Aug. 23, 2001

Kos Donev enters his 15th season as Florida Atlantic University's men's soccer coach and looks to continue to improve the strength of schedule and competitive soccer at FAU. A stronger schedule and a new conference rule, which only allows four teams into the Atlantic Sun Championship, adds to the need to bond quickly as they play their first match against Lafayette College on September 2, before traveling to the University of Alabama-Birmingham Tournament.

With six returning players, Donev is in the same situation that he was in the previous season. "This is another season where we brought in a lot of new players and we are back to where we were last year," said Donev. It is important that we gel together and be able to create a team unity where we can connect with each other."

He believes that the returnees will play a key part in how the team will bridge together. "I am looking for them to take (the newcomers) under their wing and lead the way," said Donev.

Jonas Kolstad is one of the returnees and as a starting goalkeeper he will play a big part in the team's success. With a 1.29 goals against average and 1540 minutes played during the 2000 season, he will need to be a leader for FAU. Pablo Luna also returns to the team after scoring three goals and assisting on three more.

Last season, the team finished with a 2-3-1 record in the A-Sun, which gave them a berth into the conference tournament. Falling to Mercer in the semifinal round of the A-Sun Tournament in overtime ended the Owls' season with a record of 10-7-1. Since only four teams will make it into the conference tournament this year, Donev feels that the team must play with an urgency during the early part of the season. He feels that the top four seeds could be clinched early in conference play.

"Early on, I am hoping to have enough similarly talented players to have depth on our team and the ability to substitute players during the game and not have the level of our game drop," said Donev. "It would be nice to maintain the same level of play and have players rested."

The Owls play their first home match on September 21 against Atlantic Sun opponent Belmont.