OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma City University looks to exceed expectations entering 2022 after finishing 8-8 last year.

OCU's men's soccer team comes off an 8-8 finish entering Billy Martin's third season as head coach.

Martin has a mixture of returners and newcomers headlined by past all-conference honorees Lucas De Freitas and Danilo Vilani.

Oklahoma City's opening night will be 7:30 p.m. Wednesday against Bethany (Kan.) at Brian Harvey Field.

TOP RETURNERS

· Lucas de Freitas returns after earning all-SAC second team honors last year. He finished the 2021 season with 11 goals, three assists and 25 points with hat tricks against Bacone and Southwestern Assemblies of God (Texas). De Freitas took first-team all-conference and SAC newcomer of the year honors two years ago

· Danilo Vilani, a senior goalkeeper from Goiânia, Brazil, returns after collecting 71 saves and five shutouts and allowing 26 goals on the season. Vilani became SAC goalkeeper of the year in 2020-21

· Seniors Harvey Paul and John Woodhead from England combined for four goals and 11 assists in 2021

· Manuel Belmonte of Argentina and Ignacio Sarasol of Spain return to bolster up the defense again as they started every game last season

NEW FACES

· K.J. Masso, a freshman goalkeeper from Bishop Kelley in Tulsa, Okla., joins the Stars after grabbing Oklahoma Soccer Coaches Association all-state and all-Tulsa World last year.

· Jordan Da Costa, a junior from Thonon-Les-Bains, France, arrives at OCU as a midfielder. He played for Northeast Texas prior to joining the Stars and collected three goals and three assists in his two years there.

· OCU won a recruiting battle against six colleges for Olly Clifford from Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire, England. He joins the OCU squad as a defender.

PRESEASON BUZZ

· Despite receiving three fourth-place votes, OCU is tied for sixth in the SAC preseason poll. The Stars ended with 34 points in the voting

MEET THE COACH

· Billy Martin returns for his third year at OCU after being a longtime assistant to Brian Harvey. He played soccer at OCU as a student-athlete from 1989-91 and established Rose State's men's soccer program, coaching there for six years

· Martin has coached 12 all-conference choices as OCU head coach – seven men's all-SAC choices and five on the women's side. Martin has mentored SAC men's and women's newcomer of the year award winners and one league goalkeeper of the year

• Martin guided Rose State to a 74-35-2 record with four NJCAA Region II regular-season championships and two tournament titles

MARK ON YOUR CALENDAR

· The Stars have one more home game in August on the 30th, three in September and four more to round out the season in October. OCU's final home regular-season game will be Oct. 29 against Science & Arts

· The SAC Tournament will be held on Nov. 5-11. The quarterfinals will be Nov. 5 followed by the semifinals Nov. 8 and the championship Nov. 11. All contests will be hosted by higher seeds.

· The NAIA Championship Opening Round will be Nov. 17-19

· The NAIA Championships begin 10 days later on Nov. 29-Dec. 5 in Decatur, Ala.