grizzlies. And getting other teams to risk another loss by scheduling GGC isn’t easy.

#“This is the one time our success has been a hindrance,” said head coach Steve DeCou, who has led the Grizzlies to a 30-7-1 record in their two seasons of competition. “Some of these better teams, the Division IIs, they know it’s a good game, but it doesn’t benefit them. Some of these NAIA programs don’t want anything to do with us because they’re more worried about their conference and qualifying.

#“So that’s been probably my one complaint in my time here, just the difficulty of scheduling. Our success has hurt us. It’s the only time you’ll hear me say anything like that.”

#Which isn’t to say there aren’t some tough dates to circle on the calendar, mostly in September. GGC travels to South Georgia for a game against Thomas University on Sept. 6. Then the Grizzlies have back-to-back tests with a visit to national semifinalist Auburn-Montgomery on Sept. 16 and a home game against William Carey on Sept. 21.

#“You do well in those and it really helps propel you up the polls,” said DeCou, the Association of Independent Institutions coach of the year in 2013. “But right now the one date that’s circled is Aug. 29 against Lyon in Tennessee.”

#GGC was ranked No. 16 in the NAIA coaches preseason poll after coming off a 15-5 season that included a trip to the national tournament and an AII conference title. The Grizzlies were ranked second among independents in the preseason poll, behind only Ashford (Iowa), which earned the No. 4 overall ranking. GGC defeated Ashford 3-0 to win the AII championship last year.

#The Grizzlies beat two of the NAIA semifinalists last year, but were knocked out in the opening round of the tournament with a 1-0 loss to Embry-Riddle.

#“Unfinished business is basically the theme of this season,” DeCou said. “One of the emphasis, after last year, was I didn’t think we scored enough goals. You score more goals, you put teams away early. You’ve got special players who can make something out of nothing. At the national tournament, if we’d had a couple of these guys, we wouldn’t have had to work as hard to get there.

#“That’s some of what we tried to do this offseason — adding overall depth and a few goal scorers.”

#Eight players graduated and a couple of others opted not to come back, but DeCou still has 14 returners on the roster, including top offensive threats in Berkmar’s Martin Lugo and Norcross’ Ibrahima Sissoko. The whole midfield, which features Collins Hill’s Juan Giraldo, returns as well.

#The team has 13 new additions, either incoming freshmen or transfers. Among the transfers is a talented goal scorer in Jamie King (Clayton State) and Evan Scott, who led Georgia State in scoring in 2011. Scott suffered a knee injury and spent last year rehabbing. His younger brother, David, came to play to GGC as a goalie and Evan has joined him on the roster. Tyler Woodruff also was added to the team when Southern Poly dropped its program.

#“Tyler actually started on two teams that went to the NAIA Elite Eight so his experience will be helpful,” DeCou said. “The one thing about this group, I mean I could keep going through all the names, what we’ve really done a good job of is increase our depth. There’s competition for spots everywhere. We’re a much more well-rounded team.”

#They are backstopped by an imposing stable of goalkeepers, led by returning starter Lewis Sharpe, who played every minute of every game last season as a freshman.

#“It’s still big Lou and he’s just gotten better,” DeCou said. “He walked in here at 6-foot-6, about 170 pounds. He’s put on almost 30 pounds of muscle since he arrived a year ago. He’s really worked hard and gotten better.

#“Then Dave Scott and Iain Struckmeyer, the two backups, are doing very well. We’re loaded there. When we walk off the bus, people are scared. The shortest one is 6-5. So we’ve got three monsters that get off the bus.”