St. Cloud State Men’s Soccer Set to Open Season Against Pair of GLVC Opponents

Thursday, September 4

Fayette, IA

5:00 P.M.

St. Cloud State

Upper Iowa

Photo by: Isaac Bentrott

St. Cloud State Men’s Soccer Set to Open Season Against Pair of GLVC Opponents

9/2/2025 10:01:00 AM | Men's Soccer

Huskies to play Upper Iowa and Truman State

St. Cloud, Minn.- St. Cloud State Men's Soccer is set to open their 2025 season against a pair of Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) opponents. On Thursday, September 4, the Huskies will travel down to Fayette, Iowa to take on Upper Iowa and then will host Truman State on Sunday, September 7 at Husky Stadium. Thursday's season opener is set for 5:00 p.m. while Sunday's game will be played at 12:00 p.m.

Follow the Huskies
Thursday's game against Upper Iowa will be streamed live on the GLVC Network (registration required) and Sunday's game will be streamed live on Flo Sports (registration required). Live stats will be provided by Upper Iowa on Thursday and then by St. Cloud State on Sunday.

GLIAC Preseason Poll
Coming into this season, the Huskies were projected to finish sixth in the GLIAC Preseason Coaches Poll. SCSU is coming off their best season in program history after tallying a 9-8-1 record with a 6-5-1 conference record to finish third in the GLIAC a year ago. The Huskies earned their first national ranking on October 8 and ultimately reached the GLIAC Tournament for the third consecutive season.

2025 GLIAC Men's Soccer Preseason Coaches' Poll

Saginaw Valley State- 36
Roosevelt- 31
Wisconsin-Parkside- 20
Davenport- 19
Purdue Northwest- 17
St. Cloud State- 16
Northern Michigan- 8

St. Cloud State will return many key pieces from last year's squad highlighted by Andrew Holmes, Owen Worsdell, Yannick Langerhuizen and Ramy Atia. Holmes is coming off a 2024 year where he earned an All-GLIAC Honorable Mention after starting and playing in all 18 games while logging a single season program record of 1526 minutes. The midfielder would also tack on six points from one goal and four assists. Two years removed from an All-GLIAC Honorable Mention, Worsdell put together another strong season in 2024. The senior defenseman started in 14 games and scored the most points of returning players from last season with 10. Worsdell logged 921 minutes with two goals and a single season program record of six assists. The potent backline defender in Yannick Langerhuizen is coming off an impressive inaugural season with the Huskies where he started 16 games and played 1357 minutes. Langerhuizen scored one point from an assist and played 90 minutes in 11 games. Back in goal will be Ramy Atia who compiled 62 saves, a single season goals allowed average program record of 1.53, and three shutouts in 17 starts and 1412 minutes. The senior keeper was also named GLIAC Defensive Player of the Year twice last season.

Other notable returners from the 2024 season include Andrés García, Rhys Ward, William Gonzalez, and Matt Greenland. Garcia returned to action for the first time in two seasons playing in three games. The 5th year senior scored eight goals and earned Second Team All-GLIAC in his freshman season back in 2021. Ward enters his senior year having scored the second most points on the team amongst returning players with eight. The midfielder produced three goals and two assists in 2024. The versatile defenseman in Gonzalez came on late for the Huskies a year ago where he started the final six games of the year while playing 90 minutes in three of the final four games. He scored three points from a goal and an assist. Greenland enters his second year with SCSU after scoring five points from a goal and three assists in 707 minutes of action.

While the Huskies offer a plethora of returners, they also graduated a multitude of key players from 2024 including All-American Philip Caputo, All-GLIAC Honorees in Noah Eklund and Nolan Pratumwon, three offensive weapons in Mika Folstad, Eduardo Balduino, and Yanis Smeg, and valuable defensive starters in Noah Kantorowicz and Austin Plumhoff. To balance out the losses, St. Cloud State brought in transfers such as Ryder Delport, Matteo Bosch, Diego Ramos, Mats Seible, and Alex Tiedt who are all looking to make an impact.

Leading the Huskies will be reigning GLIAC Coach of the Year Sean Holmes who begins his sixth season at St. Cloud State. Holmes and the Huskies have seen steady improvement throughout his tenure and have hosted a playoff game the past two seasons.

Series History
Thursday's season opener against Upper Iowa will be the seventh all-time meeting between the programs with the Peacocks holding a 4-2-0 record. The teams faced off early in the season last year where the Huskies put together a historic performance.

