In the final year of Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) play for Trinity University athletics, every program is presented with a unique opportunity: a chance to take their SCAC final. No Trinity team seems more poised to accomplish this feat than the men’s soccer team. The team was undefeated in non-conference play to start the season, scoring 25 goals and allowing only three goals in those seven games. With two straight home weekends scoring 10 goals and allowing zero before beating the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor on the road, the team has started the 2024 season with a statement of intent to all of NCAA Division III. The question is, will it be enough?
It has been three long and empty-handed seasons since Trinity men’s soccer crowned themselves kings of the SCAC.
“Everyone’s felt the sting of not winning the SCAC tournament for the last three years,” senior forward Hunter Cain said. “There’s nobody on the team who’s won a SCAC tournament. I think everybody’s very hungry and … still holding a lot of that anger and disappointment from the last couple seasons.”
I caught up with Cain and his senior defensive teammate Will Powell ahead of their SCAC opener against Schreiner University last Saturday. I asked them about this special start to the season they’ve had and what has made this year different from the last three to start the season.
“Earlier in the season, we were a second-half team,” Powell said. “[In the] first half we were battling getting away at it then coming up a little bit short. But as soon as it came to the second half, our reinforcements and army came in. … That’s a big thing that the coaches have been pointing out that we’re not just 11 players, we’re a team, we’re an army and we’ve got so many talented players coming in off the bench. I feel like that’s a really big difference to previous years.”
The depth of the squad has not been the only change this year. For the second straight season, Trinity has been forced to hire a new assistant coach, Matthew Kirk, as previous assistants moved on to different positions. With coaching changes come tactical changes. So far this year, it seems that Matthew Kirk has helped Head Coach Paul McGinlay solve the intricate tactical puzzle of this deep group of players.
“Obviously [we were] a little confused at the beginning of how we were going to get width,” Cain said. “But how we’ve kind of reacted to it with Will [Powell] and Cam [Smith] … getting in deep, … and dropping that holding mid in between the center backs … it’s almost like a five back in the end. … I think for the most part it’s been a really smooth transition.”
As Cain mentioned, Powell has been a huge part of this change, but so has Cain himself as his natural position has been eliminated in this change and he has had to change his role for the squad. I asked both of them about their shifts and how they felt in their crucial roles.
“I mean, I think we’re [Powell and Smitth] both really athletic fullbacks,” Powell said. “We like to run. We like to get up and down, and the role is perfect for us. … Having the 10s (center attacking mids) that can also go out wide when we don’t have the ball and play as sort of a winger, but then when we do have the ball, can go inside, … and give us that space … [to] get to the byline and cut it back and produce the goals that we have so far this year.”
Cain responded similarly about his transition, also mentioning the importance of the 10s (center attacking midfielders) but adding the three defensive midfielders as keys to his success.
“The support we get from underneath makes my job a lot easier because we’ve got the two 10s with the three holding mids,” Cain said. “So there’s not really a time where I don’t have an option to play to. … I think that’s also just kind of the Trinity way of having way too many midfielders that are extremely talented. … Having as many of them on the field as possible right now is helping out a lot.”
When I caught up with these two stars, it was the day before the SCAC opener and the energy was already present.
“We’ve had a strong week of training … Saturday night under the lights, there’s nothing really better than that for us. … It’s Hunter and I’s last year so we don’t want to leave on a bad note, we don’t want to leave anything unfinished and that means we’re taking the SCAC home with us.”
That energy was just as present just over 24 hours later when Trinity came out and handled business against Schreiner, adding five more goals to their season total and extending their streak of home shutouts to five. The army was on full display against Schreiner as Trinity got 35 different players into the game with many players getting their first-ever minutes for the Tigers. With Trinity’s unreal depth, brilliant new tactical system and unwillingness to accept anything short of a SCAC title, this season could be a special one at McGinlay Field.
