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The Bluffton University men's soccer team heads north to Albion College to open the 2023 season on Friday, Sept. 1, the first of four straight road matches before UC-Clermont travels to the Sears Complex for the Beaver home opener on Wednesday, Sept. 13. The HCAC lidlifter is slated for Wednesday, Sept. 27, when Transylvania makes the trek up Interstate 75 for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff. Rival Defiance College will be in the house on Wednesday, Oct. 18. The regular season wraps up with road trips to Rose-Hulman and Manchester.
Back-to-back Heartland Conference tournament appearances have the 2023 Bluffton University men's soccer team primed to continue its run of success. The Beavers earned their first-ever HCAC tournament berth in 2021 and then they followed that up with their first ever home match in the 2022 Heartland Conference tournament. The double-overtime thriller went Manchester's way when the Spartans found the back of the net in minute 105 for a 1-0 victory. First-year Head Coach Steve Bushre led the Beavers to a school-record five HCAC victories.
While the Beavers have big shoes to fill following the graduation of Dalton Taynor who wrapped up his illustrious career 3rd all-time with 44 goals and 97 total points, senior Elijah Zimmerman (Archbold) has proven to be a worthy successor after earning his second All-HCAC honor in 2022. Zimmerman had another outstanding year, scoring six goals to go along with his three assists for 15 points in 2022. He led the Beavers with 29 shots on frame and was a perfect 2-of-2 on penalty kicks. His five career match winners are tied for 3rd all-time at Bluffton. Zimmerman is currently 11th all-time with 39 career points in 45 matches played.
Bluffton is equally adept in the back end with the return of Angel Velasco-Urbina (Lexington, Ky./Henry Clay). He followed up his 2nd Team All-HCAC honor as a freshman with a 1st Team selection in 2022. His 85 saves were 3rd in the conference, while his 1.37 goals against average was 4th. Velasco-Urbina finished with four shutouts, second all-time to his 5.5 from 2021. With just two years under his belt, Angel is already the career record holder with 9.5 shutouts. His 15 wins in goal are tied for second all time, only two victories away from Ryan Thomas who was 17-50-1 during his 68 matches between the pipes. Velasco-Urbina was a two-time HCAC Defensive Player of the Week last season.
Juniors Jackson Clark (Mount Blanchard/Riverdale) and Benjamin Davidson (Greenville) both netted three goals in 2022, including two from Davidson that propelled the Beavers to a 3-1 victory over Manchester in the regular-season finale at the sears Complex. Transfer Leonardo Campos (Santiago, Chile/Campbellsville University) found his groove late in the season, adding five points to the Bluffton offense after moving into a more prominent role. JJ Meyer (Cincinnati/Oak Hills) chipped in with four points, while Andrew Ireland (Coshocton/River View) served up three assists.
Aaron Stearns (Pataskala/Watkins Memorial) was a sparkplug off the bench, seeing action in 12 matches as a junior. He fired six shots, putting four of them on frame. Sophomore Alex Brown (Delaware/Buckeye Valley) jumped into the starting lineup right away and proved to be the anchor for Bluffton's defense which allowed just 1.54 goals per match. Another 2022 freshman who made his mark in the back last season was Andrew Phillips (Westfield, IN). He played in 14 matches with seven starts on his resume.
