OKLAHOMA CITY (Sept. 4, 2019) – Soccer is the world's sport, so it's said, and Oklahoma Christian men's coach David Scott has taken advantage, bringing in players from far and wide as he works to build the Eagles into a contender in the Lone Star Conference.

The Eagles' opening-day roster for their game Thursday against archrival Southern Nazarene includes players from 12 countries. No scientists from Antarctica are on the roster, but the Earth's other six continents are represented, giving the Eagles an international flair for 2019.

Scott's job is to blend all the various styles of play into a cohesive unit and he feels good about the Eagles' chances this season, if only because of the program's depth of quality. An injury or two won't rapidly deplete the talent level, which hasn't always been the case in recent years.

"Depth is going to help us overcome some of that," Scott said. "We haven't had our full team in our scrimmages, but the good thing is, having a little bit bigger team this year with a little more depth has helped us keep a higher level of quality.

"We didn't go out intentionally recruiting to bring in so many international players. We were just looking for players to fill the positions we felt we needed to get stronger in and that's kind of how it happened. We went through several different channels to bring in guys."

A good building block for any soccer team is an outstanding goalkeeper, and the Eagles have one of the best in the LSC in sophomore Anthony Trabichet. He posted four shutouts last season, earning All-Heartland Conference third-team honors while posting a .762 save percentage. He played all but 14 minutes in goal for the Eagles this season and, barring injury, should see most of the action this season, too.

But should something happen, there's quality depth in Daniel Moos, who returns as the primary backup in goal. Freshman Clancy Bruce is an intriguing prospect and sophomore Michael Young – who will be primarily a defender and midfielder, also could play in the goal in a pinch.

Junior Luke Humphrey and senior Jaiden van der Heijden provide OC with a pair of experienced, dependable defenders in the middle of the field, with Jackson Shirkey and freshman Eli Swaim in the wings, ready to contribute.

On the outside of the defense, newcomers Jesus Garcia and T.J. Rolfs will play key roles, with three other newcomers, Jordan Jerles, Joonho Kim and Thomas Eddy, also in the mix, along with Victor Silva, a transfer from an Ohio Valley (W.Va.) program that has become an NCAA Division II tournament regular the past few seasons. Freshman Jacob Land will try to work his way into the rotation as well.

A slew of newcomers should provide a significant boost to the Eagles' midfield. Junior-college transfer Pedro Ribeira is a quality center midfielder and Bjarne Deraeve (a transfer from USAO) is an outstanding creator on the ball. Another freshman, Michele Perina, is a quality distributor. Ian Arendse has played in the United Soccer League. They'll combined with returnees Landon Pope and Anthony Wittenberg to give the Eagles a solid rotation.

Sebastian Capkovic – looking to round back into form after missing last season due to injury – will join sophomore D'Waylan McIntosh (two goals) and senior Diego Vazquez (four goals, three assists) on the wings, along with junior-college transfer Carlos Trapero and freshman Maxime Trabichet (Anthony Trabichet's brother). Junior Jeremy Martinez is familiar with Scott's system, as is senior Derrick Karake, and they should be able to provide quality depth in the midfield along with freshman Isaac Hulkewicz.

Up front, the Eagles have a potentially powerful weapon in 6-foot-7 forward Thomas van der Meulen, who was off to an outstanding start last season – with two goals and an assist in three games – before suffering a season-ending injury. He will command attention from defenders – freeing up space for other offensive threats – and will be an inviting target on set pieces, along with Shirkey (6-foot-4) and van der Heijden (6-foot-3).

Scott has other good options up top as well. Senior Vinicius Alves is well-versed in the OC system and 6-foot-3 freshman Tate Tettleton is used to scoring goals in bunches, having done so much of his career at Norman North, one of Oklahoma's top Class 6A high school programs. Another freshman, Ethan Byrd, played for former OC star (and current assistant coach) Neil Hilton at Yukon High School, where Hilton serves as head coach.

If the Eagles can enjoy reasonably good health, Scott believes they should be in the mix for one of the six spots in the Lone Star's postseason tournament. The schedule looks different this year, with the departure of Rogers State and Newman (Kan.) into another conference and the addition of Texas-Tyler from the NCAA Division III ranks. OC will play each of the LSC's 10 other teams once in conference play, along with six nonconference games (two of those against league foes).

OC was picked to finish ninth in the 11-team league in a preseason poll of LSC coaches and sports information directors, but Scott paid little attention to that.

"Two-thirds of our team is new and half of the guys we had last year were injured and they're back," Scott said. "That changes our makeup a little bit. Nobody expects anything from us, so maybe they'll overlook us when we come to play, which will be a bit of an advantage. We'd like to be regarded higher in the conference, but we've got to go and earn that this year. That's our goal.

"If we can stay healthy, we've got a team that should be able to compete."