Season #5 For Kyle Russell Has A Chance To Be His Best

MIAMI, FL – FIU Men’s Soccer head coach Kyle Russell is going into his fifth season and the goal remains the same: Finish with three trophies.

“Not many teams say that,” said Russell. “We’re not afraid to say that and we work for our training, our heart in our culture is strong. We want three trophies, but there’s a process to get there.“

“We want to treat the games one game at a time. Take it half by half. We want to break down our season and accumulate positive halves throughout the season to where we have an opportunity to win all three trophies.”

Last season the Panthers made their mark once again winning ten games with a third straight appearance in the NCAA tournament, but bouncing in the second round, losing to Virginia.

Russell will now go through one of the bigger roster turnovers of his tenure. 14 players departed, and there are 13 newcomers.

“It gives us something to do in the spring. We’re excited because it allows smaller numbers in the spring. There’s more opportunity for guys to play because we graduated our guys earlier here. We had 18-19 guys in the spring.“

“We have to reteach a lot of things that the group last year already knew, but it’s good for us. It’s good for us as coaches and I always see it as an opportunity for us to tweak and enhance what we’re doing. I’ve been saying this from the day I got here at FIU: we do not rebuild, we reload.”

One of the most notable recruits was 6’6″ goalie Nigel Van Haveren. Originally from a soccer club in Holland, the long goalie is expected to be the starter on day one and Russell wouldn’t be surprised if he’s signed by a club soon. He posted 22 saves with three shutouts last season.

“If he graduates from FIU, I’ll be shocked,” said Russell. “That’s how good Nigel is. I want him to graduate from FIU, but what I mean by that is it’d be almost a crime in some countries for him to be in college with the level of ability he has. He’s six foot six without his boots.“

“He is an absolute machine in his routine. He can catch stuff in the air that most goalkeepers in the country struggle to punch. He’s a guy that everybody’s going to be asking about.”

Although there are so many newcomers, the returners that Russell’s club has were his biggest impact players.

Eduardo Mustre led the club with 11 goals and was third in the conference in that category. This offseason, Mustre went through the MLS pro trials and received good results which will set him up for a strong second season with the Panthers.

“Lalo has high standards for himself which is awesome,” said Coach Russell. “There are three high goal scores in our conference. Two of them graduated and are gone. The third guy is Lalo. He has big expectations, but there’s not an expectation that our staff or the country can put on him that he doesn’t have higher for himself, even now.“

“He has one of the highest amount of numbers logged on the GPS and he’s the first one staying out after practice. He’s an absolute animal. We’re gonna rely on him heavily this year.”

The Panthers will kick off their preseason schedule on August 13th against FGCU. Along with Florida Gulf Coast, they will travel to Jacksonville before welcoming Barry, before beginning the regular season against Seton Hall on Thursday, August 22nd.

“I want three wins, but I have to remind myself that’s not the primary focus,” said Russell. “I just want to see growth. I want to have a super clear picture of who the best combination of players is to help us have success early on against some very difficult opponents this fall. It’s a lot of experimenting this preseason. It’s a lot of interchanging of players.”