Syracuse Men's Soccer: Pre-Camp Update, Part 1

There's some new faces on the hill this fall. The freshmen (and transfers) have reported, which means the start of a new season. If you check out the roster page, you'll note a good number of missing pictures, signifying folks that haven't had their wonderful SU Athletics mug shots taken yet. I'll try and fill you in with some background on the new faces in the program, looking at some of the freshmen with this go-around.

Freshmen:

Oyvind Alseth

One of two new Norwegian folks joining the squad this year. Alseth was a member of the Rosenborg BK squad in the NextGen series (one of the top flight European development leagues). It looks as though he's been playing right back for them and I would assume will continue to do so with the Orange. There is a nice compilation of his touches during a Rosenborg v Molde NextGen match on Vimeo. He's listed on the roster as a M/D so we may see him pushing up on the wing as a wide mid in addition to duties in the backline.

Alex Halis

Listed as a M/F, Halis comes to us via our northern neighbors. Add him to the list of Orange Canadians. Hailing from Brampton, Ontario, he's been a stalwart member of the U-17 Canadian National Team and has been playing his club ball with Sigma FC out of the Toronto area. He's been enrolled along with Mike Koegel since January, so he'll be familiar with the squad having gone through spring practice. About Halis:

"Alex is an exciting, skillful player who is comfortable playing in a number of different attacking roles," McIntyre said. "He is a talented player who I have enjoyed watching for a number of years. He will immediately provide our team a new threat in the final third of the field."

Chris Nanco

Let me see if you've heard this before. Solid player from Brampton, Ontario that can play midfield or forward and played on the Canadian U-17 team for the World Cup in 2011 and for Sigma FC signs for the Orange in 2013... Oh yeah. Nanco and Halis were teammates back home at St. Edmund Campion Secondary School. I love getting former teammates that know how to play off each other.

Class of 2013: Chris Nanco (via Sigma FC)

Benji Lopez Update:

Looks like Benji Lopez, who had verballed to SU, and was called up with the Under 18 US Men's National Team has opted to forgo attending SU and foster his career, signing with Real Salt Lake as a homegrown. Benji has been a member of the Real Salt Lake Academy in Arizona for a few years and the club moved on him to secure his services. He's already seen some reserves action and has gotten a sweet unicorn-hawk(?) out of the deal. Best of luck to him with Real Salt Lake.

I'll put more together coming up for the remaining freshmen as well as the new transfers that have graced us with their presence. Most likely this will be a three-parter, we've got a lot of new faces around the program, but they seem to be new faces we can get excited over.

Freshmen Part Deux:

Kenneth Lassiter, Mike Koegel, Aron Coste, Emil Ekblom

Transfers:

Keegan Balle, Korab Syla, Emmanuel Kollie