Last year in his first season, University of Illinois Springfield coach Adam Hall’s mission was to turn up the offense.
The Prairie Stars delivered. They averaged 1.78 goals per game compared to 0.83 per game in 2015.
UIS also nearly doubled its win total from the previous year and won four more conference matches than the 2015 season, and just missed qualifying for the GLVC Championships by one spot.
However, the program still capped the year with a significant accomplishment. Forward Zach Allevi became the first male UIS soccer player to receive All-GLVC honors. He was named to the third team after leading UIS with nine goals.
The bad news is Allevi graduated. The good news is the Stars return eight starters from last year.
RETURNING PLAYERS TO WATCH: Sophomore forward Mario Falsone, senior defender Jack Coombes, senior midfielder Naba Alzhyri, sophomore midfielder Harry Hiscock, senior goalkeeper Tommy Geile.
UIS' GLVC preseason ranking is No. 10 out of 15 teams.
Coach Adam Hall says, "we’re healthy in terms of numbers. We have a lot of depth. The question of who is going to step up and try to fill the gap that Zach left? I think our ability on the ball -- to keep possession -- has been a lot better. We brought in 14 new players, six or seven are transfers. There’s been an injection of competition into this squad. We’ve added some more international players. . .Brazilian, Scottish, Spanish and Chilean players.”
This story appeared in The State Journal-Register on September 4, 2017.
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