Asbury Men’s Soccer has been off to a great start this season. This past week, the athletics department selected senior goalkeeper Collin McKibben as one of two athletes of the week in AU sports.
McKibben shared some of his thoughts on the season so far, saying, “It’s been pretty good. We’re 4-2-2 now, so we’ve got a winning record. The teams we’re playing coming up, the team difficulty is increasing, so that was a good sign when we got the win over Hanover. They’re a good team that we hadn’t played in a long time and that I haven’t played in my career.”
“I think this team is really well rounded,” said McKibben when asked about the state of the team this season. “We’re able to sub players in and everything without seeing a drop in level… We’ve got good players in every position.”
When asked about some of the difference-makers on the roster, McKibben said, “We’ve got a lot… We’ve got fifth-year Yousef [Ismail] on the team. He’s a good and solid center-back who can distribute well. We’ve got Dalton [Fleshood] in the midfield. He commands us and captains us. We’ve got Jason [Flaming] up top. He’s been playing midfield a little too. He’s just a great well-rounded player who can really change the game.”
“It feels pretty good,” said McKibben when asked about how it feels to be named athlete of the week. “It was my first full game of the season, so getting that title meant a lot to me. Record saves of my career, which is always fun. It’s good to get the title because it was a great performance from me, but also my defenders. While I did have 11 saves, I could’ve easily had to make more if it wasn’t for my back line throughout the game.”
When asked about team goals for the season, McKibben said, “Obviously our main goal is to win the conference. It’s our first year in the conference. This is my fourth year and we haven’t had conference play, so we’ve just been competing in the NCCAA… A lot of the teams I haven’t played before, tough competition. It’s a very competitive conference. I think our goal is definitely to make it to the D3 national tourney, and if not, to make it to the NCCAA national tourney like we did last year.”
“We’re doing good, and the games are only going to get better and more competitive, so they’ll be more fun to watch,” said McKibben when asked what he wanted to say to the rest of the Asbury student body. “More tackles, more saves, more shots. Come out to the games… We’re a fun team to watch.”
