If you were to look at the rosters for the men’s soccer teams,the first thing you would probably notice is the lack ofseniors.

There are only three seniors out for the men’s squad and none onthe women’s team.

Sophomore Nate Ruhland, a midfielder, does not view itnegatively.

“Youth is a strength,” Ruhland said.

The immediate reaction to such a statement, for many, would beone of confusion. Doesn’t youth go hand in hand withinexperience?

But the Storm is embracing its youth rather than fearing it.

“We are a young team,” said head coach Aziz Haffar. “But itallows us a lot of room for improvement.”

Most of the mistakes made so far have come from the defensivehalf of the field according to Haffar.

“The goals scored on us were just a result of silly mistakes,”Haffar said.

Ruhland added, “We need to make sure we don’t have any carelessmistakes. We need to make smart decisions and play as a team.”

While defensive mistakes have been evident early, Haffar saystheir strength lies in the midfield.

“We have a powerful midfield,” Haffar said. “We just need tocome out hard and take advantage early.”

Make no mistake, the team has set its sights on the conferenceplayoffs.

“Our main goal is to make the conference playoffs,” Haffar said.”After that, we’re focusing on the NCAA playoffs.”