And Joel Harrison will need all the weapons he can get in the tough Sunshine State Conference.
By ANTHONY GAGLIANO
Published September 7, 2004
ST. LEO - New Saint Leo University coach Joel Harrison can relax knowing if his starters don't get the job done, he has plenty of options. The Lions have 31 players on the roster, giving Harrison numerous combinations to choose from. After succeeding athletics director Fran Reidy in March, Harrison, 38, is expected to find the right mix and turn the Lions into winners.
He has done it before under tougher circumstances. A year ago he took the job at Newberry, which never had a winning record, two weeks before the season. The team went 9-8-3 and won a conference tournament game for the first time.
To achieve similar goals, Saint Leo will have to run through some of the nation's elite.
Three Sunshine State Conference rivals are ranked in the preseason Top 25, including defending national champion Lynn at No. 1. Rollins and Barry are both in the top 17, rounding out the three teams that finished ahead of Saint Leo in 2003, when the Lions went 8-10-3 and finished fourth in the conference at 3-3-1.
Whichever lineup Harrison uses should have Tony Rosso up front. He has been Saint Leo's leading scorer two seasons, increasing his total from 19 points as a sophomore to 28 last season. Rosso led the conference in shots last season and had 10 goals and eight assists.
A beneficiary of all the attention Rosso received was Asmir Pervan. Pervan, of St. Petersburg Northeast, finished second on the Lions in scoring as a freshman with seven goals and four assists. This year he has been derailed by surgery on his ankle; he sat out spring practice and wasn't expected to resume practice until the season starts.
As Pervan heals, the Lions have two veteran forwards ready to play. Seniors Titou Fierro and Gus Kalathakis of Port Richey combined for five goals and five assists a year ago.
Midfielder Giancarlo Conte opened last year with a bang, but fizzled for most of the season. He scored two goals in the opener and added an assist in the second game but finished with just four goals and four assists for the season, still good enough for third on the team in scoring.
The anchor in the back is senior Niel Laxdal. The team captain and an Academic All-American, Laxdal has to lead this group's resurgence after the Lions allowed the most shots in the SSC. That forced goalkeeper Matias Perez to make 106 saves in 20 starts. The team allowed nearly two goals a game, though Perez registered three shutouts.
Fellow junior Jeremy Chambers compiled a 1.65 GAA with one start in five appearances.
