SAN ANTONIO – The IU Indianapolis men's soccer team begins its 2024 season in Texas for a two-game road trip, taking on Incarnate Word on Thursday (Aug. 22) and Houston Christian on Sunday (Aug. 25), with both matches set to kick off at 8:00 p.m.

"It is definitely a business trip for us," head coach Sid van Druenen declared. "The main focus of the trip is to get two wins and continue to progress as a team."

The Jaguars, coming off the heels of a 7-7-5 season, retained a solid core of players while adding several exciting new additions. The returners are highlighted by the center back pairing of Brady Horn and Jago Thompson-Roberts, who made a combined 33 starts while playing 2998 combined minutes in 2023. Thompson-Roberts was named captain while Horn, along with Gijs Velings, will serve as vice-captains.

Velings, who earned a place on the Horizon League All-Freshman team with Thompson-Roberts after playing in all 19 matches and starting 18 of them, will be a mainstay in the Jaguar midfield. A pair of freshman midfielders, Bali Esquivel and Mano Karjian, have impressed since stepping on campus and will look to contribute early on in their careers.

Esquivel and Karjian are joined by 14 other new faces, including six transfers. "Newcomers have been very competitive and brought different personalities and abilities to the group," said van Druenen.  Apart from the two freshman midfielders, van Druenen was also pleased with the preseasons of transfers Cameron Radeke and Mason Taylor, who will both compete for starting jobs in their respective positions.

"All of the freshman and transfers stand on business. From day one the competitiveness has been there, and you can see that they want to learn and grow," added Velings, who is looking forward to getting to know his teammates even better during the first road trip of the season. "The relationships we have made in these two weeks have been amazing as well. I think that all the freshman and transfers feel like family already!"

Without the top three leading goal scorers from a year ago, the Jags will look for new ways to get offensive production. "That is a work in progress for us," van Druenen admitted when asked about the attack. "We have seen glimpses of some good things but will have to find some consistency. I am hoping Radeke and (Jose Antonio) Herrera can be big pieces in our attack, but time will tell."

Incarnate Word and Houston Christian are members of the Ohio Valley Conference and were picked to finish third and fifth, respectively, this season. Both squads begin the campaign on Thursday (Aug. 22) at home. The match against Incarnate Word will be the first in the history of IU Indianapolis, while it will be the fourth all-time meeting against Houston Christian. The Huskies hold a 2-1 edge in the series, with the last matchup taking place in 2019.