A strong returning core to build on and some high hopes for incoming faces is the remedy many NJCAA schools use as a formula for success.

The Barton men’s soccer team will follow that same recipe this season.

Third-year coach Mike Brown has four first team All Jayhawk West players back and two more that earned second team honors. That from a team that advanced to the Plains District semifinals before seeing its season end at 14-5-2 on penalty kicks.

Toss in some new faces that Coach Brown has high praise for and things could come together nicely for the Cougars.

“We have some really good kids,” Coach Brown said. “They are good as players and as people. We could be pretty good. But right now, we have a long ways to go. We just haven’t jelled yet.”

Leading the returning players is the leading goal scorer from a year ago. Colin Roemer, a first-team All West pick, is back for the Cougars at his forward position. Roemer, from Germany, scored 12 goals for Barton last season –twice as many as the next highest.

The next highest was six by a pair of players also returning for the Cougars. Sora Wakabayashi and Gabriel De Almeida. Wakabayashi, from Japan, was a second team All West pick at forward.

Also returning as first team All West picks are midfielders Chris Camilli and Hiroo Kimura. Camilli, from Venzuela, scored three goals and Kimura, from Japan, had two goals and three assists last season.

Back in the midfield after earning second team All West honors is Carlos Castrejon and his two goals and two assists.

A fourth first team All West player returns to the backline in Victor Gonzalez. Gonzalez scored three goals his freshman season. But gone are three more backline starters and the starting keeper.

That group allowed more than two goals on just two occasions last season.

“We return a strong group of returning players,” Coach Brown said. “Those kids also had a really good spring for us. I am happy with that group.”

One of the new faces Coach Brown is looking to make an impact is Colorado freshman Damen Marcu. Marcu comes to Barton highly recruited out of Golden.

“Marcu is one of the most highly recruited talents to come into Barton in a long-time,” Coach Brown said. “He has a very special attacking talent. Most of the top junior colleges were after him.”

Tevin Rochester comes to Barton from Jamaica. He is another freshman that was highly sought after. Throw in Nicolas Torres from Chile and Roberto Hernandez from Texas among others and freshman class has some talent as well.

“I am exciting about our recruiting class,” Coach Brown said. “It is a good class from top to bottom.”

The Cougars finished second in the West last season to Cloud County before joining East school KCK as the two Region VI teams to make it to the Plains District.

After the Cougars were eliminated by Ranger (Texas) on penalty kicks, KCK won the district title by beating Ranger and advanced to the NJCAA Championships were the Blue Devils went 0-2.

KCK is the only Jayhawk team in the pre-season NJCAA poll coming in at No. 18 following its NJCAA appearance. Barton and Cloud both are receiving votes.

Cloud will be under the direction of a new coach this season as Charles Long takes over a Thunderbird team that went 10-0 in the West and 14-3 overall.

“It’s going to be a wide open conference race,” Coach Brown said. “It will be a tough challenge to win. As far as the rankings go, I really don’t pay too much attention to them or put too much into them.

“Especially right now. What we need to worry about is getting better every day. We have some talent, but we have a long way to go to get to where we want to be. But this group is ready for the challenge ahead of them.”

That challenge will start Saturday when State Fair (Mo) comes to Barton for a 4 pm kickoff at the Barton Sports Complex.

“State Fair is a gritty team,” Coach Brown said. “They beat us in double overtime last year so it is a game we are going to have to be ready for. They are a well-disciplined, organized team. It is going to be a tough opener for us.”

BARTON COMMUNITY COLLEGE

MEN’S SOCCER SCHEDULE

AUGUST

8-18, at Fort Hays State University, 7:30 p.m.

8-25, State Fair Community College, 4 p.m.

8-29, at Western Texas College, Snyder, TX, 4 p.m.

SEPTEMBER

9-1, at Northern Oklahoma College-Tonkawa, 4 p.m.

9-5, Garden City Community College, 4 p.m.

9-8, at Iowa Western Community College, 4 p.m.

9-9, at Northeast Community College, 4 p.m.

9-12, Hesston College, 4 p.m.

9-15, Dodge City Community College, 4 p.m.

9-19, Pratt Community College, 4 p.m.

9-22, at Cloud County Community College, 4 p.m.

9-26, Northwest Kansas Technical College, 4 p.m.

9-29, at Garden City Community College, 7 p.m.

OCTOBER

10-6, at Hesston College, , 7:30 PM, 

10-10, at Dodge City Community College, 4 p.m., 

10-13, at Pratt Community College, 3 p.m., 

10-17, Cloud County Community College, 4 p.m., 

10-20, at Northwest Kansas Technical College, 4 p.m.

ROSTER

00 Oliver Semmle, GK, FR, 6’3”, 200, Au am Rhein, Germany

0 Felipe Baeza, GK, SO, 6’0”, 160, Santiago, Chile

1 Pedro Medrano, GK, FR, 5’11”, 175, Houston, TX

2 Gabriel Nerres, D, FR,  ,  , Sao Paulo, Brazil 

3 Robin Rouaud, D, FR, 5’11”, 175, Lorient, France

4 Victor Gonzalez, D, SO, 5’11”, 180, Madrid, Spain

5 Kristofer Eggertsson, D, SO, 6’1”, 195, Hellissandor, Iceland

6 Nicolas Torres, MF, FR, 5’8”, 155, Santiago, Chile

7 Colin Roemer, F, SO, 5’6”, 150, Woelferlingen, RP, Germany

8 Toranosuke Abe, MF, SO, 5’7”, 145, Suginamiku, Japan

9 Ebrahim Diagne, F, FR, 5’10”, 160, Lawrence

10 Hiroo Kimura, MF, SO, 5’11”, 165, Urayasu-shi Chiba, Japan

11 Gabriel Arraes De Almeida, F, SO, 5’10”, 175, Recife, PE, Brazil

12 Tevin Rochester, MF, FR, 6’0”, 180, Kingston, Jamaica

13 Cyprien N’goma, MF, SO, 5’7”, 155, Marly, France

14 Carlos Castrejon, MF, SO, 5’4”, 125, Gainesville, GA

15 Anthony Diaz, D, FR, 5’9”, 155, Atlanta, GA

16 Mario Magana, MF, FR, 5’8”, 150, Emporia

17 David Palacios, F, SO, 5’11”, 175, Salina

18 Jackson Dent, F, FR, 6’1”,165, Sydney, Australia

19 Roberto Hernandez, MF, FR, 5’4”, 135, Edinburg, TX

20 Akira Yoshida, D, FR, 5’8”, 155, Tokyo, Japan

21 Diego Ribeiro, MF, FR, 5’7”, 135, Overland Park

22 Antonio Fernandez, D, FR, 5’9”, 175, Madrid, Spain

23 Aidan Hill, MF, FR, Peoria, IL

24 Sherwin Noel, D, FR, Couva, Trinidad and Tobago

25 Damen Marcu, MF, FR, Denver

26 Sora Wakabayashi, D, SO, 5’9”, 155, Himeji, Japan

27 Ruben Torres, MF, FR, 5’6”, 145, Tulsa

28 Issac Arum, F, FR, 6’1”, 185, Roanoke, VA

29 Damia Viader, D, FR, 5’8”, 145, Barcelona, Spain

30 Brian Carerra, MF, FR, 6’0”, 155, Garden City

31 Samuel Chantre, GK, FR, Sao Paulo, Brazil

32 Chris Camilli, MF, SO, 5’11”, 170, Maracaibo, Venzuela