Owen Worsdell got the party started for the Huskies as he snuck a shot past Upper Iowa in the 7th minute to give St. Cloud State an early 1-0 lead. Upper Iowa knotted the game up at 1-1 in the 18th minute after a goal by Julian Mesen. Less than two minutes later, Philip Caputo found the back of the net to break the tie and give the Huskies a 2-1 lead. Not even a minute later, Worsdell struck gold for the second time to put St. Cloud State up 3-1 and they would hold that score going into halftime. The Huskies high powered offense continued into the second half as Yanis Smeg scored his first career goal not even three minutes into the second half. Upper Iowa would respond with a goal of their own to set the game at 4-2. Following the Peacocks goal, it became the Caputo and Mika Folstad show as Folstad scored his second career goal off assists from Caputo and Semg. Caputo then made St. Cloud State history as he scored two goals in lightning quick time, both off assists from Folstad, to give him a hat trick and put St. Cloud State up 7-2. The Huskies would also set multiple program records including largest margin of victory (5), most goals in a single game (7), most assists in a single game (11), and most points in a single game (25).

Top Huskies

Philip Caputo had a historic evening where he set the single game program record for points with nine, tied the single game record for goals with three, and set the single game record for assists with three.
Owen Worsdell recorded the fourth most points in a single game with five after tallying two goals and an assist.
Mika Folstad recorded his second consecutive game with a goal and also registered two assists for three points on the night.
Yanis Smeg scored his first career goal while also recording an assist for three points.

Sunday's game against Truman State will be fourth all-time meeting between the teams with the Bulldogs holding a 2-0-1 series advantage against the Huskies. The two teams collided for their season openers last year where the Bulldogs would come out victorious.

The teams battled at an even score for the first 74 minutes before Daniel Riaza scored what would be the game-winning goal in the 75th minute. The Huskies had their chances in the game as they outshot Truman State 11to 7 and registered five shots on goal but were unable to find the back of the net as they would be defeated 1-0.

Scouting Upper Iowa
The Upper Iowa Peacocks will also be opening their season in this game against the Huskies. The Peacocks are coming off a 2024 season where they went 2-12-3 with a 1-10-3 record in conference play and ultimately finished 14^th in the GLVC. The Peacocks were projected to finish 14^th in the GLVC Preseason Coaches' Poll.

Upper Iowa returns several notable players from last year's team in Alejandro Sanchez, Julian Mesen, Dexter Garrett, and JJ Gonzalez-Hayes. Sanchez and Mesen both led the team with six points. Sanchez tallied one goal and four assists while Mesen scored a team-high three goals. On the defensive end, Garrett led the team with 1393 minutes while playing in all 17 games. He made 15 starts and notched two points from a goal. In goal, Gonzalez-Hayes started 10 games and played 998 minutes. He produced a 1.98 goals allowed average with 58 saves, a 72.5 save percentage, one shutout, and a 1-6-4 record.

Jason Carlson enters his eighth year with Upper Iowa in 2025. Carlson is in the midst of his second stint with the Peacocks and has amassed a 50-59-13 record in his tenure. Carlson's best season with the Peacocks came in 2015 where he registered a 13-4-1 record and claimed their first conference regular season title. Upper Iowa would reach the NCAA Division II Central Region Finals, but a loss to Fort Hayes State would end their season. Carlson would be awarded the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association and Central Region Coach of the Year at the end of the season.

Scouting Truman State
The Truman State Bulldogs enter the 2025 season coming off a 4-7-5 record with a 3-6-5 mark in conference play. Truman State finished the season 12^th in the GLVC and would not qualify for the playoffs. The Bulldogs were projected to finish 12^th in the GLVC Preseason Coaches' Poll.

Truman State returns their top three points scorers from 2024 in Landon Keisker, Jacob Panagos, and Tyler Bouckaert. Keisker and Panagos each tallied seven points from three goals and an assist. Bouckaert contributed six points from two goals and assists. The Bulldogs will have a new starting goalkeeper this year after Justin Olwig graduated. He started all 16 games a year ago. Senior Evan Nidey appeared in one game last season where he tallied one save in 15 minutes.

Head coach Duke Cocrhran will be entering his 21st season at the helm of Truman State in 2025. During his tenure, Cochran has accumulated a 140-156-44 record and is the program's winningest coach.

For all the latest on St. Cloud State Men's Soccer, stay tuned to scsuhuskies.com and follow the team on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.