Yale Athletics

The men’s soccer team wants to kick off its fall season on a high note, despite a dismal preseason ranking. 

In the Ivy League preseason poll, the Bulldogs were ranked seventh of eight teams, but the team has taken its placement as an opportunity to embrace an underdog mentality. 

“When we saw the rank, we said ‘good,’” forward Joseph Farouz ’27 said in a phone interview. “We love to have a chip on our shoulder to have people to prove wrong.” 

Last season, the Bulldogs’ season ended early after a series of tough games against strong competition. The year before, they clinched the title in the inaugural Ivy League Soccer Tournament. 

Now, the Elis hope to bounce back and reclaim a position at the top of the league. 

To start, the men’s soccer team will play seven non-conference games. Throughout the year, they will also play four teams that concluded the 2024 season with a top-30 national ranking, including three Ivies: Penn, No. 18, Cornell, No. 26 and Princeton, No. 27. 

Despite their daunting schedule, the Bulldogs remain optimistic. And for defender Nick Miller ’27, the preseason poll has little bearing on how he views the team’s chances for the season.

“We don’t pay an inordinate amount of time or attention to preseason rankings because we’re more concerned with how we finish the year,” Miller said. 

With key seniors graduating and eight new players joining the squad, including one transfer student and one international student, the team’s roster will look different this year.

To fill out the center of the field, head coach Kylie Stannard has recruited a pair of midfielders, Billy Altirs ’29, whose two brothers played soccer for Dartmouth and Penn, and Nathan Harmon ’29.

“Nate has played every position in the central and wide midfield positions,” Stannard told Yale Athletics. “He is a technical player that wants to attack and play forward first, but also has the mentality to work and compete defensively.”

The team also welcomed three new defenders: John Henry Hampel ’29, Caleb Layton ’29 and a junior transfer from Duke, Andrew Myerson ’27.

On the offensive side, Stannard and the team have tracked Sebi Roy ’29 for the past couple of years, due to his physicality and strength. Another forward, Angelo Zhu ’29, comes to New Haven after playing in Canada.

To protect the net, Stannard has brought on Josh Linebaugh ’29, who he said has the potential to be “one of the top GKs in the Ivy League.” After the departure of star goalkeeper Chris Edwards ’25, Linebaugh may see substantial playing time. 

Reflecting on the new additions to the team, Farouz is especially excited about the power coming to the offense. 

“They’ve settled right in,” Farouz, a forward himself, said of Roy and Zhu. “The culture has really accepted them right away as important players on our squad, so I’m really excited for those two to have an impact on the attack in front.” 

The men’s soccer team has also hired new assistant coaches. In the spring, Stannard brought on Brad Camp from Colorado Christian University and later tapped Nick Taljan from Kenyon College to serve as new assistant coaches for the 2025 season.

“They’re both really young and hungry coaches and they want to go out and attack games and kind of take games by the scruff of the neck, which is really really refreshing energy,” Farouz said.

The Bulldogs will open their season against the Sacred Heart Pioneers this Friday in Fairfield, Conn.