MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Faulkner is just hours from kickoff of the 2024 season, seeking the program's first national tournament berth after narrowly missing out during last year's historic season and looks to rely on depth and experience to take the next step.

"We're definitely pushing for higher," Head Coach Gabriel de Queiroz said. "We recruited exactly for what we're looking for. We're trying to take the extra step and break that wall into the national tournament and the people we brought, we believe they can help us in keeping the foundation from last year with all the experience of the guys that played last year. The difference that we targeted this season was bringing in more experienced guys, transfers from junior colleges or a little bit older guys that can help us with decision making and maturity level as well as competition."

While there are several key contributors returning, the Eagles have had a slight reload and will be replacing several more central factors from the squad that went 11-4-2 last season. Overall, the Eagles still return 57.5 percent of the total minutes played last season. The Eagles span 13 countries and every FIFA confederation. 

In the attack, Faulkner is eager to see who, of the many options, will fill the shoes of production from the trio of Antoine Marques, Matheus Rodrigues and Gabriel Dias. Marques had 20 goal contributions with 13 tallies last season en route to a first team all-SSAC honor along with Matheus Rodrigues who added six goals and two assists with Dias putting away five goals and one assist. Some of the top returning candidates to fill those positions are guys who were producing at that level last season in Julio Cesar and Leo Freire who both placed as all-freshman team members last season. Cesar scored nine goals in his first season of college soccer, good for the sixth best single season in program history in terms of scoring, including tying the program record for single-game goals with four at Brewton-Parker. Freire provided a balanced six goals and five assists last year. Other attacking options include newcomers Alex Barros and Mordecai Masakwa. Joining other returning forward options of the versatile winger Higor França as well as a pair of forwards fighting for an increased role from last season in Esteban Weimann and Tiago Miki. Queiroz and the coaching staff think they'll have some tough decisions to make with the wealth of attacking pieces. "I think we're going to have more options this year than last so for sure the competition is going to be good– a lot of headaches for us coaches."

In the midfield, a good mix of returners and newcomers look to provide a multitude of options for the Eagles. "[The midfield is] the area I targeted the most because that's the zone you cover a lot and a lot of times you play the whole game," Queiroz said. "You have injuries and suspensions so you have to have a rotation. I think the rotation is going to be good for us."
Caio Pereira and Juan Rojas headline the returners as two of only six players last year to eclipse 1000 minutes and two of the just three returners in quadruple figures and had seven goals between the two last season. Caden Maldonado returns with 25 appearances entering his junior year. A quadrant of guys with a little more limited varsity experience last season battle for more playing time this year in Santiago Consalvo, Konsti Witte, Nico Maus and Diego Consenza. The newcomers bolstering the squad include a couple of Quito, Ecuador natives in Ariel Vallejo and José Riofrio. Also in the middle of the park are South Americans Caio de Luna Gomes from Brazil and Colombian Nicolas Tomayo as well as New Zealander Ashton Lay. 

The defense is anchored by centerback Hiro Tsuda who played 1350 minutes last season and received just three yellow cards en route to a second team all-SSAC honor. Also along the backline are some other senior leaders in Colin Salle and Stephen Richards - the only two from Alabama on the current varsity roster. Another key returner is José Lucca who played the bulk of the last six matches of 2023. Joining the defensive fray is a pair of transfer student-athletes in Necsar Rojas and Naoya Iwamoto. 

Between the sticks will be a weekly battle with a plethora of talent as Faulkner returns every minute with Matteo Scarduzio and Michalis Jackson who handled the vast majority of the minutes. Scarduzio started the season until a season-ending injury opened the door for Michalis Jackson who was very impressive as well with the gloves. Joe Wilkinson joined the keeping stable last season and the trio combined for an eye-popping 75.3 save percentage. Joining the mix is a transfer netminder André Ferreira who won four of Bushnell's six games last season. 
This is also a spot that could cause some tough decisions for the coaching staff, Queiroz said. "There's only one place and we have two seniors in that group and a great sophomore that's a young guy that can play and a transfer that has experience. They all have different qualities and experience that can help us, maybe in a certain game or help us with a certain strategy we're trying to implement so it's good to have those options. Not just in the goalkeepers but overall, we have two or three guys per position that can help us throughout the week with the competition level. Obviously, we can't play all of them but it gives them something to worry about every day in practice that there's someone right behind them or in front of them that they need to chase and it helps us keep the level and intensity high."

The Eagles are coming off a 1-0 exhibition loss to UAB with a lot of positive takeaways from the D1 experience. "We liked what we saw overall. Obviously, there are some areas to keep working on, but we're definitely targeting the things we saw. We have some guys still trying to get in with some issues with their visas that will help improve the quality and level of our group. But really good things we saw that night. Guys that we didn't know where they'd land in our roster and they showed while playing a good Division 1 team that they can compete and have a spot in our roster."

The team is hungry to prove that they belong in the conversation in arguably the nation's toughest conference, the Southern States Athletic Conference. Faulkner was picked sixth of the 11 squads in the coaches' preseason poll. "We have to find the right moments to prove ourselves. The guys, they're aware of it that we're still in that questionable zone or gray area that we have to keep going. There's nothing we can do except go out there and win the right games and keep it going. There's no other way to find motivation than just keep doing it and keep improving from last year."

The Eagles kick off the season against Pensacola Christian Saturday evening at Billy D. Hilyer Stadium.