Nardiello is approaching this season with optimism as he is looking at a team that lost only one senior, David Smith, in exchange for another year of experience under the belt of all his other players. This year’s team is still looking at a small number of seniors in the roster. However, there are also a substantial number of juniors and sophomores who are maturing into veteran soccer players and now possess the experience needed to win the tight games that last year’s team may have given up.

Nardiello is confident that the new incoming class of freshmen brings with it a large number of possible recruits and an even larger available pool of talent. This year, Nardiello is looking to the captains to lead the team, but he also recognizes that the team must draw its leadership from everyone on the squad, saying "Leadership comes from everyone on the field."

He is looking for his captains to raise and maintain morale and momentum during games while the upperclassmen will be leading the team on and off the field as well as setting the right tone for the team to be successful.

Two such individuals are senior captains Brian Bergeron and Kris Wilburn who are most notable for being able to not only bring their own skills to the game but also bring up the skill level of the players around them. These two players both possess a great sense of leadership as well as being excellent team players. Both of them are able to distribute the ball to help tactically move the team, and also help form the bonds necessary for success. As Coach Nardiello states, "A successful team beats with one heart."

This year the men’s soccer team is hoping to redeem some of the close games lost last year because of goals given up early in those games. The team’s record from last year is one of the major propellants fueling this young team as they all have a general feeling of silent anger which they want to use to improve their record by winning some of these tight games.

The coming year hopes to bring about a steady and solid team, which will play to its full potential during every minute of its games. The squad, however, is at a slight disadvantage with scheduling since several of their tight games—such as Clarkson, St. Lawrence, Hamilton, and Hobart—will be on the road. They do have a few grudge matches in front of the home crowd, notably against Skidmore and Union. For the Union game, in addition to the motivation provided by the crowd, Chris Albert transferred from Union to play for the Red Hawks to spice up the rivalry already in place. The team also wants to make sure to defeat NYU after last year’s bitter defeat in which they lost 2-3 in OT with controversial officiating.

Nardiello feels that "[The team’s] greatest strength is that emerging depth and maturity which will begin to pay dividends." He feels the team is very creative and dynamic with the ability to move the ball all around from the midfielders to the strikers. They also have a large depth of talent in the goal to help put together a solid defense.